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Personally I would take a book from the classics section of the bookshop rather than from anywhere else. Why? What's with the classics? For starters, I think old books are the only true "historical novels". Once a friend of mine told me that she loved reading historical novels because they allowed her to experience the different ways of life people had, and that she was always struggling to find accurate historical novels. Surprisingly, this friend of mine hasn't ever read a book written before the year 2000. I've always wondered why, because if you really want to know how people were at a certain time, what is a better option than to read something written by someone who lived in that time? As accurate as a modern historical novel could be, it will always be tainted by the philosophy of modern times and it is likely to contain several factual errors. An old book will never have those faults. They always say that reading opens your mind. But I can hardly say so of people who love reading but read things written in their own time. They hardly show opinions any different from the morals we usually agree upon. I like reading books where the main characters really differ from what I think is right. Where the characters are moved by forces that are impossible for me to give a f*** about. Understanding people who are truly different from me is one of the main reasons why I read at all. The friend of mine I mentioned above often tells me that I only read the classics. I always answer "Only?". Classic literature encompasses centuries and hundreds of countries (some of which don't even exist anymore), an incredible variety which you could never get tired of, even within the same genre. So people, do you like reading the classics? Why? Why not? (sorry if some sentences don't make any sense, I'm Spanish)