(Part 3) Best historical fiction books according to redditors

If it weren't for us you'd all be speaking German!

edit: Or something. I'm American, I don't really know what I'm doing here. All I know is Mandela, Apartheid, Krugerrands, and District 9.

Oh and The Power of One. That book is amazing.

The ladycrappo 7-Step Dealing With Depression Plan
Brought to you by a chick who's been hospitalized for major depression on four separate occasions and is now living a relatively stable normal life

1. Exercise, exercise, exercise. This may be the last thing you feel like doing, but it's one of the cheapest, safest, most effective ways to boost your mood. Don't feel you have to go to a gym if the ambiance creeps you out; ride a bike, get out in the sunshine, whatever works for you.
   
   
2. Eat well. Shitty diets make you feel shitty physically and mentally. Depressed people tend to have trouble with eating either too much or too little, and with eating crappy stuff in general that wrecks your blood sugar and makes you lethargic. You don't need that. Make a good healthy diet a priority: fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean protein, unsaturated fats, you know the drill.
   
   
3. Get your sleep schedule sorted out. Don't let yourself sleep too much because you don't want to face life; it just makes you more listless. If you're having trouble sleeping enough, force yourself to get on a more regular schedule. Sleep is fundamental to good mental health.
   
   
4. Shower every day. Keep up with personal hygiene, even when you feel like a hideous human turdball. A clean turdball can feel slightly better about itself than a dirty turdball, and whatever bit of dignity and self-worth you can reclaim for yourself is really important.
   
   
5. Do stuff. You won't want to, you really won't want to, but do it anyways. Answer your phone, get out of the house, go out to eat or see a movie-- do normal people stuff despite your profound sense of abnormality. This serves to keep you feeling like a member of the human race, keep you connected with the people in your life who are your support system, and also just to distract you from the ugly world inside your head.
   
   
6. Read up on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is focused on concrete strategies of altering your thinking and behavior. Pick up a copy of Feeling Good and give it's recommendations a serious try.
   
   
7. Do what it takes to get out of your own head. Depression turns you in on yourself, blots out the larger world, traps you in the darker aspects of your own thinking. It's a particularly dark and dangerous sort of self-absorption. Do things that force you to empathize with other people, in other places: do some volunteer work, spend time with loved ones, read about people in unfortunate circumstances who maintain a core of dignity (e.g., What is the What).

Some contemporary options that I can't get out of my head since I read (listened) to them:

• The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. She's a new author and the book was simply amazing.
  
• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Amazing "first contact" story.
  
• Fear the Sky by Stephen Moss. Well-done invasion story.

I would first recommend Shogun by James Clavell. It's an epic story with a great plot. I don't believe it's too accurate, but it's a good read.


If you want to continue on with historical Japanese literature you can't go wrong with Musashi or Taiko both by Eiji Yoshikawa.


Moving on to more western stuff, I recommend the many James Michener books, but they can be boring at times. My favorite of his is Hawaii.


I'd also recommend Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield about the Battle of Thermopylae.

I'm about 115 pages into Johnathon Strange and Mr. Norrell and enjoying it immensely. It's really dense, but the narrator makes it quite entertaining. The prose style actually helps with the immersion since it's written in the style of a nonfiction story written by one of the in-universe characters after the events of the story take place. It has some weird spellings and a few interesting quirks (at one point, the narrator remarks about how silly the idea of metal boats would be).

So far, it's definitely been worth the $3.50 I spent on it during that big sale on Amazon a few months back.

It's called Look Who's Back, and it's been translated into English if you're interested.

UW robbed me of my love for reading for fun.

A ~year after graduating, I was recommended Look Who's Back, which is a funny book about Hitler waking up in 2011, with no recollection on what happened.

It turned into a movie, and is a good/short read.

After that, I read:

• The metamorphosis (Kafka)
  
• Atlas Shrugged (Rand)
  
• Debt, the first 5000 Years (Graeber)
  
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Murakami)
  
• ...and a bunch of others
  
  I forgot how much I like spending an afternoon sipping coffee and reading a great book.

1. The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell
   
2. 10/10
   
3. Historical Fiction (as best as I can describe it)
   
4. Cornwell basically takes all you think you know about Arthurian legend (the round table, lady of the lake) and tosses is out and rewrites it into a more believable tale of what most likely happened. The POV is from a made up character that interacts with Arthur through out his life from birth. You will want to finish this trilogy halfway through the first chapter.
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960

Kim Stanley Robinson - The Years of Rice and Salt

edit - TL;DR: Europe was entirely wiped out by the black plague, so events took an interesting turn

Is it Evolution by Stephen Baxter?

Any Time Travel list without To Say Nothing of the Dog is a sad, sad thing.

[The faithful one would be this one.] (http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1426043827&sr=8-6&keywords=bernard+cornwell)

Excellent point. He’s doing his assignment, perhaps with some Extra Credit work too. He sure seems to have a unique investigative style, a piquant flavor of interpretation. (Peruvian coffee flavored?) I guess they all do, since despite the blatantly leading “questions” and many obvious “conclusions” in the drops, the Qult revels in coming up with their own individual most-patriotic-most-special-military-intelligentsia-superspy further deeper answers and predictions. (Actual answers are never graded by correctness, just in proper Q-Worship.) Then they choose whose they like best, and factions form.

I can’t read many of Sbeetoo’s posts. Or more precisely, I can read them fine but only once I’ve started, because once you start reading his incredible worldview, his reality, it’s hard to tear your eyes away. Like a train wreck, as they say.

It’s a matter of brining myself to do it, to be in the mood, patient enough and all that. His overbearing smug attitude is obnoxious, but more obnoxious are his throwaway references that make me go - HOLDUP, ELABORATE! He needs footnotes or something. He’ll drop something like “and since Eisenhower secretly was a subject of, and worked directly for, the Queen . . .”, and then just breeze right past it.

Maybe SB2 gets away with it by not being so preachy about Q and louder about his Trump relationship?

