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Your favorite period of history to read about...?

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Wed October 14th, 2009, 12:17 am

[quote=""Divia""]Where have all you Victorian lovers been? Here I thought I was by myself all these years. :p Do you read HF set during the Victorian Era or do you read Victorian Era books?[/quote]

I read any period Divia. I'm busy with Victorian at the moment - The American Boy by Andrew Taylor. Before that I read The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen (modern interspersed, but more historical than modern). I enjoy a well told Victorian tale. :)
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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Wed October 14th, 2009, 1:29 am

[quote=""Divia""]Where have all you Victorian lovers been? Here I thought I was by myself all these years. :p Do you read HF set during the Victorian Era or do you read Victorian Era books?[/quote]

I read Victorian Era books. The usual suspects: the Brontes, Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, Wilkie Collins, George Gissing, plus some less well known ones - Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, Charlotte Mary Yonge. Also French 19th century fiction: Balzac, Flaubert and Zola. I particularly like novels that focus on women who don't fit the typical 19th century mould. That could be realistic fiction, like Zola's Nana, or, more often, sensation fiction - I loved Lady Audley's Secret and Armadale. As far as proto-feminism goes I never think Anne Bronte gets enough credit - her claim that a wife had the right to leave an abusive husband (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) seems to have been fairly radical for its day. She has always been overshadowed by Charlotte and Emily - I'm sure if she'd just belonged to another family her literary standing would be considerably higher.

I am not particularly well-read in American fiction but I love Edith Wharton, especially The Custom of the Country. Henry James I find a bit of a struggle.

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robinbird79
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Post by robinbird79 » Wed October 14th, 2009, 1:52 am

I am a British history/historical fiction fanatic, though only up until 1603.

I'm not sure how I got hooked, though I suspect it had something to do with my love of British Literature and wanting to know more about the history. It is the only area that is fascinating to me. I like anything from the Anglo-Saxon period all the way up until Elizabeth I's death. Why? Well, to me, it just isn't as interesting as all the medieval stuff. Just my personal feelings, of course. :) I was hooked on the Tudors for a LONG time but I have moved back in time and really love reading about the Plantagenets, especially Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Wars of the Roses, and Edward IV and Richard III. To me, the medieval period is so intriguing (not to mention so totally different from our times) and there was so much happening. England has such a long history and I love discovering things about it. No other country or time period holds that fascination for me (though I do enjoy reading about the Civil War).

As to British Literature (which started this love), I am a huge Shakespeare, Bronte, and Austen fan. :)
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Post by Sharz » Wed October 14th, 2009, 3:07 am

I've always loved history. My earliest memory of checking out library books is the Little House in the Prairie series. Growing up, I was totally enthralled with US history, colonnial through WWII. I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but I read any fiction I came across. I suspect that if I could compile a complete list of every book I've ever read, it would probably be 95% historical (and classical).

Up until 1993, it was entirely US history, and my favorite period was the Revolutionary War, with the Civil War a close second. My interest in history outside of US was limited to things directly tied to events critically important the US. You can't learn American colonnial history without dabbling some into British, and I found the Tudors interesting and explored them in non-fiction at one point. Don't recall any fiction, though.

That all changed in two hours in September 1993. I was a 1L law student taking a required class in Common Law history. It was very brief, very surface, skimming along from Henry II through Blackstone. But when I saw that the US simply adopted British commonlaw wholesale, until American legislation developed otherwise, I instantly became obsessed with learning British history to increase my understanding the roots of US history, politics, and law. And as soon as I started looking into it, I fell in love with British history for its own sake, anytime from William the Conqueror through the Tudors (not sure why it stops totally dead there, but it does.) My favorite period is easily the Plantagenets, Henry II through Richard III. I just find that family so fascinating.

I dabble into other times and places beyond US and British history, but that tends to be sporatic and often author driven. I've done more such dabbling in the six months since I started reading this board than before, but I still gravitate heavily to US and British.
Last edited by Sharz on Wed October 14th, 2009, 3:10 am, edited 2 times in total.

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed October 14th, 2009, 4:16 am

I've been interested in the Wars of the Roses ever since I read Shakespeare's plays, but I never delved deeply into medieval English history until around 2003 or so, when I happened to re-read Christopher Marlowe's Edward II and became fascinated with the historical background to the story. I started to dig around in the library, which led me to start back writing fiction, which also in turn led me to start reading a lot more historical fiction!

I have odd gaps in what does and doesn't interest me. I can't get at all interested in the Crusades, for instance, or in pre-Norman Conquest England. I'm shamelessly Anglocentric in my tastes, though I've enjoyed novels set in France also. I also enjoy the occasional book set in revolutionary and Civil War-era America; I wish I enjoyed these periods even more, since I could actually travel to some of the historical sites involved without having to save up for months!

I much prefer historical novels featuring historical figures to those featuring purely fictional ones--it's just a matter of taste. While many of my favorite novelists wrote in the 19th century, I've little interest in historical fiction set during that time (unless it features one of the novelists in question).
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Veronica
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Post by Veronica » Wed October 14th, 2009, 5:55 am

I don't think I have one. I'm sort of still searching the field of all different eras. I recently discovered Egypt thanks to Michelle Moran and this site. But it seems like books about the brittish royal court are the most common and easiest to get a hold of.
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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Wed October 14th, 2009, 9:14 am

I am a bit of a time tourist as well. I enjoy reading about Ancient Egypt and Rome, medieval, Tudor, restoration, WWI and WWII and just about any time in between!

If you were tying me down and torturing to get an answer I would probably have to say medieval.
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Carine
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Post by Carine » Wed October 14th, 2009, 9:19 am

My favourite period is the Middle Ages, I can not explain why though :-)

Although I love to read about Ancient Egypt too, as well as Tudors and the 1600's

I am not a fan of the Victorian period and certainly not WWI and WWII.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Wed October 14th, 2009, 9:54 am

WWII books always seem to be the same. I'm not sure I want to read it. Maybe the homefront? I dunno. And even that would be a stretch. Although there seems to be quite a bit written about it.

WWI I might do, if I found the right book.
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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
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Post by Madeleine » Wed October 14th, 2009, 10:32 am

I've read the Brontes, Hardy and Austen, and have Lady Audley's Secret and a couple of Mrs Gaskell's books on tbr piles, also Dickens. I don't really consider the classics as HF though, as they were contemporary for their time (think we've had this discussion before!).

But I also like Victorian-set novels written by contemporary authors eg Andrew Taylor, Sarah Waters and my current read, John Harwood.

I'm not that interested in modern history ie from around 100 years ago, although the Edwardians are OK! Otherwise it's all a bit too recent for me.
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