Historical Fictionistas discussion

New year, new intros.

Introduce yourself for the first time. Introduce yourself for the 10th time.

Tell us where you are from and what your favorite historical fiction novel is.

Hi everyone! I'm Claire. I have been here a year or so but entirely lurking - I am finishing up a thesis program presently and will have lots of free time in the near future so I am hoping to get back to reading! I just finished my B.S. in psychology and my concentration is in neuropsychology, and the biological and psychological effects of music.

Historical fiction has been my favorite genre since I started reading the "Dear America" novels in early elementary. I love, particularly, Egyptian history and literature set in medieval periods. My goal is to read 104 books this year, and to read at least 60 books by woman authors. I am also going to begin trying to read a book from an author and/or set in as many countries as possible, over the next however-long-it-takes. I also enjoy more fantasy oriented novels that have a significant basis in history. I think I like HF because I love character and world-building, not that I don't appreciate plot etc., and HF often has such fantastic characterization and extensive effort into the time period and world.

Right now I am reading Mara, Daughter of the Nile and Do They Hear You When You Cry and enjoying both, though the later is a difficult read, it is worthwhile.

I'm excited to join in on as many as I can this year!

Hi, Claire, I love your insightful description about what you like about histfic and fantasy! (Sounds as if you would enjoy Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik if you haven't read it yet.)

I am a returning member, though my interests are generally narrow with quirky exceptions so I participate only sporadically. Mostly I enjoy histfic set in England or the United States, though I'll go elsewhere if the themes or subjects catch my eye. The narrow focus stems from the fact that I have a histfic writing project under way and try to focus my reading to contribute to my work. Wish I had the time and energy to read more widely, and I appreciate the temptation that comes from this group!

Hi, I'm Ashley! I've been with the group for a few years now and the various challenges have really helped me tackle my collection of historical fiction, which I deeply appreciate. I'm doing the Around the World challenge for the first time this year, so we'll see how it goes! I'll read pretty much any time period, any place -- every time I think I've exhausted WWII as a setting, something else pops up and demands my attention.

Hi - my name is Nancy. I use to post here but took a break from these folders for sometime. But I missed them so I am back.

I live in New Jersey with my husband of 49 years. Our daughter and son-in-Law and twin grandchildren live nearby and we see them often. I was a teacher for many years and now spend time traveling, reading, volunteering and baby sitting for the twins. Not a bad life. Wishing all a happy and healthy new year. And I look forward to getting to know members of this grouo❤️.

I forgot to include that Historical Fiction is my number one genre and has always been. I like other genres except for science fiction and fantasy. I am currently reading The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman, one of my favorite writers.

I became a goodreads member in 2011 after the publication of my first historical novel. I have contributed posts on several goodreads groups (including this one) since that time. My college major was history. I taught English to eighth grades for 32 years before retiring in 1991. I had my second historical novel printed in 2018. I continue to post on my goodreads author's blog over 100 installments of information that I have put together about the important events of the civil rights movement from 1955 through 1968. These postings may also be found on my blogsite, http://authorharoldtitus.blogsite.com.

Hi, I'm Carol. I'm from Essex in the UK and have been in this group for several years but mostly lurked. I'm planning on joining the February group read and the around the world challenge this year so hope to be more involved and loving getting inspiration from you all for further reading. I love historical fiction, especially anything medieval and particular favourites are the Sharon Penman Welsh books Here Be Dragons and Victorian gems such as The Crimson Petal and the White. I often get interested in a particular period (lately it's been the war of the roses) and then read everything I can get my hands on around that area. I prefer an actual book and love browsing a second hand shop and seeing what I can discover. Though I know most about Uk history I enjoy reading around the world, have been lucky enough to visit Egypt so have read some greats from there and will read anything featuring the awesome Eleanor of Aquitaine. Other than reading I enjoy growing plants from seed, steampunk, and Star Wars so my reading also involves these. I have a very full on job in theatre that I love, so limited reading time, but have recently discovered the joy of audiobooks and listen to these whilst walking and travelling. I've also enjoyed reading more broadly the last few years and have currently challenged myself to read the women's prize for fiction short list. This has lead to some great reads I would not otherwise have selected. Currently reading Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen and Becoming. Thanks all in advance for your recommendations and wisdom.

Abigail wrote: "Hi, Claire, I love your insightful description about what you like about histfic and fantasy! (Sounds as if you would enjoy Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik if you haven't read it yet..."

Thank you! Spinning Silver is actually on my TBR list, and I would love to get to it whenever I get a chance. Thanks for reminding me!

