History is Not Boring discussion

Lately, I have taken to killing two birds with one stone by reading historical fiction in conjunction with a nonfiction history covering the same period and place. I have been going through Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels at the same time that I am reading Ian Fletcher's The Campaigns of Wellington in a 3-volume Folio Society edition.

There is some excellent historical fiction out there (as well as some total dreck). I am thinking of excellent writers like Cecelia Holland, whose work ranges from Byzantine Constantinope and Viking Iceland to Norman Italy and 19th Century California.

I do the same.
Just finished the D'Artagnan saga by Dumas and reading The Man Who Outshone the Sun King The Rise and Fall of Nicolas Fouquet.

I've meant to get around to reading some of the Sharpe novels. My wife & I got some of the episodes out of our library one time on video tape. We liked them.

The Flashman books are fairly entertaining, by George MacDonald Fraser. Very good notes justifying or expanding any points of Hx you may not know. He ends up at the charge of the Light Brigade; Indian Mutiny; Little Big Horn and many other big 19th cent. events.
But as I said, very good notes on the Hx in each book.

Tried one of Bernard Cornwell's medieval novels and it just wasn't for me.

I do adore historical fiction, though.

I'm quite fond of Colleen McCullough's The First Man in Rome series. These books not only have author's notes, but a discussion of the sources and a vocabulary/pronunciation guide! There are seven of them, covering the fall of the Roman Republic from about 110 BC to Augustus' victory over Antony and Cleopatra.

I think Cornwell is probably a bit too male-oriented for most women readers. One possible exception is his recent novel A Gallows Thief set in 18th century London.

I enjoyed "The Coffee Trader" by David Liss, and one of my male friends rated it highly too.

I didn't really like The Coffee Trader, but David Liss' two books about "the Lion of Judah" I enjoyed - A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle Of Corruption. I think a third one is out this year.

I read his new one, "Whiskey Rebels" and didn't like it as much, but I think it's well written. What made me think of that friend, actually, is that he had wanted me to read Bernard Cornwell and also Barry Unsworth, but I really didn't like either of them very well. And it seemed like there really might be a gendered response there (in me or in him?).

Sharpe is fun reading, but no one comes close to touching Fraser in the Flashman series, probably the greatest series of comic historical novels ever written. The original should have been required reading before going into Afghanistan, Hard to say which one I like most but Flash for Freedom and its sequel Flashman and the Indians are hard to beat. I think Fraser created a more intriguing portrait of Lincoln in two short chapters in Flash for Freedom than Gore Vidal managed in his entire novel. Never been anywhere in the world where I didn't run into Flashy's legions of fans.

George wrote: "Sharpe is fun reading, but no one comes close to touching Fraser in the Flashman series, probably the greatest series of comic historical novels ever written. The original should have been required..."

Wholeheartedly agree.
My top 2 are:
Flashman at the Charge
Flashman in the Great Game
And as I mentioned earlier the notes are splendid.
On that note, worth a look is:
Soldier Sahibs

anyone who can turn Otto von Bismark into a comic character has rare talent. I very much like your two nomimees as well. And if you want to read Fraser in his own voice describing his own WWII experiences Quartered Safe Out Here is well worth a read.

Have any of you read any of Cecelia Holland's historical novels? Her website at http://www.thefiredrake.com/ describes her books, which run the gamut of world history. I've read about five or six of them and plan to read a couple more this year.

If you are open to historical mysteries, I love C. J. Sansom's books about Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked Tudor lawyer. There are four of them, starting with Dissolution.

The Maisie Dobbs series is also excellent - they are set in the period between the wars, but the Great War is very much present in all of them.

Hey, Susanna,
I really like Maisie Dobbs. Now, is there a gender divide here? You might like "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Braddon. It is a Victorian mystery, but one of the fascinating historical details ( I thought) was the important role that trains and train schedules played in the plot.

I think the main interest of what we term' historical' fiction is that it deploys 'costume' and periodisation to deal with contemporary concerns and anxieties in a manner which uses the 'otherness' of the past to hold up a mirror to the present. At its most consummate, historical fiction is mythopoeic rather than purely archeological. Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso sea heads my own particular canon for this kind of literary/historical novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Sharpe novels as well as other Cornwell. He makes you feel like you are there and you can relate to the characters, plus the plotlines are intriguing. I am a 60 yr old grandma and did not feel he is "male oriented" as a writer.

Jim wrote: "...There is some excellent historical fiction out there (as well as some total dreck)...."

Had to look up the word "DRECK".... I'm so adding that to my vocabulary. My wife won't even know when I'm tossing excremental fodder from my mouth now! =8)

If any one has suggestions on GREAT books that detail out American (Indian) Lifestyles and Happenings before the incursion of anglos/europeans, I'm listening with bated breath (and of course not Bait Breath... that's just nasty and some serious DRECK... =8). Cheers!