Favourite Historical Fiction Books
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- I felt like it was time to revisit some of my favourite books in my favourite genres, starting with historical fiction :)
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The nightingale is my FAVORITE book... I cried it was sooo sad and good.
I have to get that book next week . Right now I’m reading the four winds
I just finished reading Pillars of the Earth and really enjoyed it. It is weird that you get sucked into a story about a cathedral. Also, the Nightingale and All The Light We Cannot See are two of my favorites!
Another Ken Follet series starting with Fall of Giants are fantastic reads. Big books with lots of characters. Fall of Giants is the WW1 era, the second book Winter of the world is WW2 era and the third Edge of Eternity is the cold war period. All books follow five families from start to finish. Buy these, you will not be disappointed.
An interesting list. I've read a couple of them, and agree that they're great books. Must put The Nightingale on my TBR list, as a lot of people are saying how great it is. May I recommend a couple of my own favourites: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, which is my favourite novel in any genre, head and shoulders above the rest, and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, which could be classed as a western, but I'd count it as historical fiction for the way that it captures a very particular and interesting time and place.
I have owned Pillars of the Earth for a few years and have never read it. Your enthusiasm for it has revived my interest. I will read it this summer when I have more time. Wolf of the Plains sounds like another great read!
I still need to get to Pillars of the Earth. I've had it on my shelf for years! Maybe this will be the year I pick it up. You know I love character driven novels.
The cover of The Nightingale is beautiful! Where did you get that one?
It’s the UK cover. I ordered it from Book Depository if that helps :)
Really looking forward to looking some of these up! Thanks Jess! Love your reviews! You always describe the books so eloquently! Xx
The pillars of the earth is sooo good!! The tv adaptation was also pretty excellent considering the depth and breadth of source material haha
No one talks about Conn Iggulden and I love him! I'm obsessed with the Conqueror Series =) If you like him, you should try Bernard Cornwell...
My husband has read all of Bernard Cornwell; I wasn’t sure I’d be so keen but maybe I’ll give him a go. I am always surprised that more people don’t talk about Conn Iggulden. I LOVE his stuff
Elizabeth Chadwick, Conn Iggulden and CJ Sanson are all highly rated authors in a British Medieval fb group I belong to. I think EC will be the first of the three I'll try. I'm halfway thru Alison Weirs 6 Tudor queens series and thoroughly enjoying that. I've just read Lucinda Rileys 'The Light Behind the Window' which is a dual time line partly set during WW2. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did as I prefer Tudor and medieval history more.
I haven’t come across that Lucinda Riley before although she’s an author I enjoy. I’ll look it up!
There's a ten book collection of Conn Iggulden's books for £19.60 on Amazon. Too good to miss so I just ordered.
The Gods of War, Wolf of the Plains, Conqueror, Lords of the Bow, Empire of Silver, Bones of the Hills, The Field of Swords, The Blood of Gods, The Gates of Rome, The Death of Kings.
Ahhhh I hope you enjoy them! I’m always surprised that more people don’t talk about Conn Iggulden because I think his books are ace.
I am a crime and history buff. Having read Dissolution last year by C.J. Sanson, I will definitely continue with these books. I have just finished reading The Greatest Knight but it was the non fiction by Thomas Asbridge. The life of Marshall was gripping and his involvement with so much that occurred in this country, France, The Crusades and the Knights templars, who needs fiction. Can I recommend The five by Hallin Rubenhold and Hamlet by Maggie O'Farrell. I Just found this post will watch some of your others and if as good will subscribe.
I'm reading the nightingale now ^__^
Hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Elizabeth Chadwick is my favourite!
I love Pillars of the Earth!!! ♥ I immediately bought and read the other 2 books in the Kingsbridge series after finishing it (and I heard a prequel to Pillars is coming out soon, involving the Vikings) Such an EPIC read! I think his other series, The Century Trilogy is brilliant too! I'm currently on the 2nd book, Winter of the World :D
I'm currently reading The Nightingale and loving it!
Margaret George is my favourite author!
I agree that Kate Morton is more of a fiction literature writer with historical elements, but I love her either way. Have you read any Lucinda Riley? I'm interested in her Seven Sisters series and have heard her compared to Kate Morton. Great picks! 💗📚📖
I’ve read the first one in the Seven Sisters and thought it was okay...I am planning to carry on with it at some point. She wrote another one I liked called the Hothouse Flower; that was very similar to Kate Morton with a whole dual time line thing.
From that list I've only read All the Light We Cannot See and I loved that book. I've watched the Pillars of Earth series but not read the book and I've only ever read one Elizabeth Chadwick book but I'd love to read more. I thought you might have had a Philippa Gregory book on your list too. One of my favourite Historical fiction books is The Dove Keepers by lice Hoffman. ( I wrote the word 'book' way too many times in that paragraph haha).
I know I ummed and ahhed between PG and Elizabeth Chadwick but Chadwick won on the basis of this duology. I need to get back into reading Philippa Gregory’s stuff actually.
