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Best writer of historical fiction
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Komnenos View Drop Down
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Posts: 4361 		  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Best writer of historical fiction
    Posted: 17-Jan-2005 at 05:47

Over at the medieval forum is a discussion raging about Dan Brown and his omnipresent Da Vinci Code. My opinions on Dan Brown sorry efforts are excellently expressed by Vagabonds contribution. I havent actually read Da Vinci Code ( am I alone in the universe ?), but Ive tried Illuminati and found it so badly written and researched, that I had to give up after 50 pages and swore never to try another again.

Anyway, who do you think is the best writer of historical fiction?

My personal favourite is Umberto Eco, whose books (especially Foucaults Pendulum and Baudolino) are everything that  Dan Browns arent: Thoroughly researched, highly readable and  genuine works of literature as opposed to Dan Browns pulp fiction.

Any other suggestions? Answers on a postcard, please!



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Posts: 3148 		  Quote Dawn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2005 at 15:41
No you are not alone in not reading Da Vinci code. I have not bothered with it ( will some day if comes into my store but I'm not going to buy it new) A similar statement by vagabond earlier chased me away from it. As to great writers I like many but Eco is not one (i must be the only one around here that doesn't) Some of my favorites are Graves, Miles, McCullough, Pauline Gedge, Rutherford and my favorite(mostly  historical but sort of fantasty) Jack Whyte.  
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Posts: 2537 		  Quote Mosquito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2005 at 18:48
I have tried DaVinci code and found it poor. I think the best of all times are Graves, Dumas, Scott, Sienkiewicz (polish writer who was writing about 17th century polish wars). But also great is McCullough and Patrick O'Brien.
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Posts: 474 		  Quote Cornellia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2005 at 19:25

I too read DaVinci Code and would not recommend it to anyone.  Its just not very well written.  A friend of mine gave me a copy of the book which is the only reason I read it.

I enjoy Eco, Dumas, Graves, McCollough among many others.
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Posts: 4361 		  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Jan-2005 at 01:37
Somehow I forgot to mention Marguerite Yourcenar, whose Memoirs of Hadrian is the finest book on Roman history, I've come across.
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Posts: 658 		  Quote Frederick Roger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Jan-2005 at 04:49

I kinda enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, mostly due to its cinematographic writing, which made me read it in one day (I just couldn't stop). Sure, it's no masterpiece, but I would certainy recomend it as a nice light reading. If Ron Howard is on a good day, it might turn out a good blockbuster.

Of course it's still a bad copy of Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum", that one being a truly astonishing book, although not quite an Historical Fiction.

As for my favorites, I'd have to choose Eco, Joo Aguiar, Alexandre Herculano, Count Alexis Tolstoi and Walter Scott. Also, I enjoyed Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander The Great triology.

I'm also looking forward to reading Bernard Cornwell's triology on the 100 Years War. Anyone tried that one yet?
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Posts: 3148 		  Quote Dawn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Jan-2005 at 14:03
Never read the 100 years war ones but read his king Arthur ones liked Jack Whyte's better.
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Posts: 418 		  Quote Vamun Tianshu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Jan-2005 at 20:02

Luo Guanzhong on his works with Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh.I find his works very compelling and a very interesting read if you're into war,diplomacy,and relationships between enemies.

Also,Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa.It has bits of fiction,but is mostly historical in every way,and so is his book Musashi.Taiko has to do with the warring states of Medieval Japan in the 16 century.

The Black Flower by Howard Bahr.

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Posts: 366 		  Quote Degredado Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-Jan-2005 at 12:09
I wonder if I'm the only one who has enjoyed a Lieutenant Sharpe book?
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Posts: 691 		  Quote Infidel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-Feb-2005 at 10:51

I'm a huge fan of the Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series. Its portrait of Ancient Rome everyday life and intrigue, giving life to both historical and common characters alike, is fascinating.

And one's got to love Gordianus, the Finder! 
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Posts: 3148 		  Quote Dawn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Feb-2005 at 09:48
yes I like those as well for a quick light read.
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Posts: 691 		  Quote Infidel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Feb-2005 at 13:25
Currently I'm just getting along with Kara Kitap (The Black Book) from Orhan Pamuk.  

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Posts: 474 		  Quote Cornellia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Feb-2005 at 14:23

I have met Stephen Saylor - a very nice man and have several of his books autographed and spent last Halloween night on Bourbon Street - in Roman costume with Mr. Saylor and friends. 

Sorry....its just about the only name dropping I can do.  LOL  Gordianus the Finder ROCKS
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Posts: 691 		  Quote Infidel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Feb-2005 at 11:39
Gordianus rules, indeed! I must say I admire the man
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Posts: 73 		  Quote SulcataIxlude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Feb-2005 at 02:53
I enjoy James A. Michiner and James Clavel quite a bit.
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Posts: 557 		  Quote Landsknecht_Doppelsoldner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Feb-2005 at 08:54

Call me "Old School", but I've always been a fan of Sir Walter Scott--Ivanhoe was awesome, and The Talisman was even better (despite Scott's penchant for portraying the Templars as sinister).

 
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I'll hit on the head that it resounds in his heart."

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Posts: 6003 		  Quote Cywr Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Mar-2005 at 01:48
Eco i like, even though i found Baudalino (sp?) a little weak.

I wonder if I'm the only one who has enjoyed a Lieutenant Sharpe book?


I believe i have watched some TV episodes of a series based on them, if that makes you feel better.
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Frederick Roger View Drop Down
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Posts: 658 		  Quote Frederick Roger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Mar-2005 at 14:04
I was really enjoying Baudolino, but I have to say that the swift change in the plot's direction after they leave Armenia kinda spoils it. But its still a great ending though...
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Posts: 28 		  Quote druidebaron.nl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Mar-2005 at 16:23
Q by Luther Blissett. Luther Blissett is the name of a Jamaican soccer player who played for AC Milan in the early l980s. The real author are four Italians. This change of identity returns in the story it self.
Set during the Reformation, "a young theology student adopts the cause of heretics and the disinherited and finds himself pursued by a relentless papal informer and heretic-hunter. What begins as a personal struggle to reveal each others' identities becomes a mission that can only end in death." (amazon.com)
It's great, I really liked it. I believe the Italian text is public domain. (translations are probably copyrighted)

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Posts: 2537 		  Quote Mosquito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Mar-2005 at 18:58

Originally posted by Infidel

Gordianus rules, indeed! I must say I admire the man

Actually from "Gordianus" series i find only first book to be average. Every next book is worse than previous. Characters are not realistic and i think the whole story is not well written. For me Stephen Saylor is a second or even third sort writter who cannot be campared to - for example Colleen McCullough. Her roman books are much better.
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