Top Ten Tuesdays #75: Historical Fiction

Posted February 2, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 15 Comments

top 10 tues watercolorTop Historical Time Periods I’m Interested in
(and the Historical Fiction Books I Plan to Read!)

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review.

This week’s topic can be widely defined as books in the past or future (Top Ten Historical Settings You Love/ Ten Historical Settings You’d Love To See or Top Futuristic Books You Love/ Ten Futuristic Societies I’d Love To Read in Books). I’m not really clever enough to think of futuristic things/time periods and am not a history buff. Because of this, I decided to put my own spin on this topic. I’ll be sharing the top ten historical fiction books I plan to read, and the time periods they happen during. I hope you’ve read some of these so you can tell me what to read first!

hist fic headerI’ve only read a handful of historical fiction books, and most of them involve some kind of magical or fantasy elements. I’m not sure why I haven’t read more, to be honest. I am generally interested in some parts of history and think these books could be super interesting. This list will hopefully be a nice jumping off point for me to get going on my history lessons. I started to compile this list by thinking of the time periods that have always interested me (the 1920s and the Holocaust/WWII), the books that I remembered right off the top of my head (Scarlet and A Mad Wicked Folly), and then filled in the gaps with this super helpful infographic (which really reminded me of all the others on this list that have been on my TBR, and helped me determine what the time periods are called).

all the restWWII and the Holocaust

This was always the time period I was most interested in when learning in school. Something about it fascinated me. I read The Diary of Anne Frank and couldn’t believe it. It’s hard to imagine such cruelty and evil in the world…

  • Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin | I kept avoiding this one whenever I saw it on Goodreads, but eventually my curiosity got the best of me. I talked about it here as well.
  • Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman | Do you know how many times I’ve queued up this audiobook and then decided against it? Too many. I am never finding myself in the MOOD for this but I have a feeling it’ll be great once I do.

A huge time period I’m calling “Super Early”

I knew I wanted to include Scarlet on here, but the closest book in the same timeframe was Grave Mercy. These books take place in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, respectively, between 1100 and 1400. I realize this is a big period of time to lump together, but I’m lazy like that.

  • Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers | I have no interest in this based on the synopsis but SO many people insist it’s great (even when they didn’t like the summary either), so I will definitely give it a go when the mood strikes.
  • Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen | This is another hyped one, and it’s a Robin Hood retelling! Sounds really interesting to me. It also helps that the trilogy is completely released, so I’m sensing a potential binge-read in the future.

The 1920’s in New York

Apparently both of these happen in New York. It seems like this time period and location are popular for historical fiction, and I’m definitely intrigued. I loved learning about flappers and women fucking WORKING IT. I think that’s why this time period appeals to me.

  • The Diviners by Libba Bray | I own this book and have yet to read it. I’m a big fan of Libba Bray’s other magical historical fiction trilogy, so this one is a must-read for me. I don’t like how long it took for the second book to come out in this series, which is apparently supposed to be four books long, so we’ll see when I actually start it.
  • Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen | I kind of love the cover for this one. “Flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.” — sign me up for that.

late gilded

The Gilded Age

I am so bad with historical time period names, so thank you Epic Reads for helping me out with this one. All of these books feature women in pretty dresses who may or may not have cool magic involved. Girl power in the Gilded Age sounds good to me! (I said LATE Gilded Age because these ones all take place in the 1890s or 1900s.)

  • A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller | I won this one in a giveaway and have been making excuses to not read it for a little too long now. I’m kind of obsessed with the paperback cover for this one too for some reason. Give me Victorian suffragette stuff.
  • Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood | The main character “starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance” …so I just need to read this.
  • The Luxe by Anna Godbersen | I don’t even know how many years I’ve owned this book. It seems to be a historical version of Gossip Girl, and I am SO HERE FOR THAT. Now I just have to wipe 10 years of dust off the cover and go for it…
  • Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White | This one got a decent amount of buzz when I first started blogging and it’s been on my TBR ever since.

15 responses to “Top Ten Tuesdays #75: Historical Fiction

  1. Kristen

    As soon as you read Luxe you will want to read Rumors immediately. There are two more books in the series but I haven’t gotten to them. I loved Born Wicked and I’m reading the second book right now. I love the Cahill Trilogy.

  2. Ahh, I hope you get around to a Mad Wicked Folly soon! It sounds so interesting, and you’re so luckyy to have a copy~! 🙂
    I HAVE YET TO READ THE DIVINERS TOO!! The 1920s is my favourite modern era time period, because it sounds like such a fun period of time 😀
    And finally… READ GRAVE MERCY WHEN YOU CAN! I read it a while back, but I remember loving it! 🙂
    Love your list, Lauren!

    Geraldine @ Corralling Books recently posted: An Invisible Client by Victor Methos
  3. Lauren, you have such AMAZING books on your list today! I thoroughly enjoyed Prisoner of Night and Fog + Wolf by Wolf (as much as you can really enjoy reading about World War II), liked Scarlet a lot, and LOVED Grave Mercy and A Mad, Wicked Folly. Happy reading!

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