Sunday, July 1, 2012

Celebrating American Historical Fiction!


I love American Historical Fiction and unfortunately I don't think I read nearly enough of it.  That is why for the second year in a row I am designating July my month of reading American Historical Fiction!  With the exception of a review of The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner on tomorrow which is about Isabella of Castile, all my reviews this month will be American Historicals.  I guess I can even count that one if I played six degrees of Christopher Columbus.  After all Isabella did finance Columbus who discovered the Caribbean  even though Columbus never made it here exactly.  I love how that works.  Apparently, almost counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and Columbus discovering America.  I'm guessing the logic is "Well he did discover there was actually LAND over this way so lets give him credit for the whole shebang!"  Why else do we celebrate Columbus Day here?  Anyway, back on topic....

I scoured my shelves and came up with a list of the top 15 I'd like to read.  Now, there is no way in Hades I can read 15 books in a month unless I take 2 weeks off from work but here is the list (in no particular order):
  • The Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance
  • The Tory Widow by Christine Blevins
  • Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker
  • Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
  • Lincoln by Gore Vidal
  • The Widow's War by Sally Gunning
  • The Widow's War by Mary Mackey
  • The Healing by Jonathan Odell
  • The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen
  • The Turning of Anne Merrick by Christine Blevins
  • Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow
  • Roses by Leila Meacham
  • Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
  • Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
  • Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Please feel free to share your recommendations for must read historical fiction set in America.  I'm always looking for great reads to add to the TBR pile!


8 comments:

  1. You've put a great list together, Holly. The Blevins books are very good, and I loved the Donati and Gabaldon novels. I've not read any of the other books on your list, but I'll watch out for your reviews to see if I need to add any of them to my own TBR pile.

    As for other recommendations, have you read John Jakes North & South trilogy? It's one of my all-time favourites.

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  2. I have not read those yet but I'm planning to eventually. They look really good but those are some chunky books! :)

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  3. I love Calico Palace. I've got a potful of long lost historicals in the piles here. Check out the Windhaven series.

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  4. I hardly ever read American historical fiction, so I've added a lot of your list to my wishlist. Thanks for the recommendations :)

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  5. One of my favorites is Shadow Patriots by Lucia St. Clair Robson about a spy network used during the war.

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  6. I really like most of Beverly Swerling's series which is set in New York, and The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Rachel Weisbarger.

    Enjoy your reads this month!

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  7. Cold Mountain is definitely one of the most depressing books ever. Extremely well written but I just couldn't stand to read it again.

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  8. Cold Mountain is definitely one of the most depressing books ever. Extremely well written but I just couldn't stand to read it again.

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