PS - Oh man, a Qanon book written in the style of Susannah Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell would be a good read, if it was done juuust right. The book is like 40% footnotes, all revealing deeper lore or character background, giving a unique texture to the story. (Note: it’s fiction.)

(PPS: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a splendid book, with wonderful magical realism world-buiding dovetailing in effortlessly with the Regency England setting. It’s been described as “Harry Potter for Adults”, because it involved magic & England, I guess. But I recommend it to all fiction lovers, and apparently it’s only $2 on Kindle right now. It’s one of the books I already owned in print and then bought for Kindle as well - though for a lot more than $2, sigh.)(This was not a sponsored ad, LOL!)

Clavell's Shogun is loosely based on actual history. Very, very loosely. Decades of history are blended together, and various historical figures are conflated into new characters. It's not even close to an accurate reflection of the political and cultural situation at the time, and of course it shoves in a white guy hero... Yeah, it's an entertaining read, but it also tends to make historians froth at the mouth.

The issue with ninjas is that most of the ninja mythology was invented during the 1800s... a good 200 years after the end of the "Warring States" period when much of this ninja action supposedly took place. A whole slew of popular novels were written featuring Sanada Yukimura (a samurai commander known for his cunning tactics) and his "Ten Braves," who were all legendary ninja. Sarutobi Sasuke is probably the most famous of the Ten Braves. Although Sanada Yukimura and the Ten Braves ultimately lost to Tokugawa Ieyasu (whose dynasty would rule Japan for the next 250 years), they were made out to be folk heroes with almost supernatural skill and cleverness.

...However, there's virtually zero evidence that any of these ninja ever existed outside of novels. The whole "ninja" mythos was invented in the 1800s, partly because it sounded cool and partly because the descendents of Sanada's samurai compatriots had suffered two hundred years of oppression under the ruling (but declining) Tokugawa regime, so there was still plenty of simmering resentment. Those two factors together sold a hell of a lot of books.

Samurai did use spies and saboteurs, but they weren't dudes who ran around in black Cobra Kai outfits slinging shuriken at each other. They were basically normal samurai. Political tensions were high during the Warring States era, but most samurai were surprisingly blatant about their backstabbing. Why go through the trouble of using ninja when you can simply lie, bribe, and threaten your way into power?

The biggest influence on modern ideas about ninja was actually the theatre. Kabuki stage plays and bunraku puppet plays both make use of stagehands who dress all in black and cover their faces with black cloth. Since the actors were brightly dressed and painted, these black-clad stagehands were "invisible." So a "ninja" character could creep around the stage in a stagehand's uniform, totally ignored by the audience until they revealed themselves.

Anyway, you were asking for books! The real history of the samurai is, at least to me, much more interesting than made-up ninja stories. It's full of power struggles and epic battles and tragic miscalculations and dirty tactics. It's good stuff. If you're interested, I highly recommend basically anything by Stephen Turnbull. He's written several visual guides to major battles of the samurai era, with tons of illustrations and analysis. He even has a book on ninja, although as I mentioned, ninja are a pretty contentious point among Japanese historians and any modern "ninja training school" that claims authenticity is full of pure bullshit.

Turnbull's War in Japan 1467-1615 is a good place to start. Osaka 1616 and Sekigahara 1600 (by Anthony Bryant) are the real source for Clavell's "Shogun" novel. Europeans actually did have a pretty significant role in Japan's civil wars, but not to the romanticized extent of "Shogun."

Those are probably the most accessible and easy-to-read books on the Warring States era. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa is a semi-fictionalized but very well researched novel that covers some of the same time period, but it's a much more challenging read. Most of the other academic books I have are pretty dry, so start with Turnbull for the fully illustrated action version~

Pastwatch By Orson Scott Card shows the efforts of some time travelers to effect exactly what you're referring to, but only one or two chapters is actually set in the altered timeline.

I second pinguz's offering of The Years of Rice and Salt, but you should be aware that there's some soft sci-fi/mysticism about reincarnation tucked away in it, like in a lot of her work (though I found it quite tasteful).

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Watership Down

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

Playing Civ made me want to read a work of historical fiction, so I picked up Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt. So far it's very good.

It's one of the few Butler's I haven't read yet, but the plot sounds like Kindred.

Actually, that was a bit unkind. I remember what it was like to be a kid and dream big. By way of apology, I'd like to recommend some books to you:

https://www.amazon.com/Dove-Robin-L-Graham-ebook/dp/B0089LOFX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462196&sr=1-1#nav-subnav

https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum-ebook/dp/B00CTOKB8G/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462104&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/My-Old-Man-Sea-Father/dp/0060976969

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026772N8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#nav-subnav

https://www.amazon.com/Years-Before-Mast-Richard-Henry/dp/149224936X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.amazon.com/Moby-Dick-Bantam-Classics-Herman-Melville/dp/0553213113

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Commander-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels-ebook/dp/B006C3Q6GG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462069&sr=1-1

[Kindred] (https://www.amazon.com/Kindred-Octavia-Butler/dp/0807083690), by Octavia Butler. It's actually the first science fiction novel written by a black woman, but when I read it for the first time I don't know that I would have classified it as science fiction. Anyway, incredible book, very exciting and the premise is unique. I highly recommend it.

I also loved and still do love Matilda by Roald Dahl. Ender's Game is also very high on my list.

If we're talking really quick reads, like for a flight or beach day, I absolutely love Mary Higgins Clark. It's not great literature or anything, but they're good mysteries.

Best damn historical fiction of the period starts with the First Man in Rome. Sulla was a connoisseur of fine poisons which he served to those who blocked his rise.

Not sure how you feel about time loop stories, but I would recommend First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

Off-topic, but if you want a great time travel movie, I'd seek out Primer.

Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell

You want the W. W. Norton Company edition from 1990 onwards the cover looks like this got all mine from Barnes & Noble. Easy to find

Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? Your preference for wild magic made me think of this book.

