Early Frederick Forsyth - Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs Of War - are about as good as that Clancy genre gets.
Lorne: You know what they say about people who need people. Connor: They're the luckiest people in the world. Lorne: You been sneaking peeks at my Streisand collection again, Kiddo? Connor: Just kinda popped out.
'Time Bomb'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Jim - Jun 23, 2005 6:01:34 am PDT #7990 of 10002
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
erikaj - Jun 23, 2005 6:38:45 am PDT #7991 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
Espionage? Leonard, Le Carre Crime fiction/ mystery Lehane , Pelecanos(And not just cause he likes carrots)
§ ita § - Jun 23, 2005 6:46:21 am PDT #7992 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
That smells like the bullshit I remember, P-C. I'm okay with unreliable narrators, but you can't do that with third person omniscient and not anger me.
Katie M - Jun 23, 2005 9:05:47 am PDT #7993 of 10002
I was charmed (albeit somewhat perplexed) by the fannish sensibility of many of the music choices -- it's like the director was trying to vid Canada. --loligo on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
I know I need to try Dorothy Dunnett again--I tried the first Lymond book once and didn't get very far
This apparently happens to everyone. Put your head down and bull through to the end; if you haven't been grabbed by then you can probably walk away.
Historical... I don't read a lot, really. I'm very fond of Mary Renault, but I know some people bounce off of her prose.
meara - Jun 23, 2005 2:42:15 pm PDT #7994 of 10002
paperback action adventure/thrillers
I ended up reading a bunch of these on my trip (because romance goes by too quickly, and sci-fi not often found on the free trade bookshelves in hostels). One I ended up enjoying was Lee Child--he's got a whole series with one character, some of which are rather better than others. I recommend the "hired to assassinate the VP" one as one of the better ones, but the others aren't terrible, as the genre goes.
Polter-Cow - Jun 23, 2005 3:31:32 pm PDT #7995 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I don't normally tear up or almost cry at books (the only time I can remember almost crying at a book is the last third or so of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, and I was in a sad mood at the time anyway), so I had to make note of this, re: The Time Traveler's Wife.
I just read the scene where we find out that Henry has been time traveling to the scene of his mother's death his entire fucking life. That's...dear God.
Consuela - Jun 23, 2005 3:59:43 pm PDT #7996 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Susan, if you're still looking for recs, go back in time:
Samuel Shellabarger wrote fabulous swashbuckling historicals, mostly set during the Renaissance. Rafael Sabotini is legendary. Dumas' stuff was mostly historical.
More modern: Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters wrote a ton of very good stuff set in medieval England. The Heaven Tree Trilogy is one of my favorites. ::must get a copy and reread::
Sharon Kay Penman is very popular, although I'm not as sold on her. Jean Plaidy was a standby for me as a child, and she's one of the primary reasons I know anything about English history. (Sigh)
Dunnett, of course. If you find Game of Kings too dense, try Queen's Play or Disorderly Knights: the first two are pretty much one-offs. Or you could try Niccolo Rising, which is written in a much more accessible style, and set in Flanders among bankers and merchants and mercenaries of the mid-15th C. Many people prefer the Niccolo books to the Lymond ones.
Oh! PF Chisholm, who is Patricia Finney. As Finney, she wrote 2 killer novels set in Roman Britain and Ireland, based on the Ulster Cycle. She also wrote a pair of complex and baroque Elizabethan thrillers. As Chisholm, she's got a series of mysteries set on the Scots border, based on the real journals of Sir Robert Carey, one of Elizabeth I's cousins. It's all very good stuff.
Sheryl - Jun 23, 2005 4:31:36 pm PDT #7997 of 10002
Fandom means never having to say "But where would I wear that?"
If mysteries are ok, I can give you a whole bunch of names. Start with Bruce Alexander, who wrote a series featuring Sir John Fielding. There's also Anne Perry who writes two series set in Victorian England(different time frames) and Victoria Thompson whose series is set in Victorian New York.(There are many more, in various times and places, if you're interested)
Did I mention that I read a lot of historical mysteries? :)
Susan W. - Jun 23, 2005 4:35:16 pm PDT #7998 of 10002
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Thanks for the ideas, everyone!
I'm interested in good historical mysteries as good reads, though they're not as useful for the market research side of my historical fiction project. (I do hate how compartmentalized the publishing industry is, but it's not like I have any power to change it.)
Sheryl - Jun 23, 2005 4:58:40 pm PDT #7999 of 10002
Fandom means never having to say "But where would I wear that?"
Ok, Sharan Newman writes a series set in 12th century France(mostly) which is good.(I'm currently reading the most recent one, The Witch in the Well)Caroline Roe has a series set in 14th century Spain. Alan Gordon's books are good.(The series focuses on Feste from 12th Night, and is quite interesting)
Edward Marston has a bunch of series out. I've read most of the series that's set around the time of Shakespeare, featuring an acting troupe. I'm a bit behind on the Domesday Book series.(Set, as you might guess, in 11th century England) I've read his series set in Restoration England, but I'm not sure if those are published here.