I enjoy books that cover ancient history. I find most ancient civilizations quite interesting. Additionally, I want to find a book that isn’t “dry”. I’m looking for something that will hold my interest and not require me to slog through it. I can do that (slogging, I mean), but right now I’m in the mood for something that doesn’t take all that much effort.
I am a fan of Roman history and find individuals such as Julius Caesar, Agustus, Pompey, and the first Augustus fascinating. Caesar really interests me.
I also enjoy any historical novels that cover the beginning of man up to about the 18th century.
So, what are your recommendations? I have a Border’s gift card ready to be used. I’ve already used my other gift card to purchase The Rebels of Ireland, having read and enjoyed the first book in the series.
I eagerly await your recommendations, as I know many of you are avid readers.
I am fond of *Creation *by Gore Vidal. It follows the interesting travels of the fictional grandson of Zoroaster through Greece, the Persian court, and beyond.
I really enjoyed The Scourge of God by William Deitrich. It’s set in 449 - 551 AD and is mainly about Attila and the Hun invasion on the Roman Empire.
Fascinating stuff and it really brought the era and events to life for me…
I’m now pondering getting his Napoleon’s Pyramids when it comes out soon in hardback…
Try *Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic * by Tom Holland. This is history rather than historical fiction, but is by no means “dry”. I’d heartily recommend it, and with a username like mine, you know I take books seriously!
Until my (failing) memory allows me to name more, four historical novels I’ve particularly liked:
The Kingdom of the Wicked, by Anthony Burgess. The birth of Christianism in Ancient Rome. Vintage Burgess.
The Egyptian, by Mika Waltari. Fascinating book where the narrator is a physician living during the reign of Akhenaten, probably the first monotheistic ruler ever. Ancient Egypt viewed by a Finn? Why not?
Sarum, by Edward Rutherfurd. Southern England from 10,000 BCE to WWII. Sweeping.
Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar. The Roman emperor’s (2nd century CE) real memoirs have been lost, and Yourcenar imagines what they might have said. A great philosophical reflexion.
It’s very recent, but try “The Historian” by Kostava. Basically it’s a modern re-telling of Dracula. It’s a thick book (600+ pages) but suprisingly it isn’t boring.
I might add Neropolis, by Hubert Monteilhet. Rome under Nero. Pretty disquieting novel.
Also, for an interesting view of how a late-XIXth-century writer saw this same period, Quo Vadis?, by Henryk Sienkiewicz. A love story between a Roman patrician and a Christian young woman in a time of turmoil.
You might enjoy The Ptolemies, by Duncan Sprott; it’s a fictionalized account of, IIRC, Ptolemy I at the very least as narrated by Thoth, Egyptian God of Wisdom. It held my interest, although it entirely lacked dialogue and was a bit odd stylistically. Plenty of murder, incest, war, cowardice, though.
One I’m reading now is “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,” by Mark Twain. Definitely NOT the humorous sort of story you would expect from him. Twain – Samuel Clemens – although not Catholic, was a great admirer of Joan. A labor of love, he researched sources in both France and England for 12 years before ven begining to write. The narrator is ostensibly a childhood friend of hers leaving behind his personal remembrances for his "great-great-grand nephews and nieces’ in his old age. Twain was so concerned the public would be disappointed in the book not being another “Tom Sawyer” or “Huckleberry Finn” sort of tale that it first appeared serialized as the work of an anonymous translator in “Harper’s Magazine” beginning in April 1895. No one realized it was Twain. Sure enough, when it ws published in book form, and the public knew the real author, they were disappointed, and it rather flopped. But only because it was indeed unlike his other works.
It’s quite good so far. You get a good sense of early 15th-century France.
Latro in the Mist by Gene Wolfe (an omnibus of two novels) describes the rather eccentric travels of an amnesiac in the ancient greek world. It’s strange and somewhat confusing, but a thoughtful and entertaining work nontheless.
Pompeii by Robert Harris. It’s a conspiracy set in Pompeii just before the eruption. An aqueduct engineer realises that something is wrong but he isn’t the only one.
In fact, if you like historical fiction, you’ll like all of Harris’s novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel and Imperium. Enigma was made into a film and Archangel was serialised by the BBC.
Not ancient history (except in the US), but Mayflower is very good. I’m about halfway through it, and finding it very engaging. The real story about the Pilgrims is nothing like the myth.
