List your favorite Top 10 Historical Fiction Reads

N. Gemini Sasson · Post by **N. Gemini Sasson** » Mon November 1st, 2010, 8:11 pm

[quote=""Andrew LiVecchi""]Here's my stab at a list. I'm sure I'm forgetting something

.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
The Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell
The Forgotten Legion Series by Ben Kane
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ben Hur by Lew Wallace
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe[/quote]

I see we have some of the same tastes, Andrew. So I'll steal from yours to start...

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywellyn
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Red Branch by Morgam Llywellyn
Lord of Sunset by Parke Godwin

and most recently The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Tue November 2nd, 2010, 3:04 pm

[quote=""Misfit""] We still can't get the controller to tell us what the name of the class is in college where they taught a*** retentiveness. [/quote]

It's not something they teach, it's something you're born with.

People who are afflicted with it tend to gravitate to accounting. Of course, I'd like to think I'm not as bad as most accountants (yeah, right, that's what they all say....)

Ok, here is my list. Since some of these may not be considered HF, I'm just calling it my all-time favorites. Surprisingly, I only came up with 9 although I'm sure a 10th will come to mind shortly. I guess I set the bar pretty high.

In order to make this list, a book must meet all of these criteria: an incredibly compelling plot and/or characters; made an indelible impression on me; a book I have read several times and anticipate reading several more times before I die; a virtually flawless book.

My list isn't very original, and most of these I've already mentioned several times on this forum,

but here goes (GWTW is the top, but after that they are not in any particular order):

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton

The Czar · Post by **The Czar** » Thu October 13th, 2011, 4:10 pm

I love this thread, but I am a rankings fiend.

I'd say... (no particular order)

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Long Ships - Frans G. Bengtsson
Byzantium - Michael Ennis
I, Claudius and Claudius the God - Robert Graves
The Court of The Lion - Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri
The First Man In Rome Series - Colleen McCullough
Count Belisarius - Robert Graves
The Flashman Series - George MacDonald Frasier
The Aubrey-Maturin Novels - Patrick O'Brien
Helen of Troy - A Novel - Margaret George

rebecca · Post by **rebecca** » Fri October 14th, 2011, 1:26 am

This was so difficult, can't it be 20 fave books?

1. Gone with the Wind-Margaret Mitchell
2. Forever Amber-Kathleen Winsor
3. Welsh Trilogy-Sharon Kay Penman
4. The Sunne in Splendour-Sharon Kay Penman
5. Testimony of Two Men-Taylor Caldwell
6. The Phantom-Susan Kay
7. To Defy a King
8. Persuasion-Jane Austen
9. I, Claudius Robert Graves
10. Rebecca-Daphne Du Maurier

There are so many I left out and lots on my TBR list...Maybe a new thread can be started with 20 fave books

one can hope

Bec

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Fri October 14th, 2011, 4:40 pm

Personally I wouldn't call Rebecca HF in the same sense as say, To Defy A King, although it would be in my top 10 of general fiction books, but we've had this discussion before about when is a book HF or not HF, so I guess it comes down to personal choice in the end.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Sat October 15th, 2011, 5:23 am

Yes, Rebecca was contemporary fiction when it was written, but I suspect that even then it had the flavor of an older world, because of the remote quality of the Manderley estate and its atmosphere of wealth. At the time, wealthy people lived in a way that seemed to hearken back to an earlier century. Or at least the novel has that feel for me. The detail about Rebecca's delicate, lacy underthings being hand-sewn by nuns is especially evocative, not only of an earlier time, but in the way it obliquely foreshadows other ironies in the story.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat October 15th, 2011, 9:06 am

Daphne du Maurier's books are classed as modern classics. 'Rebecca' is a fabulous book!

rebecca · Post by **rebecca** » Sun October 16th, 2011, 3:35 am

I did dither about including 'Rebecca' because it wasn't all crinolines and cravats but I also consider it a classic and it is one of my favourite books. But I get the point that it isn't set in a later time period

.

Bec

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Sun October 16th, 2011, 7:36 pm

Given your name, how could you resist including it!

Kveto from Prague · Post by **Kveto from Prague** » Mon October 17th, 2011, 6:33 pm

for me, ill try to limit it to one book per author (otherwise it would be mostly Duggan) in no order without checking my shelves.

"Knight in Armour" Alfred Duggan
"the Grand Cham" Harold Lamb
"King Rat" James Clavell
"Poland" James Mitchener
"Deux lo Volt" Evan Connell
"Name of the Rose" Umberto Eco
"Follow my Black Plume" Geoffrey Trease
"Horned Helmet" Henry Treece
"The Bosnian Chronicle" Ivo Andric
"Taras Bulba" Nikolai Gogal
"Heirs of the Kingdom" Zoe Ouldenbourg