Here are a couple books I think are pretty good:

What is the What by David Eggers

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

The Terror by Dan Simmons

It's good stuff. Some of the writing is just so-so, but the idea is pretty solid. Base human stock + a few nudges from bioengineers = wide variety of forms suited to ecological niches vacated by mass extinctions.

If you like it, you might also like the novel Evolution by Stephen Baxter. I'll warn you, like most of his writing, it's a little bleak.

There was an earler documentary called The Lost Boys of Sudan made prior to God Grew Tired Of Us, which I can't find online so I'd appreciate if someone could help me find it.

and this is a series of interviews:

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

This is a speech called They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky

Edit: The book What is the What is an excellent read as well

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway.

Wool by Hugh Howey.

Read the "Look Inside" previews to see if any of these is right for you.

Dante is a pretty traditional part of the Western canon, but you can probably make the argument if you try.

Some other books to consider (and I'll even give you male protags):

• Pedro Paramo - the story of a man searching for his father, the birth of magical realism.
  
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold (or anything by Marquez) - Who killed Santiago Nassar, and why?
  
• Things Fall Apart the story of how society and changing expectations weigh on a Nigerian man named Okonkwo.
  
• Fictions by Borges - you will never be the same after you read this collection of short stories. Borges was amazing.
  
• If you can make the case for Dante, you can probably make the case for Crime and Punishment, though I'm not totally sure why you'd want to.
  
• For an interesting view of a multi-racial American in the 20s, check out The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, which is guaranteed to make you think about what it means to pass and what it means to be true to yourself.
  
  (And I know you probably don't have time to read any/all of these before school starts, but they're good books to be aware of, and you should check them out if you can.)

Check out Bernard Cornwell's stuff - he's known as one of the top historical fiction writers (if I recall correctly) and he definitely does his homework. There's a bit of fluff, obviously, like his inclusion of the chopping off of longbowmens' fingers (which we're not 100% sure happened - it's possible though!), but his books about the Hundred Years War are fantastic. I've personally read 1356: A Novel and Agincourt: A Novel.

Hope this helps! :)

I'm really into the late Roman Republic, naval history (especially the period between the US Civil War and the First World War, and the Second World War), and Russian history, especially the late Romanov/early Soviet era and the Cold War. Book recommendations:

• Naval history. Just take a look here and go nuts. :P
  
  
• Roman Republic. This may sound strange, but my favorite books about the late Republic aren't actually history books, they're the Masters of Rome series of novels by Colleen McCollough. They're really only semi-fictional, in that they take real events, real people, and the society they lived in, and fill in the gaps of what we don't know with (very plausible, well-written, and exhaustively researched) fictional narratives. The First Man in Rome is the first, and still my favorite out of all of them.
  
  
• Russia. Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy (Russian Revolution, Civil War/War Communism, and early Soviet era). John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History. Both really great.

Yes, you can buy it on Amazon
https://www.amazon.de/Look-Whos-Back-Timur-Vermes/dp/1623653339

Aubrey/Martin in the Master and Commander series ignore the (mediocre) movie and read the books. All sorts of dynamics going on in the relationship.

The first fifteen lives of Harry August by Claire North.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Fifteen-Lives-Harry-August/dp/0316399620/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465070549&sr=8-1&keywords=Harry+August

I have a great suggestion - Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series. This is a beautifully written series chronicling the adventures of a British Navel Captain and a surgeon/intelligence agent during the Napoleonic wars. But really, it is about the deep friendship that develops between these two very different but equally admirable men.

This series has often been called among the best adventure series ever - and you will enjoy getting to know these two men as their careers advance (and, at times falls), as women and children come and go. These are guys you will look forward to spending time with and you will wish you had a friendship like theirs.

(by the way, the movie made from a mashup of a few of the books was ... meh...)

Bernard Cornwell's battle scenes are some of my favorite. They're one of the main reasons I really liked the Warlord Chronicles. (link)

Some 80's cyberpunk-ish stuff. This is far from the best SF I've read, but it's obscure. Stuff I liked when I was a teenager-twentyager.

The Glass Hammer by K.W. Jeter. An odd, cyberpunk thing that I liked when I came out in 1985. Now out of print. I'm having it scanned and will post when it's ready.

When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. (and sequels) Great adventure in an Islamic environment.

The Man Who Never Missed (and sequels) by Steve Perry.

The Skyway Series by John DeChancie. (Starrigger, Red Limit Freeway, Paradox Alley) Silly, adolescent adventure, driving across space and time.

Kindred by Octavia Butler. Actually, EVERYTHING by Octavia Butler is great.

Artificial Things, by Karen Joy Fowler. Short stories.

Blue Champagne by John Valey. Short stories.

I agree about guilty-pleasure cool. I read it because I enjoy it. But a lot of it is very dark. The Conn-Mann Chronicles series is deliberately envisioned as lighter fare. More like Gail Carriger than Mark Hodder.

So... I tried to recreate the issue.

I found the Books with Narration

Mockingjay

Here's the description of [kindle unlimited] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1002872331)

> thousands of Kindle books come with the free professionally narrated Audible audiobook. With Whispersync for Voice, whenever you see "Kindle Unlimited with Narration,"

Here's a book with actual narration

Amazon isn't wrong. Just a bit unclear until you read the directions.

I'd be pretty surprised if this hasn't been picked already, but The Sisters Brothers is pretty good.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

Here are the links:

First
Second
Third

I would put these easily on par with Martin's SoIaF series, and they're already complete!

I'm moving on now to the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and just wanted to give this series some well deserved promotion. 5 of 5 stars.

This month I read the Valerian The Empire of a Thousand Planets book that has a movie coming out. The copy I got smells weird. Pretty standard for a European comic from that time period. I'm always amused by how comics describe decadence :-)

I am also in the middle of Kindred, by Octavia Butler. Very good, highly recommended. In having trouble putting it down to go to sleep at night.

This year I want to read a bunch of stuff by minority authors. Oh, and some non fiction.

Not sure if it qualifies as fantasy (as it's an alternative history with some fantasy elements), but:

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. I really enjoyed it.