Hi! I’m Hedi and I live in a small town near Brussels, Belgium. I literally just joined this group ‘cause it looks like the perfect fit for me. I’ve got this huge collection of historical fiction “I want to read someday”, but haven’t come around to just yet. Also, I like a challenge and a deadline, so being in a reading club will definitely spike my enthusiasm!

Hi! I'm Jenna and I'm from CT, but currently living on Long Island. I've been looking to join some online book groups to tide me over between monthly in-person book clubs :) I've been reading a lot of HF lately so this is a perfect fit. My favorite HF book to date is probably either Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett or The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Welcome Claire. You might want to also join the group “Around the world in 80 books.” Here on goodreads.


i>Claire wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Claire. I have been here a year or so but entirely lurking - I am finishing up a thesis program presently and will have lots of free time in the near future so I am hoping to get b..."

Hi I'm Nancy K. in New Hampshire. I owe my love of historical fiction to Patrick Swayze!!! Yes, Orry Main in North and South. Loved the TV series and had to read the book. the rest is...history!!! I have a three hour commute every day for work and listen to a lot of audiobooks. I've learned a lot about history over the years and am pretty fussy about accuracy in historical fiction. I try to keep to authors that are serious about their research. That being said, I love Robert Harris and Sharon Kay Penman. Also Jeff Shaara, Margaret George, Michelle Moran, Sarah Dunant, so many more! My all time favorites have to be Pompeii (Robert Harris), A Singular Hostage (Thalassa Ali), Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett). I love that this group exists and I am loving the Around the World Challenge!!

Hello from Wisconsin! My name is Christine and I am a new member as if 5 minutes ago. I am so excited to find this group. I follow several book clubs on Facebook but none of them talk much about my favorite genre! My two favorites are Shackleton’s Voyage and 12 Years A Slave. I am SO looking forward to learning about others to read. Happy a Reading to everyone.

Great to see some enthusiastic newbies here. Welcome all!

Mary wrote: "Welcome Claire. You might want to also join the group “Around the world in 80 books.” Here on goodreads.


i>Claire wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Claire. I have been here a year or so but entirely lurki..."

I am part of that group as well and enjoy it! Great suggestion :)

Hello, I'm Wendy. I joined this group a few weeks ago but have been reading HF for years. Really excited to get recommendations and see the buzz. I also recently published. I live outside Philadelphia.

Hi, Frank here going to start reading more historical fiction. Been reading mostly history nonfiction but it's getting repetitive. Hope to find some like minded readers

Hi!
My name's Mackenzie. I'm a university student in Arkansas.
My favorite historical fiction book for a long time was Gone with the Wind but now I'm leaning towards All Quiet on the Western Front as my favorite.

Hi everyone! My name is Whitney and I live in Mississippi. This is my first goodreads group, but I’ve been part of a book club with my friends for a couple of months now. I think my favorite historical fiction book is the a Book Thief by Markus Zusak, but I like so many it’s hard to choose. I’m excited to start reading!

Welcome newbies!

Bom dia!

I'm Jenna, history geek and avid reader, fan of the Oxford Comma and the semi-colon; I presently live on Florida's western coast.

Favourite historical fiction book? That's a difficult call - there are so many to enjoy! However, in narrowing it down to one, I'm going with Alison Weir's Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine as my current favourite.

This is my first Goodreads group as well, and I am looking forward to discussions about various books, and continuing to expand my far too long TBR list.

I've been reading since I was a very young child - my mother taught me to read in order to save her sanity, so I'd stop asking her to read me a story. I discovered historical fiction in my twenties, but I'm a fairly diverse reader - plenty of history non-fiction, biographies and memoirs, historical mysteries are definitely a favourite genre, and whatever else tickles my fancy. Not so good at writing reviews yet, but I am making an effort to post one on specific books.

In the debate between e-reader and print books, I'm solidly in the 'Both' camp, seeing as I'm about to wear out my fourth Kindle and my home has books nearly everywhere. As Sylvester Stallone said in Oscar after another comments on seeing his large library, "Yeah yeah, reading's my passion." And it is true in my case!

Delighted to be here, and looking forward to getting better acquainted with everyone! : )

Your intro made me laugh out loud, Jenna! And no token LOL, either. I look forward to hearing your voice in the comments on the monthly reads--especially pausing for the semicolons, without which I cannot live.

Hello to all from beautiful southeastern Arizona! I fled the cold and snow of Midwest winters and am so happy to now live here. The play of light and shadow create an ever-changing panorama. Should I mention the gorgeous sunsets?

