Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with historicalfiction

Recommendations for fiction that takes a non-mainstream view of a historical event/person

peacheater — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:05:22 -0800

What are some good books of historical fiction that take a contrarian view of some well-known event/person? To give you examples of what I mean: I recently read Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Mr. W. H. in his collection of short stories, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories. In this story, Wilde argues that the Mr. W. H. whom Shakespeare dedicates his sonnets to is Willie Hughes, a boy actor in Shakespeare's company. His arguments come from the sonnets themselves.
Another example is Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, which presents arguments against Richard III having had his nephews smothered while imprisoned in the Tower of London. The story is told from the point of view of a London policeman, bed-ridden for a while and taking up historical investigations to pass the time.
So do you have recommendations for books along similar lines? While both these books are told from the point of view of a third person investigating historical events, that need not necessarily be the case.
For example, a Hindi play that I read for high school Hindi told the story of the Kurukshetra war (on which the Mahabharata is based) from the point of view of the customary villains -- the Kaurava brothers.

Books that grab you and don't let go

banjo_and_the_pork — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 06:20:51 -0800

Looking for decently written, page-turning historical fiction. I love, love, love historical fiction. But I find that I'm kind of picky about the books that really grab me. It seems that it's been about a year since the last general historical fiction recommendation question, so I'm hoping to get some suggestions. I find that Amazon's "people also bought" suggestions are good, but sometimes lead me pretty far astray, and I like LibraryThing and GoodReads to find suggestions, but it can be hard to wade through everything there.

My basic parameters: well-written enough so that bad writing doesn't jar me or take me out of the story, not so well-written that it feels cumbersome and a drag to get through. I'd like a dash of romance, and if it involves a mystery or suspense that would be great, but not totally necessary.

Books I love: the Outlander series, Connie Willis' "Doomsday Book" and "To Say Nothing of the Dog," Rutherford's "London" and "Sarum," (but his other books have not grabbed me), a few Phillippa Gregory books, "The Historian," everything by Deanna Raybourn and Tasha Alexander.

Books I have not enjoyed: Dorothy Dunnett (maybe I'm not giving her enough of a chance, I could not get into the two books of hers I've picked up), The Red Tent, Years of Rice & Salt. Not really "historical fiction," but I don't particularly care for Jane Austen.

In terms of fantasy books that read kind of like historical fiction but are not actually historical, I love Robert Jordan's first 5 books, but I could not get into George R.R. Martin. I have tried Pratchett and just don't enjoy his writing style. Also, because it always comes up in these book questions- I liked "Pillars of the Earth" (and kind of liked the sequel, but that was not nearly as good), but I wouldn't lump it in with books I loved. I hope these aren't horribly tight restrictions that make suggesting anything impossible, there must be people who like the same kind of books I do out there!

Fiction book(s) on Mexico or Mexican History to read with my grandma

barnone — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:09:55 -0800

What is your favorite book or DVD series about Mexico? Particularly historical fiction or contemporary fiction. Preferably in English, but if you have a great recommendation in Spanish, I'd take that too! My grandmother thanks you! My grandma is Mexican, and is the 3rd generation of British expats who ended up in Mexico through complicated travels and drama. She's a history buff but doesn't read much in the way of contemporary novels. She's getting on in age, so something in the form of short stories would probably help her concentrate, but I won't limit the responses to that (something like Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies but set in/around Mexico?) She has a great sense of humor, but isn't particularly sympathetic to the Zapatistas at the moment, to give you a sense of her politics.

I'd love love to find her a few books that use historical fiction to tell a great tale, or contemporary fiction that interweaves history into it (like Middlesex), immigrants into Mexico, the Mexican revolution, complicated family histories, or even Mexican immigration to the US or other parts. I saw the other thread on books about Mexican immigrants to the US, and I have a few other ideas there, but other than Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo, nothing totally jumped out at me. It's a little long for her, at 400 pages, I think.

A DVD series might be good too, but she's a little deaf so without subtitles it gets complicated.

I'd like to read these books with her, so we can talk about them over our Christmas holiday and beyond. I'll take as many recommendations as you can suggest - preferably with a few little lines of explanation rather than just the title so I can figure out how to proceed with the massive selection out there!

Really what she wants is more time with her family living all over the world, so I thought if I bought a bunch of copies of a few of these books, some of us could read them together and email our thoughts. She's better on email than the phone anyway, since she's so deaf. Thanks in advance.

Novels starring real people

annabellee — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:28:06 -0800

What good, recent novels depict the lives of actual, once-living people? I'm thinking along the lines of Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. I'm looking for fictional depictions of real people, preferably those who lived within the last century. I suppose the genre of this sort of book would be "historical fiction," but as in the case of Horan's book, the main characters (Frank Lloyd Wright, Mamah Cheney) are real people about whom quite a bit is known, and the history is fairly recent.

Good Historical Fiction For My Mother?

thivaia — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:44:06 -0800

Help me recommend a historical novel to my mother. My mother is going to the beach next week and has called to ask for book recommendations. I'm usually pretty good at this, but this year she has made a very specific request for historical novels that are (her words) "not too dark, not too philisophical or too political, romantic, but reasonably well-written. Also, a page turner."