So someone finally made a movie about "The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August", hey? (https://www.amazon.com/First-Fifteen-Lives-Harry-August/dp/0316399620)

Kindred, by Octavia Butler.

Hands-down one of my favorite books. It's about a modern black woman in the 70s, married to an older white man, who time travels back to the pre-Civil War era South to protect her ancestors who were slaves. I've read it several times. It's an excellent book.

Here's my comment copied from further down the page:

I think it's from page 272 or 268.

I used Google Books to find the excerpt. You can read it for "free" if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber. Here's the source:

>Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Kindle version) Page 268 of 372 Position 36789 of 4808

>When her hands move to my shirt, I open my eyes. She undoes the buttons slowly, methodically. I watch her, knowing I should stop her. But I can't. I am helpless.

>When my shirt is open she pulls it free of my trousers and looks me in
the eye. She leans forward and brushes her lips past mine—so softly it’s
not even a kiss, merely contact. She pauses for just a second, keeping her
lips so close I can feel her breath on my face. Then she leans in and kisses
me, a gentle kiss, tentative but lingering. The next kiss is stronger still, the
next one even more so, and before I know it I’m kissing back, clutching her
face in both my hands as she runs her fingers over my chest and down my
body. When she reaches for my trousers, I gasp. She pauses, tracing the
outline of my erection.


>She stops. I am reeling, teetering on my knees. Still staring into my eyes,
she takes my hands and brings them to her lips. She presses a kiss into
each palm and then places my hands on her breasts.

>“Touch me, Jacob.”

>I am doomed, finished.

>Her breasts are small and round, like lemons. I cup them, running my
thumbs over them and feeling her nipples contract under the cotton of her
dress. I crush my bruised mouth to hers, running my hands over her rib
cage, her waist, her hips, her thighs—

>When she undoes my trousers and takes me in her hand, I pull away.

>“Please,” I gasp, my voice cracking. “Please. Let me be inside you.”

>Somehow, we make it to the bed. When I finally sink into her, I cry out.

>Afterward, I curl around her like a spoon. We lie in silence until
darkness falls, and then, haltingly, she begins to talk. She slides her feet
between my ankles, plays with my fingertips, and before long the words
are pouring out. She speaks without need or even room for response, so I
simply hold her and stroke her hair. She talks of the pain, grief, and horror
of the past four years; of learning to cope with being the wife of a man so
violent and unpredictable his touch made her skin crawl and of thinking,
until quite recently, that she’d finally managed to do that. And then,
finally, of how my appearance had forced her to realize she hadn’t learned
to cope at all.

>When she finally falls silent, I continue to stroke her, running my hands
gently over her hair, her shoulders, her arms, her hips. Then I start to talk.

>I tell her about my childhood and my mother’s apricot rugelach. I tell her
about starting to go on rounds with my father during my teen years and of
how proud he was when I was accepted into Cornell. I tell her about
Cornell, and Catherine, and how I thought that was love. I tell her about
Old Mr. McPherson running my parents off the side of the bridge, and the
bank taking our home, and how I broke down and ran out of the exam hall
when all the heads lost their faces.

>In the morning, we make love again. This time she takes my hand and
guides my fingers, moving them against her flesh. At first I don’t
understand, but when she trembles and rises to my touch I realize what
she’s showing me and want to cry with joy at the knowledge of it.

>Afterward, she lies nestled against me, her hair tickling my face. I stroke
her lightly, memorizing her body. I want her to melt into me, like butter on
toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with
her encased in my skin.

>I want.

>I lie motionless, savoring the feeling of her body against mine. I’m afraid
to breathe in case I break the spell.



I think the page numbers correspond with the print version, but I'm not sure what ISBN it's from.

I would recommend the novel Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. It's a success story of the man winning the Sengoku period.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4770026099/

If you prefer games and pop culture in general, this Wikipedia article may also be a good start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Sengoku_period_in_popular_culture

I change up the books on the non-fiction list every year and this one is no longer on the list. It's a good one though: here's a link to it on Amazon.

Students may enjoy looking into Dave Eggers' work. He's written another book I've considered putting on the non-fiction project list, Zeitoun, a wonderful fictionalized work of true events called What is the What, and he is the editor and founder of McSweeney's, which has spawned the cool sport's writing quarterly Grantland and a sister literary magazine, The Believer.

The Hangman's Daughter trilogy is available.

Here are three that fit the bill:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Wonder by RJ Palacio.

(And, of course, Old Yeller)

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart-Chinua-Achebe/dp/0385474547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255456961&sr=8-1

This was memorably (if sensationally) novelized by Bernard Cornwell back in '09.

This sounds interesting as fuck. Amazon link for those interested and too lazy to google: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1623653339?pc_redir=1409998216&robot_redir=1

To Say Nothing of the Dog is another time travel nobel by the same author as The Doomsday Book and is a bit lighter fare if you think the black plague is too dark for a recovery read.
As long as I'm here I'll also throw out On Basilisk Station as fun military sci fi with a strong female protagonist.

Sarah Vowell writes some interesting and particular books on American History. I don't think it is on the lines of the swashbuckling adventure you mention above but it is quite fascinating and humorous. Latest being Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.

If it is historical fiction, political intrigue, & sea fairing adventure you seek, there is the Patrick O'Brian novels on the the British Navy during the the beginning of the 19th century. Master and Commander, Aubrey/Maturin Novels The movie Master and Commander (with Russell Crowe) took a stab at a bit of the story. I am presently on Book 10. It is a long series.

I have been wanting to check out [Daughter of Nothing] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F7ROSHC/?coliid=I9833N2VDEV4T&colid=2F75C4UXELQLN&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it) on [this wislist] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ls/?ref=navm_em_mobile_menu_lists) just because it looks really interesting. Also I think that /u/iassessoldpeople should get [The Hangman's Daughter] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P9XMFI/?coliid=I2KZO33A3O8SY0&colid=2AVU1O0LS10FR&psc=0&ref_=lv_vv_lig_dp_it) because that is an awesome title.

