I am trying to figure out some good books to buy for my best fried. She adores Austen and rereads her every couple of years. She loved The Alienist and The Crimson Petal and the White. She is reading Dunnett but finding it a little slow. Any ideas, oh Literistas?

Does she like modern British novels? I am in lurve with Jane Breen and can't get enough of her.

If she's willing to take a look at historical non-fiction written in an engaging style, I'd recommend Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. For fiction, maybe something a bit older, like Follett's Pillars of the Earth (which, full disclosure, I've yet to read, but my mom really adores it, and she's not one for historical fiction, normally).

Robin, has she read Karen Joy Fowler's The Jane Austen Book Club? I haven't read it myself yet, but it's supposed to be very good.

I was also going to throw in a rec for Devil and the White City, which I just read.

I read Pillars of the Earth last year and didn't really like it, although parts have stuck with me. It was too much problem-resolution-problem-resolution for me. Especially at that length. And the characters are extremely two-dimensional.

She is reading Dunnett but finding it a little slow.

Huh. I've never actually heard that complaint before, except from people bogged down in the first 200 pages of Game of Kings.

If she reads mysteries, she might like Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel mysteries, which are set in Regency-era London. City of Light was an interesting novel set in Buffalo around the time of the World's Fair. Has she read Georgette Heyer? Yes, they're romances, but they're well-written, frothy fun romances. Dorothy Sayers?

Ooooh, possibly Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is officially SF -- it's a time-travel novel -- but it's got marvelous wacky stuff set in the Victorian era. I liked it lots.

I recommend Connie Willis to everyone.

History Channel had a two-hour special on the Black Death, and all I could think of was Doomsday Book, which I've only read once about fifteen years ago. Time for a reread, I think.

Damn, you made me feel old there for a moment, Kathy, until I googled and realized that Doomsday Book was only published in 1992.

It isn't my favourite of her books (as I may have mentioned here), probably a combination of the disconnect (Domesday was in 1086, not the 14th century) and familiarity with her topic, unlike Lincoln's Dreams, which was new to me, and which amazed me.

History Channel had a two-hour special on the Black Death, and all I could think of was Doomsday Book, which I've only read once about fifteen years ago. Time for a reread, I think.

I was so disappointed by it. I wanted to love it but it was really irritating to me. So I've been reluctant to try any of her other stuff.

Has she read Georgette Heyer? Yes, they're romances, but they're well-written, frothy fun romances.

I've read one by her that I enjoyed (except for some real creepy elements of anti-semitism). I can't recall the title offhand. She wrote like a million books, right? Do you have ones that you recommend?