next »

[malcha]

Flake off, spambot.

Mods!!!

??

Spam presumably was deleted by Mods, leaving llanfair's post hanging.

[inthelab]

Flake off, spambot.

Mods!!!

??

Spam presumably was deleted by Mods, leaving llanfair's post hanging.

Ah, thank you.

[mystictechgal]

Well, based on the responses here I just checked out Slammerkin and Penman's Prince of Darkness (the only one by Penman that my library owns).  Thanks for the recommendations.

[llanfair]

Well, based on the responses here I just checked out Slammerkin and Penman's Prince of Darkness (the only one by Penman that my library owns).  Thanks for the recommendations.

Prince of Darkness is straight fiction, tho' set in the Middle Ages and with a few real people in it - Penman's written a few of these, and they're a good read.  Don't miss her Plantagenet series, though - begins with When Christ and His Saints Slept.  Amazing books - she's a good researcher and is very true to what's known of these people's characters.

[mystictechgal]

Those were the ones I was hoping to find.  I'll have to do an ILL to get them, though.

[llanfair]

Those were the ones I was hoping to find.  I'll have to do an ILL to get them, though.

You'll love them.  Mind you, the mysteries are good as well, and you'll love Slammerkin.  I couldn't put it down.

[juvenal]

Well, not exactly historical, but certainly "historical," and certainly fiction...

Almost any book by Jack Vance.  They are all what sniffy types might call "science fiction," and that's where you will find them on shelves.

BUT, they are most entertaining because Vance's stuff focuses more on the makeup of interstellar societies of all sorts, with a lot on food, architecture, dress, social customs...and makes it all seem very plausible.  Cracking good plots, too, and a rather dry, satiric tone in many places.  Somewhat mannered, in fact.

I'd recommend: The Demon Princes (five novels: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face, The Book of Dreams); Planet of Adventure (an omnibus volume); or the linked novels Araminta Station, Ecce and Old Earth, Throy.

But he has been astonishingly prolific.

Read more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance

[prof_smartypants]

Chime on Kevin Baker's trilogy, particularly Dreamland

I'd also throw in

Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels
Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry
Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book
Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise

[mickeymantle]

I always liked Herman's Wouk two books on World War II, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.  Long (too long in the second book, perhaps) but fascinating and illuminating.

In addition, I am now trying to read, for the first time, Mary Renault's acclaimed series of books on ancient times. 

[scotia]

I enjoyed the Dorothy Dunnett 'The House of Niccolo' and 'The Lymond' series, particularly the Niccolo books. They are set in the 15th and 16th century Europe. I found it useful to read them in order. I am not a historian, but my friends who are tell me they are well-researched.

[llanfair]

Sarah Dunnant's In the Company of the Courtesan was great.  Renaissance-era Venice - delicious.

[bibliothecula]

Just marking this thread for my next expedition to the library.

Also, OP, you might try Edward Rutherfurd's sagas: Russka, London, The Forest, etc.

[rowan1]

Slightly different direction on this thread -

I just finished "Fourtune's Favorites" by Colleen McCollough - 3rd in a series on the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire. 

I can't decide if I like these books or not.  I find the historical period she is writing about fascinating - the first book deals with the rise of Marius and Sulla, the 2nd introduces Ceaser as a child and follows Marius' decline in health and march on Rome, the 3rd details Sulla's dictatorship, the rise of Crassus and Pomepey and introduces Ceaser and Cicero and lays the ground work for Ceaser's rise to power. So I will be reading the next book - Ceaser's Women" but...

The characters are often sketches at best.  Maybe it is the scope of the books.  The research is amazing, the details on things like Togas, the composition of the senate, the family connections, the style of battle, etc. are wonderful.

Anyway - has anyone else read them? What do you think of them?

[llanfair]

I've had trouble with these - I tried to get into The October Horse, and failed miserably.  It's not McCullough that's the problem; it's the Roman names.  I get the characters hopelessly mixed up.  Same problem with Margaret George's Memoirs of Cleopatra, but to a lesser degree (and I can highly recommend that one as well).

Now, McCullough's The Song of Troy was no problem at all.  That I devoured and re-devour on a regular basis.

[ideagirl]

I found another one! Emily Mitchell's novel The Last Summer of the World, set in the US and France during the Edwardian era and focusing on World War I, is fantastic. As one editorial review on Amazon says, "Mitchell pulls off the dazzling trick of allowing readers to see through the eyes of art-photography pioneer Edward Steichen in her excellent reconsideration of his life and art." It follows Steichen from the late-19th century American midwest to turn-of-the-century France, where he became friends with Auguste Rodin, focusing particularly on the time before World War I, when his marriage to a talented musician fell apart, and his wartime service doing airborne reconnaissance work for the US Army in France (where he had lived for years, and where his marriage fell apart). It's also the story of his development as an artist, and more largely of the development of photography as a recognized art form. It's beautifully written, vivid and dramatic without ever being overly dramatic, and her empathy for her characters--especially Clara, Steichen's wife, who gave up her musical career after they married and found herself smothering as a housewife in the French countryside--is astonishing.