It should be stated that my mother's view of "historical" does not include fantasy, nor does it include any time period past, say, 1800. (The last novels I read that dealt with the rough period she's looking for were TC Boyle's "Water Music" and Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, both of which I loved, neither I doubt she'd like at all.) However, she has generally good taste in literature, likes a writer that can turn a phrase, is not one to read bodice rippers, and is pretty progressive (not likely to be offended, in other words).

I know this is not terribly specific, but I'm trying to be a helpful daughter. I own hundreds of books (literally) and yet I seem unable to come up with anything and she's constantly disappointed by the Amazon recommendations and such.

Anybody got a time machine?

Bookhouse — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:36:39 -0800

How do I learn everything about a historical place and time? I'm planning on writing a novel set in the past (Missouri, 1932, to be exact). It won't be my first or even second novel but, I'm at a loss as how to tackle the research. I have read James Ellroy say that he hires researchers for his novels. How much does this cost, and how do I find the right researcher? I'm pretty poor, but if I think I can purchase significantly better researched and organized facts, I'll drop the dough.

Alternatively, of course, I can do all the research myself. I'm looking to collect everything from: biographical data on real people who will be involved in the plot, speech patterns of Ozark natives in the 30s, life inside Leavenworth prison back then, and just the general details of life that you could effortlessly place in a novel that occurs in your own time. I have some books, and I have interviewed some of my relatives, but need to get a lot more.

(BTW, I'm not looking at starting writing for at least another year, so I have the time. But I want to have a nice collection of facts before starting.)

Similar books to The Terror

i_am_a_Jedi — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:49:37 -0800

BookRecFilter: One of my favorite authors has just knocked my socks off with his most recent book. I love what he did so much that I'd like to find other historical fiction like this. *Small spoiler for The Terror inside* The Terror by Dan Simmons just came out and it is amazing. Here's a review from The Agony Column (great site btw).
I read a lot of science fiction, but not much historical fiction. The basic premise is that HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were lost while searching for the Northwest Passage through the Arctic. The ships were never recovered and the crews perished. This is fictionalizing of the events.

I'm having a difficult time trying to pin down what I liked about it. I think that it was because there was a supernatural element to the story (hunted by an artic monster), but that was far from the emphasis. This wasn't aliens coming to get them or the monster eating everyone. The twist of the story was that despite this monster, ultimately it was nature and man's hubris that doomed them.

So any historical fiction recommendations that feature not-so-much-in-your-face supernatural things, uncertain fates of the characters, and is a page-turner?
I've already read and loved S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time

Recommendations for Paris reading?

walla — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:38:34 -0800

Recommendations for historical fiction about Paris? I'll be there for a couple of weeks, and have found that historical novels can really help me sink my teeth into a place. I have no particular era in mind, so the period is less important than the setting and the writing.

Teachers and students: have you read historical fiction as part of history lessons?

paduasoy — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:35:22 -0800

Using historical children's fiction to support the teaching of history? I am working on a paper on children's historical fiction. I have found several resources which discuss using historical fiction to support teaching history at school, and this seems to be common in the US from what I've come across (I'm in the UK). For instance, several people have mentioned that Karen Cushman's children's novel Catherine, Called Birdy is often used in the twelfth grade to support teaching about the mediaeval period. The editors have asked me to explore this further, and particularly whether I'm right in suggesting that use of historical fiction in this way is more common in the US than in the UK.

So - have any teachers or students any recent experiences of using, or not using, historical fiction in teaching or learning history? I'm particularly interested in UK views, but anything is welcome. Thanks for your help.

historical fiction identification: rome, china

nonane — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:20:28 -0800

Historical fiction children's book ID filter: scholars and bandits in 1930s China and bull-jumping children in Rome. Two books of historical fiction for children/young adults, read in 1950s/1960s.

1. Set in 1930s China during tumult involving warlords and bandits. A Chinese scholar's son is sent to live with peasants because his father thinks he'll be safer there; unfortunately, the village is soon raided. The bandit chief's horse rears and a fancy ancient teapot falls from his saddlebag; the boy recognizes its age and value and catches it. This amuses the bandit, and the boy is taken with them to their camp, where he meets an American missionary's son, also captured, and another scholar. They attempt to teach the missionary child Chinese, but he has difficulty with tones and keeps using the word for "mushroom."

2. Begins with a prologue in which archaeologists are puzzled by a cameo which shows the heads of three children from widely separated parts of the Roman Empire. Story explains that they were captured/sold into slavery from various parts of the empire, thrown together in Rome, ended up bull-jumping in Crete, possibly dispersed from there by natural disaster (?). I'm pretty sure that it's not any of the Rosemary Sutcliffe novels, nor is it the (fairly recent) mystery series about children in Rome.

Any ideas?

post-baroque cycle reading

craniac — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:38:09 -0800

I've read everything by Neal Stephenson (and other cyberpunk authors) and most recently finished the baroque cycle. I am looking for recommendations for interesting historical fiction that has that same sort of feel--convoluted, anachronistic, sprawling, adventuresome, but not too adolescent. I need to leave science fiction for a while and need some direction. Thank you!

Question number 12807

Johnny Assay — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 10:28:14 -0800

What are your favourite historical fiction novels? [more inside]

Question number 11329

aacheson — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 08:36:56 -0800

Historical Fiction. I want to branch of of reading almost only middle ages English history. Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about Japan surrounding the nuclear bombs during WW2? Or the Holocost. Or other good historical fiction of other varieties. (I like times of disaster/difficulty.) Heck, I'll even take recommendations for middle ages..but I've probably read it.