<p>16 year old S2 is a voracious reader. As a fiction hound, I struggle to keep him supplied with good reads.</p>
<p>Suggestions?</p>
<p>SHOGUN, James Clavell.</p>
<p>any of the Hellenic Historicals by Mary Renault</p>
<p>the Roman mysteries by Stephen Saylor are pretty good, I’m not fond of the knock-offs at all.</p>
<p>I’ll probably have more after a night’s sleep.</p>
<p>Is your son interested in any particular century or country?</p>
<p>James Michener</p>
<p>Holy cow…I’m 17 now.!!Wooo…orchestra tomorrow (we just had grad. that’s why I’m up so late. Graduating on my bday 
)
Anyway, Michener is great for the history of the carribean and new england area…read it.</p>
<p>I like Edward Rutherford’s books: “Sarum,” “Russka,” “The Forest,” and particularly “London.” These are multi-generational sagas set in specific locations over many hundreds of years. The historical research is fascinating (I especially like the chapter in “Sarum” on the construction of Stonehenge), and I think the characterization and plotting are better than what you often find in historical novels.</p>
<p>I devoured every Michener book when I was a kid and couldn’t wait for the next one to come out - always in paperback because who could afford hardcovers then? Think it’s time to look him up again.</p>
<p>I also loved Irving Stone, who wrote fictionalized biographies of historical characters (“Agony and the Ecstasy”/Michelangelo; “Lust for Life”/Van Gogh; “Clarence Darrow for the Defense”). Most of his are out of print now, I believe.</p>
<p>IMO, Gore Vidal is the master of American historical fiction. Start with “Burr”, then “1876”, “Lincoln”, etc. That should keep him busy for a while.</p>
<p>Which Micheners do you think would appeal to a 16 year old boy? Hawaii? </p>
<p>He finished King Rat, Shogun and has started Taipan. Any other Clavells? </p>
<p>Last month, he finished the three book Caesar series by Iggulden. </p>
<p>No particular century or country. Doesn’t like mysteries (Connelly) or legal drama (Grisham/Turow), though. Has read dozens of Vietnam memoirs and accounts, 4000 Days in a Bangkok Prison, those sorts of books.</p>
<p>Not familiar with Renault (other than name recognition) or Saylor. Thanks for those. Hadn’t thought of Vidal. Will also check out the Rutherford books. Thanks all. This is a high class problem, I realize. Fortunately, he rereads some books several times. That slows down the burn rate slightly!</p>
<p>Cheers,
If your son is willing to cross the gender gap, Ann Rinaldi writes light American fiction from a woman’s point of view. Judging from the other authors here, though, it might be too “fluffy” for him.</p>
<p>Michener’s “The Source” and “Hawaii”–earlier Michener. Later novels were written by many hands.</p>
<p>Clavell’s Whirlwind is another. It concerns the Iranian revolution in the 1970s.</p>
<p>I switched from historical fiction to nonfiction after I read “Two Years Before the Mast.” I read lots of fiction. I am librarian, but for fun and personal pleasure it is nonfiction. “Caliban’s Shore” about the wreck of the Grosvenor and the strange fate of her survivors in 1782 off the coast of South Africa is my latest favorite.</p>
<p>Has your son read any of the David Mccullough books? Not fiction but so wonderfully rich in development of the characters…Morning on Horseback is about the first 22 yrs (give or take) of Teddy Roosevelt’s life…I loved John Adams…first hundred pages was tough…too many Adams’ to keep them all straight, but after that, wow… No Ordinary Time about Franklin and Eleanor was also a very compelling read. My son loved the Neil Stephenson Baroque Cycle Trilogy, Quicksilver is Vol1, The Confusion is Vol 2 and The System of the World is Vol 3. </p>
<p>Also, Taylor Caldwell wrote several great historical fiction biographies, Dear and Glorious Physician is about St. Luke, she wrote one about Ghengis Khan, another one about Attilla the Hun…</p>
<p>Certainly Winds of War and War and Remembrance are 2 GREAT books for summer reading…Centennial is also great once you get past the first 100 pages…dinosaurs etc in Colorado are the intro…but eventually you get to people and then it becomes fun to read…</p>
<p>We read The Mouse that Roared for our mother son book group…it is a very quick read, entertaining, and actually quite relevant to what is going on in the world today…</p>
<p>The Dante Club is a bit of a mystery, but it has all sorts of historical characters that make up the club, and it really gives one a great sense Dante’s Divine Comedy…the purpose of the club is to publish a translation of the Comedy for American audiences…includes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes etc…fun and interesting to read…</p>
<p>Has he read Founding Brothers? Each chapter (6 I think) is a potential explanation for what led to a pivotal event in early American history and that is a compelling read…big sloggy at times, but overall, excellent stories…</p>
<p>assuming he has read Ayn Rand if voracious reader…if not, go for those…</p>
<p>Killer Angels is one of the best books I have ever read…fictional account of Gettysburg…only fictional in that it includes “dialog” but, each chapter is from the vantage point of a different general…this was another mother son book and definitely one of our favorites… </p>