Edit my kindle email is lovekataralove@gmail .com and iassessoldpeople is amberbowers79@gmail .com in case I didn't link right.

The Power of One

Guess I had such trouble just choosing one. I love books =P

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

This is by far my new favorite book. It's set in Victorian England in an alternative universe about Mr Norrell, the last Magician left in the world. He is grumpy, ornery, and someone everyone hates working with - despite having no other options. And then another Magician, Jonathan Strange, suddenly shows up - a young, charismatic, charming Magician - who completely changes the game. They opinions clash over how magic should be used, and how they should work with the government.

(I'm not great at synopsis. Sorry)

I absolutely love this book. It's written like a historical fiction/history book. It has footnotes! I've heard other people complain that it's a bit dry in the beginning; however I didn't have that problem. From the very beginning I was just hooked. I brought it on a family vacation, and proceeded to ignore them most of the time so I could read it. Another Pro is that it's a big book, it should last on the 16 hour flight there and back. I linked to the Kindle version cause, as I said, it's a pretty big and heavy book. Personally, I love carrying the big books around (looks intimidating), but I also understand that it's pretty cumbersome for vacations.

Water for Elephants because I lost my copy and can't find it anywhere.

As for why I want a Kindle, I actually would use it in school. I would actually give it to my bf because I bought a tablet that was originally for him and well I like it a lot, so this one would actually go to him and be his to use for reading and anything else he wanted :D

Do you have prime? This one is free to borrow. I recently read it and really liked it:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hangmans-Daughter-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1370108822&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hangmans+daughter

Try some of Martin's literary influences:

1. Roger Zelazny's Amber series is fantastic - http://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319117304&sr=1-1
   
   
2. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, one of my favorite Heinlein books - http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Strange-Land-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441788386/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319117340&sr=1-2
   
   
3. If you haven't tried reading any historical fiction, you should, as its also a big influence of aSoIaF. Try Bernard Cornwell's series of books on King Arthur, starting with The Winter King - http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1319117665&sr=8-9

For me there were 2:

The Sister's Brothers by Dewitt

The Cat's Table by Ondaatje

Dune by Frank Herbert.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. You have probably read it, but if you haven't, it's superbly funny sci-fi comedy.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A book that I re-read once every few years, and every time I find something new in it.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. A gripping, heartbreaking non-fiction book about police detectives. It inspired the acclaimed TV series "Homicide: Life on the Street." Simon would go on to create "The Wire."

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy. Noir-ish procedural crime fiction. If you enjoy "Homicide," you may well like this.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, "a philosophical novel about two men, two women, a dog and their lives in the Prague Spring of the Czechoslovak Communist period in 1968," according to Wikipedia. One of my favorite books.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. Detective novel meets sci-fi in one mind-bending existential work. If you watch "Fringe," well, this book is Fringe-y... and more.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. Time travel. Victorian England. A tea cozy mystery of sorts.

Graphic novels! Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman. Love And Rockets by The Hernandez brothers. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz. And of course, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. To discover yet more great comic books, check out the Comics College series.

I'm surprised no one has suggested it yet, but I loved The Sisters Brothers by DeWitt. I don't even like Westerns and I couldn't put this one down. It's about two brothers who are hired guns, and it's told from the POV of the younger, kinder brother.

I'm a big fan of this cover: The Sisters Brothers

However, this particular cover for Lolita could not be more perfect.

I highly recommend this historical fiction series by Bernard Cornwell.

The Winter King is the first book of it

• The Strange Affair of Springed Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
  
• The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man also by Mark Hodder
  
  Great books and superb covers.

Dan Simmons. The Terror. 936 pages long. Historical fiction based on true events about a doomed expedition to find the north-west passage in the 1800's, the two ships become trapped in the ice. If Stephen King tried to do historical fiction then this is probably what he could come up with.

http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442

For anyone interested in a great historical fiction (fiction but based on historical facts) Bernard Cornwell wrote an amazing book called Agincourt, you guessed it, about the battle of Agincourt, as seen from the perspective of an English archer. Amazon.com link here

He also has a 3 book series (historical fiction again) focusing on an English archer. The series is called "The Grail Quest" and the first book is called The Archers Tale. Amazon.com link here.

No, I am not him or his publicist, but he is my favorite author :)

This may not fit - it's been maybe 15 years since I read it, and my memories are hazy. But Evolution by Stephen Baxter might be the thing for you. I definitely enjoyed it.

It's on Amazon

Kindred https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807083690/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4s13xbH68DTMS

If Ancient Rome is more your thing (I'm assuming that if you're reading about the Aztecs than your interest is in the slow degeneration of Ancient Civilizations) then make sure to read the Claudius Novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God. I would also recommend The First Man in Rome or any of Colleen Mccullough's work. This stuff is probably the best that the genre has to offer in my opinion.

-- edit, actually now that I think about it I'm probably completely wrong in that assumption because I was thinking of the Mel Gibson movie Apocalypto which was about the Aztecs and not the Inca. The former being a pretty degenerate society where a comparison with the Romans is pretty apt IMHO, while that later were actually quite a noble people. Sorry, about that.

The Years of Rice and Salt sort of fits what you're looking for. Very lyrically written, but it's more of a revisionist history. Basically, (no spoilers, this is the premise) imagine if Europe were totally decimated by the Black Plague and all major historical events that happened thereafter were led by Asian cultures (including the conquering of North America).

The Terror: A Novel
Dan Simmons
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442

Try this one. Very atmospheric.

I'm towards the end of The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt and am in love with it. It's about two assassins during the Gold Rush, definitely a good train read and bonus points for being set in northern California.

For history, this. And the other 7 or so books in the series. That'll keep you busy for a year.

Sci Fi here(take your pick). And here

Straight fiction here

HTH

Stephen Baxter's book Evolution contains a description of the strike, and how it would have been experienced by creatures around the world. It remains among the most horrifying passages I've ever read.

I'm going from memory here, but IIRC one of the things he noted was that there was no way to describe what the impact looked like, because if you weren't over the horizon when it happened, you were instantly vaporized.

