Things I Like - Books

I don’t read a lot of history books – it’s not that I don’t like history; it’s just that most history books are too slow, tedious, dry and mind numbingly dull to make it through.

But I do like reading historical fiction. It might not be history from an academic perspective but I learn something and it’s entertaining.

I remember the first time I read something like this – it was James Michener’s The Source. I was fascinated by the novel which tells the history of the Jewish people and the development of Israel through an archaeological dig taking place in the 1960’s. It was history presented in an engaging format - I was hooked and have been reading historical fiction ever since.

Over the years I’ve read tons of the stuff and found a number of favorite authors that can be counted on for interesting and informative novels:

• Margaret George – many of her novels cover the lives of famous women
• Sharon Kay Penman – all I know about English history comes from these books
• Jean Auel – The Clan of the Cave Bear series for a pre-historic viewpoint
• Dorothy Dunnett – The Lymond Chronicals and the House of Niccolo series (15th and 16th century Europe)
• Edward Rutherfurd – like Michener, Rutherfurd focuses on places more than people. I loved Sarum and London. His most recent is New York

In looking for more reading opportunities in this genre, I ran across this list – the Best Historical Fiction. Although I agree with the books listed in the top 20 (I’ve read all but 5 of them), I had a harder time with some of the others:

(#24) Water for Elephants – I liked the book and it did provide an interesting picture of circus life but it didn’t seem very historical to me

(#36) Like Water for Chocolate – I loved this book but the only history involved was the fact that it took place in late 1800 Mexico

(#41) Snow Falling on Cedars – I read the book but for the life of me, cannot remember how it might be historical

This led me to the question what qualifies as historical fiction? I checked a couple sources:

Historical fiction presents readers with a story that takes place during a notable period in history, and usually during a significant event in that period… and] often presents actual events from the point of view of people living in that time period.
~Wikipedia

Historical fiction are novels that re-create a period or event in history and often use historical figures as some of its characters. To be deemed historical, a novel must have been written at least fifty years after the events described.
~goodreads

To be deemed historical…a novel must have been written at least fifty years after the events described, or have been written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events...
~Historical Novel Society

So…historical fiction depicts a period or event in history at least 50 years old. Excellent. The year I was born is mere months away from qualifying as source material.