@@JessMcGlynn just noticed I wrote Lice Hoffman, obviously meant Alice 😅
Sarah Lucas I knew what you meant haha. I read The Dovekeepers 5 or 6 years ago and really enjoyed it. Keep meaning to pick something else by her up but never get round to it
{ love historical novels, my favorite is The time in between by Marie Duenas. She becomes a spy for the British, This book is not well known but I read it twice.
Nice list- If you liked Conn Iggulden's books about Julius Caesar, check out The Masters of Rome by Colleen MacCullough.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Nightingale (read it twice!) and All the Light We Cannot See. I’ve just downloaded The Greatest Knight and Dissolution from your recommendations! Are there others you have added since this video was recorded?
I know I'm kind of late, but you should try out "The light in hidden places" by sharon cameron. It's historical accurate events mixed with fiction, telling the story of a real-life ww2 heroine, Stefania Podgorska. I loved itttt! ♥ Xx
I’m also late replying to this as it never notified me, I’m so sorry! I have done a part two with some more reccs ☺️
czcams.com/video/p0zrdl8i9R8/video.html
Have you read World Without End (Kingsbridge #2)? I would be really interested in your thoughts
Yes I have. I didn’t love it as much as the first one, but I still thought it was a solid read.
I need to make a video like this soon! I just love historical fiction. I loved so many of these, except All the Light. For some reason I didn't love that one. I think I found it to be a lot of buildup for an anticlimactic ending. I did think the writing was really nice at the beginning, but it got long. I know I have an unpopular opinion about that one though. Most people love it.
Oh the ending had me in tears haha!
I really like historical fiction. I like anything by Sarah Waters, Possession by A S Byatt (this one has a modern narrative alongside the historical one), Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, The Girl Who Couldn't Read and Florence and Giles by John Harding. I own All The Light We Cannot See and really want to read this one. I have mixed feelings about Pillars of the Earth, the parts about building the calthedral are really good and well researched, but the social aspects are not and some parts of the plot were not believable for the time it is set ( I have a Masters in History so am very critical of Historical Fiction)
Ooh so good recommendations I’ve not heard of there, thank you. I’ll look these up. Always love a good historical fiction
Do you have a favorite era when comes to historical fiction?
I have read a lot of books set during Tudor England and always love those but I enjoy reading across all historical fiction, especially when it’s an era I’m not hugely familiar with.
Umm... There's quite a huge quantity of historical fiction of quality. What about For Whom the Bell Tolls (the Spanish Civil War) , The Gods Thirst (French Revolutionary Terror) The Hunchback of Notre Dame ( the Middle Ages) or All quiet in the Western Front (First World War).
Does the Nightingale have any political propaganda in it? I loved The Four Winds but the last quarter of the book was like a love letter to communism. It came out of nowhere 😆
Not that I remember! I absolutely agree about Four Winds…it was very strange.
@@JessMcGlynn thank you! You’ve sold me on The Nightingale
I loved All the Light We Cannot See. I wish he had left out the ending where he wrote about some of the characters’ futures. I think it was unnecessary, and it dulled the impact of the actual ending of the two main character’s storylines.
Love watching your videos and getting new reading ideas. I am curious what the books are behind you, five books piled up, three white ones and two beige/yellow. Are they a series or standalones?
Ahhh they are Robin Hobb books; two different trilogies. If you find my fave fantasy video I talk more about them there 😉
Oh oh my fVourites are also conn igulden and genghis khan trilogy and pillars of the earth. Will buy some of the others u recommend I esp love Ww2 fiction. Is that a thing? Just thought i was a ww2 nerd in general!
Definitely a thing!
My series is historical-fantasy-fiction
Have you or has anyone read the Wars of The Roses series by Conn? I’m doing A Level History (2nd year / year 13) and we’re covering the time period. I’m also getting back into reading so want to explore genres etc, one of them being Historical Fiction as I love History in general.
Yes, I’ve read the first one in the series…I own them all but haven’t gotten round to them yet. Conn Iggulden is such a fantastic historical fiction author!
@@JessMcGlynn Great! I’ve seen some good reviews so I suppose I’ll have to venture to buy the 1st one and read it.
I've been meaning to read Pillars of Earth, but I start the book at bad times. There are too many distractions, I don't really have time get far into it, or I'm too tried to concentrate.
It’s a hard one as it’s so long, you do need to read it at the right time.
I really don't get Ken Follet. His books never have an overarching conflict and he's obsessed with body hair.
I don’t know if I’ve ever noticed the obsession with body hair before...I’ll have to look out for that 😏
I think what he does well is create individual characters who have their own journey and conflict and self discovery, it’s not so much about the overall story arc as the characters who are present at the time. But that’s just my opinion!
Jess McGlynn reread pillars of the earth and world without end. Lots of mention of female leg and underarm hair as well as wayyy tmi on pubic hair. Idk about the characters. They’ve all seamed a little thin and childish to me, and I think his prose is sloppy. I first read pillars of the earth when I was 16 and liked it but I recently reread that and then read world without end and didn’t like either. My mom loves him though. I don’t get him.
Also a bit rapey.
@@kimesch9698 a bit??? Lol! Follett needs to get his head checked! Omg! All of his books have at least one rape.
If people read more books they'd be more literature
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