(NB: I have a love-hate relationship with that book, but IMHO it's a worthwhile read, and most of it is very good.)

You might enjoy Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

There's actually a series of steampunk alternate-history books by Mark Hodder, starting with The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, revolving around this assassination attempt. In the books' world, the assassin originally failed, then succeeded after his far-distant descendant went back in time to try and stop his ancestor from becoming notorious for almost killing Queen Victoria. It gets crazier from there...

Well, you could start off with the book and the movie is coming to Netflix in April(?).

The Hangman's Daughter

The Mongoliad Series. Not exactly medieval, but told in a parallel world that closely resembles the time of 13th century Europe and the Mongol invasions

Read "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. It's really really good.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442

It's fiction but 'The Terror', about the Franklin Expedition is one of my favourite books.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1346250883&sr=8-9

Pro tip: If you type [wordtext] followed by (linkurl) so it looks like this wordtext, you can reduce your link to this!

So, I was in the same boat as you for a while in terms of what the hell to read for fantasy after GRRM. I highly suggest switching over to historical fiction for a bit, Bernard Cornwell to be exact.

Read his Warlord Chronicles, starts with The Winter King. Very dark and real retelling of the events of King Arthur.

I also HIGHLY recommend his Saxon Stories series, which starts with The Last Kingdom.

Both are fantastic series, and are actually quite similar to each other.

I enjoyed The Strange Affair of Springheeled Jackby Mark Hodder. He has at least two other books featuring the same lead characters, but I haven't picked them up yet.

Steampunk Prime: A Vintage Steampunk Reader edited by Mike Ashley was quite good. He includes a blurb about the original authors' history and information about the original publication dates before each short story.

Mike Resnick's The Buntline Special: A Weird West Tale was really good. Apparently he's got another one out that I have yet to buy.

I've also got Tim Akers' The Horns of Ruin sitting on my shelf, but I haven't made the time to read through it. The summary on the back interesting enough for me to actually buy it.

The Terror, because it works on so many levels. As a work of historical fiction, it's the name of one of the ships on the expedition. It describes what being trapped for two years in a frozen wasteland with constant darkness, poisoned rations, and dwindling supplies must feel like. And, of course, it describes the thing on the ice, stalking the men.

Check out some of Yoshikawa's writing specifically Musashi and Taiko.

I strongly suggest The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Wonderfully written book with an interesting take on a sort of time travel.

You might like Taiko was a good read overall but a lot more focus is placed on Japanese history.

the power of one by byrce courtenay is exactly what you're looking for. Very similar to the alchemist, very inspiring.

Check out Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. It basically takes place prior to the beginning of Shogun, although Yoshikawa uses the real names and is slightly less fictionalized. His other books are a lot of fun to read, as well.

Stephen Baxter imagined such a creature in "Evolution":

http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Stephen-Baxter/dp/0345457838

Some kind of 100-meter sized pterodactylus.

If you're interested in learning all about the English longbow, read Azincourt, by Bernard Cornwell http://www.amazon.com/Agincourt-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0061578908 It's a good read, and really really informative about the unique weapon. One thing he makes clear (there's an afterword, I think, that goes into the history in some detail) is that these archers trained from local competitions from childhood on, and were strong as hell. As well, they didn't shoot the way you see movies and contemporary archers shoot, drawing back to their chins. Instead, they drew all the way back past their shoulders, and had to learn to aim that way. But the gain in power was a requirement with bows such as they found on the Mary Rose.

My go to easy reading series has been"The Hangman's Daughter" series by Oliver Pötzsch. It's about the family of a hangman in Germany in the 1600s and the mysteries they get entangled with.
Then writing isn't the strongest (though to be fair, it could just be the translation), but I like the characters, and the mysteries and adventure make for a nice escape. Plus, at the end of each book, Pötzsch describes the historical, social, and geographical context of the locations the book takes place in, which I find fascinating.

The series is also part of Kindle Unlimited, so if you have the service, you can read the entire series for free.
https://www.amazon.com/Hangmans-Daughter-Kindle-Motion-Tale-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=nodl_

I'm a huge fan of the historical fiction by Bernard Cornwell--especially the Arthurian legend trilogy, the Warlord Chronicles (beginning with the Winter King). Obviously Arthurian tales influenced and captivated Tolkien, as demonstrated by his poetry, but these books are just spot-on for any lover of good fiction with fantasy elements.

The Intern's Handbook? The Sisters Brothers? Also I found this collection of skull covers.

>Excerpt:
>
> On a sunny morning in November, 2018, twelve men and two women gathered in a lavishly furnished living room in Oguta, a town in southeastern Nigeria, with the air-conditioning at full blast. They had come to discuss the caste system that persists among the Igbo people in the region. The group’s host, Ignatius Uchechukwu Okororie, a short, sixty-two-year-old retired civil servant, split open a kola nut with his fingernails and ate its flesh; he then passed a metal tray of nuts around the room, for the others to taste. “He who brings kola nut brings life,” he said. The breaking of kola nut, known as iwa oji, is an important Igbo ritual traditionally performed to welcome guests to a gathering. The group in Okororie’s living room were members of a caste called ohu: descendants of slaves who, almost a century ago, were owned by townspeople. They are typically restricted from presiding over such ceremonies. In Okororie’s house, the iwa oji was a small rebellion. Slavery existed among the Igbo long before colonization, but it accelerated in the sixteenth century, when the transatlantic trade began and demand for slaves increased. Under slavery, Igbo society was divided into three main categories: diala, ohu, and osu. The diala were the freeborn, and enjoyed full status as members of the human race. The ohu were taken as captives from distant communities or else enslaved in payment of debts or as punishment for crimes; the diala kept them as domestic servants, sold them to white merchants, and occasionally sacrificed them in religious ceremonies or buried them alive at their masters’ funerals. (A popular Igbo proverb goes, “A slave who looks on while a fellow-slave is tied up and thrown into the grave should realize that it could also be his turn someday.”) The osu were slaves owned by traditional deities. A diala who wanted a blessing, such as a male child, or who was trying to avoid tribulation, such as a poor harvest or an epidemic, could give a slave or a family member to a shrine as an offering; a criminal could also seek refuge from punishment by offering himself to a deity. This person then became osu, and lived near the shrine, tending to its grounds and rarely mingling with the larger community. “He was a person dedicated to a god, a thing set apart—a taboo forever, and his children after him,” Chinua Achebe wrote of the osu, in “Things Fall Apart.” (The ume, a fourth caste, was comprised of the slaves who were dedicated to the most vicious deities.) In the nineteenth century, the abolition of slavery in the West inadvertently led to a glut of slaves in the Igbo markets, causing the number of ohu and osu to skyrocket. “Those families which were really rich competed with one another in the number of slaves each killed for its dead or used to placate the gods,” Adiele Afigbo, an Igbo historian, wrote in “The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885–1950.” The British formally abolished slavery in Nigeria in the early twentieth century, and finally eradicated it in the late nineteen-forties, but the descendants of slaves—who are also called ohu and osu—retained the stigma of their ancestors. They are often forbidden from speaking during community meetings and are not allowed to intermarry with the freeborn. In Oguta, they can’t take traditional titles, such as Ogbuagu, which is conferred upon the most accomplished men, and they can’t join the Oriri Nzere, an important social organization.

