OT - Historical Fiction
Lloyd
Posts: 887 ✭
I know a lot of you are into Sharpe and Patrick O'Brian etc... Go back a bit further.
I received a Christmas present today. A novel: The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. A novel based on the Roman Legions AD 476. He's a serious author - Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan and apparently he's carried out a number of expeditions and excavations in many sites throughout the Med. I'm only on page 50 and it's one of the finest novels I've read -- brilliant.
Other works include A trilogy of Alexander the Great and a novel called "Spartan". They're all going to movies.
Just thought I'd make you aware of him since I wasn't aware of him.
L
I received a Christmas present today. A novel: The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. A novel based on the Roman Legions AD 476. He's a serious author - Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan and apparently he's carried out a number of expeditions and excavations in many sites throughout the Med. I'm only on page 50 and it's one of the finest novels I've read -- brilliant.
Other works include A trilogy of Alexander the Great and a novel called "Spartan". They're all going to movies.
Just thought I'd make you aware of him since I wasn't aware of him.
L
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Coleen McCullough also writes historical fiction set in the Roman Imperial days, and I've heard they're really good, but have not been able to get into 'em much, myself.
LordM's historical fiction picks:
For some crackin' good historical fiction set in Merry Olde England, don't miss Edward Rutherfurd's Sarum- it's a great epic novel in the Michener tradition, spanning milennia! He wrote some other titles, too.
Speaking of Michener, here were some of my favorites: The Covenant, which taught me the history of South Africa, Centennial, set in the American West, Chesapeake and Poland (with self-explanatory titles), and one of my all-time favorite books ever, The Source. In The Source, Michener centers his story around one site in Israel: the first chapters are devoted to an archaeological dig, and in each stratum of the dig, the archaeologists uncover an artifact from a particular period, and Michener then weaves each artifact into the narrative, telling how it was lost and how it figured into its particular place in time. True to Michener's usual epic scope, the novel spans about 10,000 years, as I recall- the Romans, the Crusaders, the Jews- they're all there. He's "old school" and a little too dry for some younger readers, perhaps, but the late James Michener was the king of historical novelists, and a man who did his homework!I also enjoyed The Town House and A Wayside Tavern by Norah Lofts- the former and parts of the latter are set in medieval England. Norah Lofts did most of her writing in the 1960's, I believe.
Ken Follett is perhaps best known for his spy novels like Eye of the Needle, but if you missed his historical novels, go out to your library or bookstore and grab 'em, pronto! The Pillars of the Earth is centered around the building of the great cathedrals during the middle ages, and A Place Called Freedom, about a Scottish indentured servant and former coal miner who emigrates to the American Colonies in the 1760's.
Hmm. It's been a few years since I read those. They might be due for a reread. They were that good, as I recall.
I read Michener's The Source at least three times, and Rutherfurd's Sarum twice.
Oh- there are lots more...
Bernard Cornwell: not just the Sharpe series, but dozens of others- I liked Redcoat.
Thomas Fleming: Time and Tide, based on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
Charles Frazier: Cold Mountain (I don't know how the new Hollywood movie based on this will be- they say it is good, but I'm reserving judgment- my hopes ain't too high. The book was excellent, though.
Allan Gurganus: Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (forget the Donald Sutherland/Diane Lane TV miniseries).
Dewey Lamkin(sp?): The King's Coat
Herman Wouk: The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
... and no doubt dozens of others I forgot.
Most recently I read her books, LION OF IRELAND about the rise of Brian Boru, and the heart-rending tale of THE LAST PRINCE OF IRELAND, about the anquished retreat of the last of the Irish clansmen who failed to heed England's yoke. Cracking good stuff!!
The Mists of Avalon - The story of King Arthur thru Morgain's (Morgana's) eyes
and
The Firebrand - The story of the Trojan War thru the eyes of Kassandra
Gene
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I have not yet read Sarum, but I have read Rutherford's London, which was wonderful.
I, too, loved Michener's Centennial, along with a couple of others of his. My wife thinks The Source is his best, but I haven't got around to that one yet, either. After moving from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast, I had to read his Texas and Caribbean. Not like the Gulf is anything like the Caribbean, but they are kind of next-door to one another.
As for Mythical/Historical Fiction, I, too, would highly recommend Morgan Llewelyn's The Lion of Ireland. My favorite take on the Arthurian legends, though, would be Mary Stewart's series, starting with The Crystal Cave, then The Hollow Hills.
Your wife has good taste- The Source is my favorite out of all Michener's work, and that's sayin' something, considering how prolific and excellent a writer he was. You should definitely read it, and Sarum, too. I think The Source should appeal to most numismatists- while coins are only a small feature of the story, I think the archaeological aspect of the novel ties in nicely.
I just enjoyed two NON-fiction books by Tony Horwitz- Blue Latitudes, where he follows the trail of Captain Cook, and Confederates in the Attic, where he travels with a bunch of Civil War reenactors and examines not only the history of the War Between The States, but the way its lingering effects still leave their mark on today's culture. Both were hard to put down.
I read Mary Stewart's Arthurian stories when I was a junior in high school- might have to give them another go some day, though if I get into an Arthurian mood, I will probably try Bernard Cornwell's newer offerings in the genre, first.
Confederates in the Attic is a great book if you like a slightly offbeat look at America's Civil War obsession. I've been reading it and can't put it down.
For earlier stuff, I like The Doctor and The Last Jew by Noah Gordon. The first book is a very realistic look at the travels of an Englishman who poses as a Jew to study medicine in Persia during the Middle Ages, and the second is about Jewish life in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Both are pretty well-researched and written.