I’m sure there’s a million threads like this one, but none for me…
I’m going book shopping tomorrow, and I would like a specific kind of book…
A while back, I read Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, and I loved it. I’ve also read everything by Edward Rutherford. They were pretty good… Since then, I’ve been trying to find some more good historical fiction. I read the Davinci Code (as well as everything else by Dan Brown), and while good, it wasn’t what I was looking for. I liked Bernard Cornwell’s Stonehenge, but it looks like the rest of his books are grail related, and I prefer more of the “common man” type of books, rather than adventure. I would like to find something that either spans large amounts of time (like Rutherford) or is set pretty much in medevial times. I would say the most important thing is more of the characters, rather then the action. Anything to recommend?
Other tastes that I have: I’ve read everthing I can find by Terry Pratchett. The Chronicles of Narnia are my all time favorite books (read them probably 10 times each). A wide range of the classics (Catch-22, Animal Farm, The Jungle, Fahrenheit 451, the anti-utopias (1984, Brave New World, We) I really like the anti-utopias, so if you’ve got a suggestion there, I might pick that up, too.
Lately, I haven’t been very adventurous, so I don’t have much in the way of dislikes. One book I couldn’t ever get into however, was Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. Is is actually worth taking another crack at?
Not having read any of the books you mention (except Pratchett and the classics) I don’t know if this will interest you. The Years Of Rice And Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson is an alternate history. The basic premise is (paraphrasing from the dust jacket):It is the fourteenth century. What if, instead of the Black Plague killing a third of Europe’s population, it killed 99 percent? This is a look at a history that stretches across centuries, a history that sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble spanning horrible famine and magnificent innovation.
This is not normally my kind of thing, but this book was fascinating. I doubt you had a science fiction author’s book in mind when you started this thread, but you might like it.
Or not.
I’ll give it a try. Unfortunately, I did not get to go book shopping tonight because my boss’s boss wanted to go out drinking, and he really twisted my arm. (Along the lines of “Hey, want to get a drink?”)
I just finished Empire Falls, and it stood out as one of the best two books I’ve read this year. The other was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Empire Falls is about a small town in Maine, and follows a man who spent his whole life their. The writing is beautiful, and captures the feel of a small town - both the good parts and the really icky parts.
Never Let Me Go was amazing. Semi-sci-fi ish, but Ishiguro is not considered a sci fi author. Very eerie twist that I’m not going to give away. Once again, beautiful writing.
We have pretty similar tastes, I’ve read Cornwell and Rutherford and The Pillars of the Earth. (and Pratchett and Orwell) All of my books are packed away right now, gonna paint the living room, or I’d have more suggestions. I read Foucaults Pendulum years ago, I’d say give it another try. I like Ellis Peter’s Cadfael mysteries for the characters and the medieval atmosphere, but not as complicated as Eco. You might like Phillipa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl (Anne’s sister) and her Wideacre trilogy. Have you tried any of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books? I like the characters in them. I read a book called The White Cutter that is similar to the Pillars of the Earth, but it was a long time ago, but I remember it was good. For Scottish history there is Jennifer Robeson’s Lady of the Glen.
If it’s not too late…if you like historical fiction, a genre I’m personally am not too hot on, you might enjoy the Baroque Cycle by Neill Stephenson – Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. Set in the late 1600s up to 1714, it follows a large number of characters through the age of the Sun King in Europe; the last book is set entirely in the England of 1714 (well, 90%). I’ll add a caution: one of the story lines takes a lot of suspension of disbelief, and I much prefered the OTHER one. But it’s well worth your time – plus, you get 800 pages for fifteen dollars or so.