um....hm.....in a totally different take on the lone wolf, you could try The Power of One - it is a coming of age story of a loner/outcast English boy in Afrikaner dominated South Africa just before WWII. Again, it is a unique book and very good. But tonally very different from Shantaram, for sure.

Try, believe it or not, Water for Elephants.

I wouldn't call it a romance novel, but it's most certainly a very character driven novel, and I felt for all the characters very much. And the end is fantastic.

I see there are a lot of fantasy recommendations here, but I think you may want to try out historical fiction.

GRRM gets a lot of his inspiration from history. Try out Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough.

You might try Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, which is a different take on fantasy. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Sisters Brothers sounds particularly awesome. I'll be picking that up.

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay is a good one.

Hello, I'm Chelsey. I'm addicted to all things sweet and I'm a'feared that that love has been passed on to my son. Anywho, one of my favorite books of all time is Water For Elephants. I've read it three times already, but I love it. Saw the movie, liked it...just not nearly as good as the book.

Google found this

I kinda want to read it now, it looks hilarious.

You may also enjoy Stephen Baxter's Evolution.

I'm not aware of any academic histories that have the wide scope that you are after, but there are a few introductory texts that do attempt it. Shillington's History of Africa is the most famous one. It stretches way back to the first written accounts from Greek expansion, but is particularly interesting for trying to provide an African perspective of the colonial period.

Africans and Their History has a similar scope, but also extends way back into pre-history and the beginnings of human evolution. I haven't read it myself, but I believe it is well-written.

Someone else has mentioned The Scramble for Africa, by Thomas Pakenham, which deals specifically with the period of European imperialism between about 1860 and 1910. It's probably worth while taking a look at it just because offers insight into what Africa was like when Europeans found it. Also, it's probably worth reading because it is just really rare to find a history that is so griping, despite being so ambitious.

Similar to the above, the many of he great river explorers between 1600 and 1900 wrote accounts of their journeys that form the only primary sources that we really have (although, there are certainly earlier accounts of Northern Africa and the Horn). Stanely is quite famous, but he is a product of his time. He is entertaining, and includes all sorts of interesting diagrams and charts, but he regards the native people with a fair bit of ridicule. Mungo Park's Travels is probably the most readable, and he was writing a full century prior to Stanely, prior to the racism of the Imperial era, and in a continent much freer of European involvement.

If you like fiction, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart gives an African perspective of tribal lifestyle as it was before colonisation.

For setting and atmosphere, check out the Call of Cthulhu tabletop. I don't have a source for the rules atm, sorry, but here's a Critical Role 1-shot

Also, if you like reading novels, I recommend The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

And for listening pleasure and possible background music, Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera

Edit: wrong link

http://www.amazon.com/Look-Whos-Back-Timur-Vermes/dp/1623653339/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1H3WMGEBQ2HV4FZP1P13

A pretty good book about overcoming adversity and persisting is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. I've read it probably 5 times. It's about a boy coming of age as an English kid in South Africa while also boxing. Great

I think a great one would be Things fall apart crossed with "Star Wars" because of some of the themes.

I'm a huge star wars fan and now a ton about the lore and there's a recurring theme: Jedi are okay taking immoral actions as long as it's justified by their whole "it's the dark side!". And for all of those that don't know the book "When things fall apart", it's a book from a perspective of an African man right around the time that white people start exploring/colonizing Africa.

So here's what I'm thinking:

• POV of a tribesmen on an ancient undiscovered world.
  
• They're all force sensitive and use the force to grow plans (Light side) but also hunt animals (like Force Choke, lightning, etc.) as well as manipulate the elements around them.
  
• The tribes battle each other not just with force-enhanced weapons but also with force powers, many of which are considered "dark" and "forbidden" by the Jedi council
  
• However, the tribes also use the "light" side powers for agriculture, healing, etc.
  
  With that said, I imagine that the Jedi come down on the planet, and the whole "white people colonization" takes place. Jedi try to teach the tribes that they're using the "dark side of the Force", try to change their culture, and ultimately eradicate several tribes that are unwilling to conform because of their dark-side threat.
  
  What's interesting is really reading into the SW history as well as the manual and some of their core principles. They're very religious and devoted and anyone who disagrees and uses the Force will be exiled, expelled, or killed.

For real though, this book was the best.

People keep telling me about this book with my username. I've never actually read it. My name comes from this. It's in memoriam of a dead friend who liked drugs a little too much.

I'll have to go pick up that book one of these days. People keep telling me about it.

If you ever remember the name of that other book, which sounds like a Chick tract, just tell me the name. I can go fetch it for myself. No need to be buying me stuff, k.

