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I've been reading a lot this summer, so I have hit somewhat of a road block in my reading. I've run out of books that I want to read that aren't classics. I've decided to take a step away from classics for the summer so that I can enjoy reading no matter what book it is and move quickly through the books I am reading. 

 

I am mostly looking for fiction suggestions, but I do enjoy reading non-fiction from time to time. I have read almost every Nicholas Sparks book and enjoy romance novels. I also read A Song of Ice and Fire, so any fantasy suggestions are good. Basically any fiction book that you thought was REALLY GOOD, I'd like to check out. 

 

THANK YOU  :D  :thanx: 

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Linda Lafferty is sorta a guilty pleasure of mine- I can recommend The Bloodletter's Daughter.  My favorite book of all time is The Good Earth.   Have you read Memoirs of a Geisha?  You might even like Evita, First Lady by John Barnes. 

Eddit- Oh Snap- Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, should've mentioned that.

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Linda Lafferty is sorta a guilty pleasure of mine- I can recommend The Bloodletter's Daughter.  My favorite book of all time is The Good Earth.   Have you read Memoirs of a Geisha?  You might even like Evita, First Lady by John Barnes. 

Eddit- Oh Snap- Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, should've mentioned that.

I have not read any of these. Thank you for such great suggestions!  :jump: 

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The Starbuck chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction) are brilliant, I would also recommend:

 

Shape series - Bernard Cornwell

 

 

Phules Company series - Robert Asprin (Sci-fi but not every so, the story is much more focused on the characters than space travel and that. I am loving them and I'm not a Sci-fi fan :) )

 

Ramage series - Dudley Pope (great action packed naval historical fiction novels)

 

Riyria Revelations - Michael J Sullivan (Great epic fantasy series)

 

Corean Chronicles - L.E Modesitt

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I always recommend Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. One of my all-time favorites. 

Hjalmar Söderberg was an excellent Swedish author. Maybe a little to the classics department, but Swedish classics. Doctor Glas is a favorite.

Arto Paasilinna is a great Finnish author. I have A charming mass suicide and The year of the hare

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The Starbuck chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction) are brilliant, I would also recommend:

 

Shape series - Bernard Cornwell

 

 

Phules Company series - Robert Asprin (Sci-fi but not every so, the story is much more focused on the characters than space travel and that. I am loving them and I'm not a Sci-fi fan :) )

 

Ramage series - Dudley Pope (great action packed naval historical fiction novels)

 

Riyria Revelations - Michael J Sullivan (Great epic fantasy series)

 

Corean Chronicles - L.E Modesitt

 

 

I always recommend Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. One of my all-time favorites. 

Hjalmar Söderberg was an excellent Swedish author. Maybe a little to the classics department, but Swedish classics. Doctor Glas is a favorite.

Arto Paasilinna is a great Finnish author. I have A charming mass suicide and The year of the hare

Thank you!!

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This is not really historical fiction, and this is just rather a random recommendation, but have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? 

 

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

“ Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should.” --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

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This is not really historical fiction, and this is just rather a random recommendation, but have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? 

 

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

 

“ Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should.” --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

WOW. This sounds really interesting. I have not read it.  :thanx: 

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Ooooh! It's on my top 10 books ever. You might really, really like it....! :smile2: I know quite a few who share my like in the book :)

I'm very excited to get the chance to read it now  :hyper: 

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I'm very excited to get the chance to read it now  :hyper: 

 

Should you like it, there are two sequels :cool: I've not read them myself yet, though. 

 

Looking forward to your thoughts on the novel when you get to it! :) 

 

Hm, I should really re-read the book at some point... I've been wanting to for years now :blush: 

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This is not really historical fiction, and this is just rather a random recommendation, but have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? 

 

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

 

“ Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should.” --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

 

I recently bought that one but haven't had time to read it yet. 

