Great Historical Fiction

[SKO]

All's quiet on the Western Front is one of my favorite movies. It's been on my list of "should read's".

Lewis Milestone's 1930 version? Brilliant.

There's one coming out in 2012 with Daniel Radcliffe. It has a lot to live up to.
[/quote]

Radcliffe as Paul Baumer? Fuck that. The original is one of Hollywood's greatest films. Ever. The fact that film was one of the first movies with sound ever made is astounding, because the quality is better than movies made 30 or 40 years after that. Lew Ayres is brilliant in that movie. Brilliant. But yes, Yeti. Read the god damn book.

[CBStew]

What SKO said.  Also...

World War I, the list begins and ends with All Quiet on the Western Front.

For World War II, I really liked The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, even if they were about a bunch of Navy phags.

For 19th Century navy phaggery, the Aubrey–Maturin series is excellent.  It mostly deals with the Napoleonic wars, but it also includes stuff about the Brits getting their asses handed to them by Old Ironsides (U-S-A! U-S-A!).

I couldn't agree more.  I spent a year reading through tthe Aubrey Maturin books and then went back and started over.  I also agree with the Winds of War, which is not quite as good as War and Rememberance.  If you like that Holocaust stuff read John Hersey's  The Wall, about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.  Schindler's list is kind of fictional non-fiction.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

What SKO said.  Also...

World War I, the list begins and ends with All Quiet on the Western Front.

For World War II, I really liked The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, even if they were about a bunch of Navy phags.

For 19th Century navy phaggery, the Aubrey–Maturin series is excellent.  It mostly deals with the Napoleonic wars, but it also includes stuff about the Brits getting their asses handed to them by Old Ironsides (U-S-A! U-S-A!).

I couldn't agree more.  I spent a year reading through tthe Aubrey Maturin books and then went back and started over.  I also agree with the Winds of War, which is not quite as good as War and Rememberance.  If you like that Holocaust stuff read John Hersey's  The Wall, about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.  Schindler's list is kind of fictional non-fiction.

I read Mila 18 like ten years ago and really liked it.  I'll have to pick up The Wall.

[JD]

I just read this thread and I still don't get something.  How can it be historical and fiction?  Are you guys saying the past never happened?  Because you might be right.  How do we really know?  You know?  Good stuff.  I won't read any of those books, though.  It's quite possible I lived right through it.

[Tonker]

All's quiet on the Western Front is one of my favorite movies. It's been on my list of "should read's".

Lewis Milestone's 1930 version? Brilliant.

There's one coming out in 2012 with Daniel Radcliffe. It has a lot to live up to is a racing certainty to be irredeemably shit.

Quotes, and text fixed.

[Quality Start Machine]

All's quiet on the Western Front is one of my favorite movies. It's been on my list of "should read's".

Lewis Milestone's 1930 version? Brilliant.

There's one coming out in 2012 with Daniel Radcliffe. It has a lot to live up to is a racing certainty to be irredeemably shit.

Quotes, and text fixed.

Sending the correction work offshore works for us.

[flannj]

What SKO said.  Also...

World War I, the list begins and ends with All Quiet on the Western Front.

For World War II, I really liked The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, even if they were about a bunch of Navy phags.

For 19th Century navy phaggery, the Aubrey–Maturin series is excellent.  It mostly deals with the Napoleonic wars, but it also includes stuff about the Brits getting their asses handed to them by Old Ironsides (U-S-A! U-S-A!).

I couldn't agree more.  I spent a year reading through tthe Aubrey Maturin books and then went back and started over.  I also agree with the Winds of War, which is not quite as good as War and Rememberance.  If you like that Holocaust stuff read John Hersey's  The Wall, about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.  Schindler's list is kind of fictional non-fiction.

I'm in the process of reading the Aubrey Maturin series right now. I started this summer and am currently on volume 9 of 21.
At first the period style of dialog takes some getting used to but flows rather easily and becomes one of the more enjoyable qualities after a few chapters.
The nautical terminology takes quite a bit more effort to understand and sort through but there are plenty of sources available as guidebooks or online to help with translation.
Start with something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_tactics_in_the_Age_of_Sail and this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail-plan#Types_of_ships.
I have done a small amount of sailing over the years and even that limited experience helps to understand basic concepts.
I also found it helpful to have an atlas nearby to get a better sense of the routes being taken.
Obviously this may be more of an undertaking than you wish and the books can be enjoyed without the extra effort at research as the story lines are more than just about sailing.

So how do I like them?
Did I mention that I am on volume 9 of 21?

If you have any interest in The Napoleonic Wars, The War of 1812 or the Age of Sail you won't be disappointed.

flannj Seal of Approval.

[Kermit IV]

They probably don't qualify as historical fiction, but I don't feel like starting a new thread.  Anyhow, Pillars of the Earth and (so far) World Without End by Ken Follett are both excellent.  The Pillars mini-series was meh, but Swearingen was in it.

[Tonker]

They probably don't qualify as historical fiction, but I don't feel like starting a new thread.  Anyhow, Pillars of the Earth and (so far) World Without End by Ken Follett are both excellent.  The Pillars mini-series was meh, but Swearingen was in it.

I concur.  Pillars of the Earth was an excellent read, if not entirely historical, as you say.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

New to me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DrunkHistory

[SKO]

New to me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DrunkHistory

I should have posted those awhile back. The Burr-Hamilton duel is outstanding.