This week's prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl for Top Ten Tuesday is "Books Set in Another Time." I'm using that to talk about my ten favorite historical fiction books.
I think of historical fiction as fiction set during a time before the author's adult life. For instance, an author born in 1930 who writes about the 1950s isn't writing historical fiction... but if they write about the 1850s, or even the 1930s, then it's historical fiction. (For another example, Jane Austen's books are not historical fiction because she wrote about the early 1800s while she was living in the early 1800s.)
So! Here are my top ten favorite works of historical fiction, along with links to my reviews and a little info into when and where they are set:
1. Shane by Jack Schaefer (1889, Wyoming)
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (post-WWII, Great Britain)
3. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (1915, Great Britain)
4. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss (Medieval England)
5. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1751, Scotland)
6. Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George (1920s, USA)
7. Up from Dust by Heather Kaufman (c. 30 AD, Judea)
8. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (Medieval England)
9. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (1700s Morocco, France, and England)
10. A Flame in the Dark by Sarah Baughman (1500s, Germany)
Have you read any of these? Any here that surprise you?
Or, did you do a Top Ten Tuesday post this week? Please share in the comments!
Shane looks like it could be a good read.
ReplyDeleteMy post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-another-time/
Lydia, Shane is complex and fascinating -- and remarkably short. It packs a lot of emotional punch into a small space.
DeleteI love Guernsey! It's such a wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteBree, yes! Guernsey is absolutely marvelous. In my top ten of favorites across all genres :-D
DeleteI know I've read abridged versions of the Robin Hood tale, but I don't know if I've ever ready the full original. It's on my TBR, though! Thanks for stopping by my TTT earlier. :)
ReplyDeleteNicole, there are lots of great old Robin Hood books! I like Howard Pyle's version best, but I also love Henry Gilbert's, and I hope to soon read Roger Lancellyn Greene's 1958 version. I haven't read Paul Creswick's yet, either. So many to choose from! And they all take the original ballads and legends and work with them a bit differently, which is so fun.
DeleteYou can read Howard Pyle's for free via Project Gutenberg, since it's in the public domain.
Thanks for stopping by!
I've read and enjoyed three of these back in the 60s and early 70s when I was a kid -- Kidnapped, Howard Pyle's Robin Hood, and King of the Wind.
ReplyDeleteDebra, how delightful! I read two of those as a kid too, though I was an adult before I finally read an unabridged version of Pyle's Robin Hood.
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