I must confess that I haven't been the avid reader that I once was, because I've fallen down the rabbit hole of research. Four years ago, a forum friend mentioned NaNoWriMo. Over the years, I'd often heard the writing muse calling out to me (this usually happened at 1 am and I had to be up at 5 am to catch an early train). My third great-grandfather's life had fascinated me for decades, and I decided to write about him for the NaNoWriMo challenge. Now that the first novel is complete, I hope I'll have more time to once again enjoy reading!

I admire many historical fiction authors and cannot pick just one book! Each is unique. Delderfield's God Is an Englishman the first book in his Swann Saga, Jakes's Kent Family Chronicles, and Clavell's Shōgun readily come to mind. Then there's Susan Howatch Starbridge series which reveal different views of religion.

I've also read contemporary, horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. I'm quite the "bookaholic" and parting with a book often feels like losing a child. With most of my research finished, I'm looking forward to reading.

I love SeAz and have often visited to see the extraordinary birds! Can't say I'd like to live there, though, because I'm not very tolerant of heat. This group is a great place to explore other times and places. Welcome, Trana!

Abigail wrote: "I love SeAz and have often visited to see the extraordinary birds! Can't say I'd like to live there, though, because I'm not very tolerant of heat.

I'm not very tolerant of cold and love the heat without the humidity of the Midwest! lol Love exploring other times. Thanks for the welcome!

Am I permitted to announce my new novel on this site?

Lewis wrote: "Am I permitted to announce my new novel on this site?"

If you have 25 comments in this group you may announce it in the promotions folder.

Jasmine wrote: "Lewis wrote: "Am I permitted to announce my new novel on this site?"

If you have 25 comments in this group you may announce it in the promotions folder."

thank you, but I don't keep track of my posts and don't think I have 25

Lewis wrote: "Jasmine wrote: "Lewis wrote: "Am I permitted to announce my new novel on this site?"

If you have 25 comments in this group you may announce it in the promotions folder."

thank you, but I don't ke..."

All you have to do is hover above your name and a little box appears telling you how many comments you have.

Hi everyone. I'm a Canadian, eh! And a huge fan of historical fiction. Some of my favourite authors are Conn Iggulden (Julius & Khan series), Simon Scarrow (Eagle series), Clive Cussler (almost every series starts with a historical mishap), David Gemmell (Troy series), and Wilbur Smith (Egypt series). I also enjoy some mild science fiction.

Avid reader and also writer of historic fiction but lost my mojo and my current 19th century thriller will be my last.

Greetings, all!

My name is Monica, and I'm a paranoid reader.
As a former literature major, I can learn to love any book, though I have a low tolerance for anything that fails the Bechdel Test too badly; very, very rare exceptions, as you can see upon skimming my “Oldies but Goodies" bookshelf, have been made.

Having fled from romantic suspense and Urban Fantasy (some exceptions have been made here, too) to thrillers, memoirs, mysteries, horror novels, police procedurals, and crime novels, I’m a happier, if pickier, reader and reviewer.

In the name of full disclosure, I will let you know that I am very outspoken and tend to clap back when ruffled, but I can and will keep that to a minimum. :)

I look forward to talking books with you all!

Hi all,

I'm Bill and am happy to be among my fellow Historical Fictionistas. I'm a HF reader and writer, as well as a historian and archivist. I very much enjoy bold, but literate, novels set in the past. My fave authors are Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall, esp.), Phillip Kerr, and Alan Furst. Also Valerie Martin--she can be maddeningly inconsistent, but I loved "Property" and "The Ghost of the Mary Celeste."

I'm also interested in a mélange of stuff as framed in the past like slang, cities, medicine (esp. mental health and autism), and relationships between people. Looking forward to sharing views!

Hi everyone,
I am an author who writes historical fantasy. I am obsessed with doing research and discovering new pockets of historical intrigue. I have a special interest in writing and reading about misunderstood "wise women" who are accused of witchcraft. In this regard, I've written Witch of the Cards (set in 1932) and Witch of the Wild Beasts (set in 1854, and just now launching!). I'm happy to have found this group!

Cool subject, Catherine, one that interests me too! I'll look up your work.

Thanks, following you now.
Catherine
Abigail wrote: "Cool subject, Catherine, one that interests me too! I'll look up your work."