If you like to read, hell yeah, let's talk. My hubs and I are both bookworms to an amazing degree. I just read one called Everything I Never Told You which won some kind of award from Amazon - best new or first book of the year, can't remember. It's a mindfucker.

The only book that ever made me cry was written from the point of view of a family dog. It was made into a movie that completely sucked, but the end of the book had me bawling. I've had to fight to retrieve that book from people I've loaned it to; only one printing, there aren't that many around, so I wasn't able to just let them keep it.

Want to read one from the point of view of a velociraptor? Here you go.

Another mindfucker: Room. Jesus, this one will have your skin crawling and hair standing up on the back of your neck.

My main thing is historical fiction, though. Gotta be well-researched and accurate - and yes, I check. I can go on and on about this, but the best is Edward Rutherfurd. He takes several lineages and follows them throughout history - Sarum starts in prehistory, do that one first - with a ton of detail.

Hubs is into science fiction, favorite author is Neal Stephenson. We both dig Kim Stanley Robinson, though. If you've never read his stuff, try this. If sci-fi is your thing, I can ask him for some recommendations.

When I say that Himself and I are bookworms, I am not kidding. We turned the dining room into a library to contain the overflow. You walk in our front door, and to your right is a wall; to your left, a library. Pretty fucking cool, if you ask me.

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's the most amazing piece of alt-history, based on the premise that Europe was completely wiped out in the Black Death, and how history would proceed to the present without Europe.

I'll recommend some newer literature I really enjoyed:

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I'm also a big fan of John Steinbeck if you want to go the more classic literary route; East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men--they're all regularly assigned in literature classes for a reason. Some of his less well-known works, like Tortilla Flats and Travels with Charley are also a delight.

Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front has some of the most haunting and soul-stirring depictions of war that I've ever read.

For novels that might have more of a women's perspective, consider pretty much anything by Barbara Kingsolver (The Bean Trees and Prodigal Summer are my favorites) or Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic is fantastic).

Don't discount the work of Stephen King, either, especially if you have only seen his movies. The Stand and The Shining are extraordinary, many of his short story collections will just blow your mind (that's where the source material for the movies The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me come from). I particularly loved 'Salem's Lot and It (which cemented my lifelong aversion to clowns).

For non-fiction, I'd recommend any biography by David McCullough. His research is impeccable and he does a fantastic job of storytelling. I first encountered his amazing talent in Truman but American history fans really go nuts over John Adams and 1776.

you need to read "say nothing of the dog"
https://www.amazon.com/Say-Nothing-Dog-Connie-Willis/dp/0553575384

you will start out very confused, but its intentional and you will be very happy with how the story plays out.... you're post almost exactly.

Evolution, by Stephen Baxter is an interesting read, and includes dinosaurs in the relevant time period.

Dan Simmons- The terror.

2 amazing books
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=pt-PT&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:pt-PT:official&biw=1320&bih=730&tbm=isch&tbnid=9OSRX2-eh1yMeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.com/The-Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442&docid=gAgo3d5A6gWdkM&imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ks41T1iWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=4H8nUMDsLIqb0QXE_oHQCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=990&vpy=134&dur=199&hovh=137&hovw=121&tx=92&ty=88&sig=102537629359959807431&page=1&tbnh=119&tbnw=100&start=0&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:94

Try this. Alternate history London.
https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Affair-Spring-Swinburne-Adventure/dp/1616142405

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough.

The graphic novels

Set to Sea by drew weing

Baggywrinkles by lucy bellwood

Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer

Literature

Master and Commander by Patrick O' Brian (based on historical events)

Two years before the Mast by Henrey Dana (Embellished but trueish)

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex by Owen Chase (True Story)

Endurance by Alfred Lansing (True Story)

The United States Navy Blue Jackets Manual by Thomas J. Cutler (useful for facts and lingo as it's made for teaching seamen the basics)

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (Historical info on Pirates)

Movies

Master and Commander (acurat for film)

Yellowbeard (comedy)

Cutthroat Island (Actiony)

Captains Courageous (Just a Film Classic)

Captain Blood (Buckle Swashing)

All links are to the Amazon.com Listings, but most of this should be available via resale or library for less.

Hope this helps.

The Terror is a really cool historical fiction/horror novel about the Franklin Expedition.

i really liked this one along with a few others of his ive read!

I bet you'd like Angelmaker and To Say Nothing of the Dog!

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.ca

amazon.com.mx

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I'm going to have to go with Things Fall Apart: http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart-Chinua-Achebe/dp/0385474547. It was written in response to Joseph Conrad, and would specifically compare the critique of civility among the culture shown in both works.

Anyone who enjoys this should read The First Man In Rome series http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Rome-Colleen-McCullough/dp/0061582417

The Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. 20 books in all, plus one incomplete book (titled "21"). To me, O'Brian is better even than Shakespeare - I've never read anyone so good.

Here is the first one in the series.

Cool "what if?" book I've read: The Years of Rice and Salt

Answering "What if the black plague had killed 99% of Europe instead of just 67%?". Asian and Arab cultures sweep in, entire course of history, discovery of Americas, etc. is changed.

Came here to say this. Connie Willis has a series of tremendous science fiction books about time travelling women.

My two favorite from that series are The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is the best light-hearted sci-fi I've ever read.

>Ps. It's spelt Azincourt by Cornwell not Agincourt.

It's printed with both spellings on the cover, depending on the localization.

http://www.amazon.com/Agincourt-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0061578908

There's another thread on here somewhere that talks about all the research Cornwell does.

That book basically just plagiarizes Japanese history and inserts a western character where none would have been possible at the time.

Let your friend know about Taiko.

It's historical fiction on the generals that fostered the unification of Japan around late 1400's. Very epic book.

I would also suggest cross-posting this to r/booksuggestions.

Also, I love historical fiction so a few of my recommendations:

• A - Aztec
  
• B - Book Thief, The
  
• F - First Man in Rome
  
• P - Pillars of the Earth, The

What is the What

Water for Elephants