<p>We read House of the Scorpion…and while it is aimed at teens, every mother in our group LOVED this story…lots to talk about…it is a futuristic novel about cloning and what have you set in MEXICO… it was great…</p>
<p>not historical fiction, but Monster was well received by the boys too… it is set up like a screen play… about a kid who was at minimum, a witness to a crime, arrested for the crime and he writes his story as a film and it is an easy read…</p>
<p>that is all for now…how lucky to have a voracious reader… “a book lover never goes to bed alone”…</p>
<p>Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (British cathedral/middle Ages)–tremendously popular at our high school</p>
<p>The Da Vinci Code (overhyped maybe but very readable)</p>
<p>Some of the John Gisham novels give a great sense of place and society (the twentieth-century American South) even though they aren’t especially artistically written–the first, A Time to Kill (?not sure about the title), is probably the best</p>
<p>I agree with the Rutherfurd and Michener recommendations (though Michener maybe a little dated, Hawaii is a great read). And there is always Leon Uris’s Exodus (also Mila 18 isn’t bad)</p>
<p>The Jack Finney time-travel books set in 19th-century New York City–I forget the names but the first one is excellent and the second pretty good (check titles on-line)–my son loved them in high school; it is important to reaqd them in the right order though</p>
<p>The last recommendation I have probabyl doesn’t suit a boy but a girl of similar age and tastes would love it,as would many women I think–And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer–published about 20 years ago, written by an elederly woman in Ohio and set in 19th-century Ohio–got rave reviews and a lot of publicity when first published and absolutely transports you to that time and place.</p>
<p>Michener favorites: “The Source,” “Hawaii,” “Chesapeake,” “Poland,” and “Centennial” (great tale of the development of the American West).</p>
<p>I second David McCullough, especially “The Great Bridge” about the Brooklyn Bridge and “The Path between the Seas” about building the Panama Canal - every bit as exciting as the best historical fiction.</p>
<p>Can’t agree on Ayn Rand, though. I realize her novels are actually political writings, but I still like my novels to be novels - by which I mean populated by fully-developed characters and graced with skilled descriptive passages. I’ll grant that she usually has an interesting premise, one that book groups would enjoy debating. But she certainly wasn’t for me! jmho, of course.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. They cobbled together bits from several of the books to make the movie Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World. But the books are much better than the movie. O’Brian is a very talented writer - very elegant prose and he tells a great story.</p>
<p>The books follow the career and adventures of a British sea captain and his physician/spy friend during the Napoleonic wars. It’s all very historically accurate - e.g. at one point our heroes find themselves aboard HMS Java and facing a battle with USS Constitution “Old Ironsides” - an epic battle that actually occurred, but in this case told from the British point of view. O’Brian is also a stickler for accuracy in the details too, not just the big events. You also learn a lot about sailing ships from these books. </p>
<p>Master and Commander is the first book in the series, and like I said, not much like the movie. I envy those of you who choose to take up these books. You have a feast set before you.</p>
<p>mattmom, I strongly second your recommendation of Jack Finney–Time and Again is an excellent work of historical imagination and recreation.</p>
<p>Also, not fiction, but very absorbing and delightfully informative is Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abe Lincoln. AL is also in many ways a great role model for a college bound kid–he took every opportunity to educate himself and ask hard questions-- while all the time supporting himself.</p>
<p>He might’ve already had these for school, but All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Fifth Queen by Ford Madox Ford are must reads in the genre. I like Michener’s Centennial a lot though some of the geological stuff at the beginning is supposedly based on outdated theory and can be a little tiresome to get through.</p>
<p>Anything by Leon Uris. DD just walked into the room and said that he should read Ender’s Game if he hasn’t already done so. And if he likes that, then he can go on to the Ender’s Shadow series. Futuristic science fiction, definately not historical novels, but DD says they’re fabulous.</p>
<p>cheers:
My 15 year old just finished Pillars of the Earth in preparation for our trip to Paris and Rome. He loved it. I just finished Agony and the Ecstasy. I loved it, but it is not as “spellbinding” as Pillars. I was wishing that the book had photos of Michelangelo’s works. I ended up getting some books out of the library so that I could see the works as they were covered in the book. I’m trying to talk him into reading Gone with the Wind - but he thinks it’s a girl’s book!</p>
<p>Trinity by Leon Uris and Exodus</p>
<p>Pope Joan.</p>