Hello everyone. My name is Jose. I’m Canadian of Spanish descent. I’ve worn many different hats in my life, but my last paid employment was as president of a software company. I turned my hand to writing fiction a few years ago and have now self-published my first novel.
I’m sort of an omnivore when it comes to reading, however my favourite genre is historical fiction. I prefer the swashbuckling novels, such as Shogun, Tai-Pan and Pillars of the Earth to the more literate variety.
Having said that, I’m currently reading the Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris and I’m enjoying it tremendously. I look forward to engaging with you all in some interesting discussions.

Hello again, I live in south central PA. I've got to say my favorite historical novels are uncountable! Once of them is The Scarlet Letter. Did you know Hawthorne was a grandson of one of the judges in Salem 1692 during the witch trials?

Glad you flagged a classic like The Scarlet Letter, Dave. Since I've been in this group I've noticed how many authors of the nineteenth century wrote, if not formal historical fiction, at least fiction set in a bygone generation. Two I read last year were Middlemarch and Wives and Daughters.

Hi everyone,

My name is Cristina and I'm a B.Ed student in Boston. I taught myself to read when I was around 4 years old, and I've loved history as long as I can remember. As a kid, I read the Dear America and Royal Diaries books obsessively. I can't possibly narrow down a favorite historical fiction book, but my favorite eras are revolutions both American and French. I read both YA and adult historical fiction (roughly 50/50 split), and I'm wondering if there are any other YA HF fans in here.

Hi, my name is Chris Oswald. I have always loved history and reading, although I was almost eight years old before I learned to read! Recently, I have sold my business. I still invest in business but my passion is writing historical fiction and alternative history. There is something about history that just absolutely captivates me. I have favourite periods, of course, but love just about everything. I read a lot of historical fiction (as well as other fiction), also straight history books and biographies.
I suppose it all started years ago with Henry Treece. What books they were! Wild, roaring adventures that took me right along with them. I have not read Henry Treece for a few decades but I have a book or two somewhere and will find them one day. I read lots - Bernard Cornwell, C.J. Sansom, Ken Follett, Edward Manston, Philippa Gregory and on and on!!
Now I spend as much time as I can writing but also read at every opportunity.

Hello, I am Melissa Hamed. I live in northeast Ohio. My mother was a history teacher and got me reading sci-fi and teaching me history. I still read sci-fi but I read much more historical fiction. I really like it when it seems like it really happened due to all the real people mixed with the characters. My favorite series right now is the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King. Some of my other favorite authors are Francine Mathews (Jack 1939, Too Bad To Die), Kate Quinn (The Huntress, The Alice Network), Pam Jenoff (The Lost Girls of Paris), Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See), & Elizabeth Gilbert (City of Girls) just to name a few. I know I have just dipped my toe into the pool of books but I am enjoying every minute of it.

Melissa wrote: "Hello, I am Melissa Hamed. I live in northeast Ohio. My mother was a history teacher and got me reading sci-fi and teaching me history. I still read sci-fi but I read much more historical fiction. ..."

Hi Melissa, I too read lots of historical fiction as well as writing it as well. I also do alternative history, looking at how things might have worked out differently. I love everything and anything about history and always have!

Hello, everyone! My name is Indra Zuno and I live in San Diego, CA. I'm a Spanish Court Interpreter, mostly in Federal court. Something funny/interesting about me is that I used to act in Mexican telenovelas.

I've been particularly fascinated by 18th-century America: Golden Hill and Panther in the Sky: A Novel Based on the Life of Tecumseh and Ancient Rome: Conspirata Dictator. I loved Aztec and Coming of the Storm. I'm Mexican, and if I could time travel I'd go to Tenochtitlan before the arrival of the Spanish.

When I travel to historical places I often stare at my feet, planted on ground that was trod by others so long ago, and it mesmerizes me. This has happened in Pompeii, in Rome outside the Coliseum, Colonial Williamsburg, the pyramids at Teotihuacan in Mexico, and Philadelphia, to name but a few.

Stay safe, everyone. We'll all meet on the other side of this bump in the road.

Welcome, Indra! I like your sense of personal connection to history.

Hi I'm Bookgirl and I have read a few novels of the historical fiction genre, my most recent read will be The Forgotten Man ( a short story) anyone else? E.J Wood The Forgotten Man

Welcome all! Can't remember if I've ever introduced myself.

My name is Kirsten and I live in southeastern Washington State. (That's the brown bit of the Evergreen State!)

My favorite historical novel is Katherine by Anya Seton.

Hey everyone! I can't remember if I posted on here before so here goes again. I'm 27 and my name is Jessalyn Joy. I live in central Iowa. My favorite historical novel is This Light Between Us. It's about World War II.

Welcome, all! It's great we can all read together and share info during this difficult time.