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While I have not read The Shadow of the Wind, it dose sound similar to The Black Opera by Mary Gently. I didn't finish it but it was good, just wasn't what I wanted to read...warning there are a LOT of lectures from the main character, he has a issues....shame. lol :P

 

 

The Black Opera - Mary Gently

 

In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, holy music has power. Under the auspices of the Church, the Sung Mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick or raising the dead. But some believe that the musicodramma of grand opera can also work magic by channeling powerful emotions into something sublime. Now the Prince’s Men, a secret society hope to stage their own black opera to the empower the Devil himself–and change Creation for the better. Conrad Scalese is a struggling librettist whose latest opera has landed him in trouble with the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rescued by King Ferdinand II, Conrad finds himself recruited to write and stage a counteropera that will, hopefully, cancel out the apocalyptic threat of the black opera, provided the Prince’s Men, and their spies and saboteurs, don’t get to him first.

 

And he only has six weeks to do it . . . .

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Another vote for The Shadow of the Wind here :smile:

 

Is there any particular period of history you're interested in?  Some of my faves are:

 

Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (about Thomas Cromwell)

Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories, beginning with The Last Kingdom (about Alfred the Great and the Vikings)

Patrick O'Brian's 'Aubrey/Maturin' series starting with Master & Commander (about the Napoleonic Wars)

Colleen McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series (about Ancient Rome from Gaius Marius through to Caesar and beyond)

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (about the Battle of Thermopylae)

 

Then there's the historical crime stories by people like C J Sansom and Rory Clements (set in Tudor England), and Steven Saylor (set in Ancient Rome).

 

If you like George RR Martin you could do worse than give Joe Abercrombie a try (Best Served Cold, maybe, as it's a stand alone story).  Have to mention David Gemmell's Troy trilogy as well, starting with Lord of the Silver Bow.

 

However, if you fancy a blend of history and fantasy I'd highly recommend Guy Gavriel Kay.  He's a fantastic writer, and most of his books are set in a fantasy world but are based on historical events from our own.  My faves, in no particular order, are Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic two-parter, and A Song for Arbonne.

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Another vote for The Shadow of the Wind here :smile:

 

Is there any particular period of history you're interested in?  Some of my faves are:

 

Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (about Thomas Cromwell)

Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories, beginning with The Last Kingdom (about Alfred the Great and the Vikings)

Patrick O'Brian's 'Aubrey/Maturin' series starting with Master & Commander (about the Napoleonic Wars)

Colleen McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series (about Ancient Rome from Gaius Marius through to Caesar and beyond)

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (about the Battle of Thermopylae)

 

Then there's the historical crime stories by people like C J Sansom and Rory Clements (set in Tudor England), and Steven Saylor (set in Ancient Rome).

 

If you like George RR Martin you could do worse than give Joe Abercrombie a try (Best Served Cold, maybe, as it's a stand alone story).  Have to mention David Gemmell's Troy trilogy as well, starting with Lord of the Silver Bow.

 

However, if you fancy a blend of history and fantasy I'd highly recommend Guy Gavriel Kay.  He's a fantastic writer, and most of his books are set in a fantasy world but are based on historical events from our own.  My faves, in no particular order, are Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic two-parter, and A Song for Arbonne.

I really enjoy American History, so I'm into the 1770s-1780s, the 1860's (civil war time), the 1900s, the 20s (I love the moral issues brought about during this time, it makes for a great setting), and World War II. Basically any major time period in American History. 

 

I do, however enjoy other history, so I will check out the suggestions that you have made :D

 

Thanks for the fantasy suggestions as well. It's something new that I tried out with ASOIAF series, but I liked it enough to try more in that genre. 

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I really enjoy American History, so I'm into the 1770s-1780s, the 1860's (civil war time), the 1900s, the 20s (I love the moral issues brought about during this time, it makes for a great setting), and World War II. Basically any major time period in American History. 

 

Then I also recommend Unbroken: A WW2 Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hildenbrand (Seabiscuit).  It will definitely stick with you, although it is non fiction and I know you wanted fiction.

Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe?

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Then I also recommend Unbroken: A WW2 Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hildenbrand (Seabiscuit).  It will definitely stick with you, although it is non fiction and I know you wanted fiction.

Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe?

I enjoy reading nonfiction occasionally too so thank you for the suggestion. 

I have not read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I own it. Do you highly recommend it?

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How about Gone With The Wind? That was set during the Civil War period and a fantastic read. An earlier historical fiction novel is The Pillars of the Earth; that's a brilliant read (if you've not read it before). :smile:  Oh, and I just thought of another great book - The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber - set in London in the early 19th Century (if memory serves right). :readingtwo:

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