(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best historical fiction books

Ooh! I love books

A Confederacy of Dunces - think New Orleans Don Quixote. It's a wonderful satirical novel.

The Poisonwood Bible- I love how each chapter is told from the perspective from a different character. Very well-written exploration of a particular time and place, but the family dynamic and the unbending Baptist father really make this novel what it is.

East of Eden- my FAVORITE book of all time. Best things to me are the exploration of human choice vs. destiny and the intricate biblical allusions. Plus, Samuel and Lee are two of the best characters ever written.

After Dark- in my opinion, one of Murakami's best works. I love the contrast between the surreal happenings of one sister and the gritty reality of the other.

Strange Pilgrims- fantastic book of short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Only thing I've read by him, but definitely has put him on my radar of "want to read more from you" authors.

The Fault In Our Stars- yes, its young adult fiction, but John Green is an amazing writer with a talent for descriptive imagery. This story made me cry. Not many books actually make me have to pause because I'm crying so hard.

Chinese Cinderella- so many feels. It's a true story, which really makes you empathize. I won't ruin it for you, but the part about PLT... gah.

To Kill a Mockingbird- I really need to reread this one, it's been several years. But I remember her creating such an identifiable character with Scout.

It Can't Happen Here- if you liked 1984, you'll probably like this. It's semi-satirical though, which makes it a fun read.

First They Killed My Father- also, so many feels. Another true story. I didn't know much about the war in Cambodia til after I read this book. The author is very inspirational, though.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames- really, everything I've read by David Sedaris I've enjoyed. But this was the first.

What is the What- SOOOO GOOD. I particularly like the contrast between the past time frame and the present.

The Stranger- very short, but a great exploration of existentialism.

The Secret Life of Bees- this would be an interesting one to contrast with To Kill A Mockinbird, since they explore some of the same issues in the South in the 1960s. Good book.

The Kitchen God's Wife- another one I gotta reread. Fantastic book though. Read it in high school but definitely would reread.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- a lot of people have read the Kite Runner, but fewer people I find have read this book from the same author.

Ender's Game- not too long, but a good sci-fi read. My boyfriend's favorite book of all time.

Harrison Bergeron- I know it's just a short story, but so worth a read. Vonnegut is good, another person I'm hoping to get into more.

This is Water- warning: may change your life forever.

Ok, that's enough for now I suppose. I may add to it if I think of any later. But I hope this helps!

Well, not too Orthodox, but ones I have on my ereader which I liked...

• Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters by Elie Wiesel. It's a really easy and engaging read. It doesn't go deep enough to get dry; which is either good or bad depending on what you're after. I worked at an old, historic building in the middle of nowhere. This was a great book to wander through in the woods.
  
  
• Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber. Buber goes deeper than Wiesel. It can be a little terse. Most of the book contains Hasidic stories presented in a few paragraphs. Buber was, first and foremost, a philosopher and scholar. He loved Hasidism and Judaism, but his approach was not Orthodox.
  
  
• Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion by Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg. So, I adored this book. It explores (primarily) Jewish folklore around 1000 CE among the Rhineland Jews (Hasidei Ashkenaz). This community put forth work of the so called "Practical Kabbalah". The book examines Medieval Jewish beliefs in demons, angels, invocation magic, ghosts, amulets, and more. What I found interesting was that the approach was always very Jewish. In otherwords, they did not believe there existed a duality between the Devil with demons and God with angels. God remained supreme and One over all else in their superstitions. This book also traces some Jewish practices to their superstitious origins and contains many fascinating stories. It can be dry though. It's also available (legally) for free online!
  
  
• EVERYTHING BY DANIEL C. MATT. He's at the forefront of academic study of Jewish mysticism. He also translates beautifully. He's currently (and likely until the end of time) creating a new English translation of the Zohar. He has numerous short books containing brief translations of mystical Jewish texts. The Essential Kabbalah was short, sweet, pretty, and fun.
  
  
• The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz. In 1990 the first known meeting between a Jewish delegation and the Dalai Lama occurred. The delegation consisted of rabbis from different denominations with different views. They each present different aspects of Judaism. Kamenetz chronicles the historic event, but in a personal way. Through being a part of this endeavor, he learned about Buddhism and rekindled his connection to Judaism.
  
  
• The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel by Helene Wecker. BUY THIS BOOK. It's fiction (unlike the others). It's an immigrant story told using magical realism. A golem finds herself in the Jewish district of New York City in 1899. Meanwhile, a jinni is trapped in human form in the Syrian district. They are each new to the world in communities new to America. It's a beautiful book.

Sorry, but there isn't much.

Chapter 3 of the Ultimate Campaign source book. It mentions lineages and including families in game.

The Inner Sea Primer mentions a single feat, Noble.

Pathfinder's default Setting, the world of Golarion, has the nation of Brevoy for inspiration. It's like Medieval Russia with warring noble houses; very Game of Thrones feel.

If you want some serious inspiration for a back-stabbing, intrigue heavy, historically inspired noble house plotting generator, try Crusader Kings II. The Accursed Kings Series is historical fiction that inspired GRR Martin to write A Song of Ice and Fire.

As you mentioned, Cityscape has a whole section within Chapter 3 dedicated to Noble Houses.

Good Luck.

You really are an amazing generous person. Thank you.

My name is Kristine. I hope it's okay that I just added this but because I had nothing portable to read books on I've only been putting physical books on my wishlist. Water for Elephants is one of the best books I ever read. It was moving and fascinating and I can hardly believe it was a school assignment. I lost my paperback copy and would really love to just be able to read it again. I'd like your wonderful Kindle Fire because I have recently turned into one of those people who has my book with me constantly. I read between my classes and on my downtime at work and the Kindle app just isn't cutting it anymore, which is a shame because because of the free books they have and the whole going paperless thing. So it would go to a good deal of use with me.

Thank you again!

[Kindred] (https://www.amazon.com/Kindred-Octavia-Butler/dp/0807083690), by Octavia Butler. It's actually the first science fiction novel written by a black woman, but when I read it for the first time I don't know that I would have classified it as science fiction. Anyway, incredible book, very exciting and the premise is unique. I highly recommend it.

I also loved and still do love Matilda by Roald Dahl. Ender's Game is also very high on my list.

If we're talking really quick reads, like for a flight or beach day, I absolutely love Mary Higgins Clark. It's not great literature or anything, but they're good mysteries.

I have a great suggestion - Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series. This is a beautifully written series chronicling the adventures of a British Navel Captain and a surgeon/intelligence agent during the Napoleonic wars. But really, it is about the deep friendship that develops between these two very different but equally admirable men.

This series has often been called among the best adventure series ever - and you will enjoy getting to know these two men as their careers advance (and, at times falls), as women and children come and go. These are guys you will look forward to spending time with and you will wish you had a friendship like theirs.

(by the way, the movie made from a mashup of a few of the books was ... meh...)

Some 80's cyberpunk-ish stuff. This is far from the best SF I've read, but it's obscure. Stuff I liked when I was a teenager-twentyager.

The Glass Hammer by K.W. Jeter. An odd, cyberpunk thing that I liked when I came out in 1985. Now out of print. I'm having it scanned and will post when it's ready.

When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. (and sequels) Great adventure in an Islamic environment.

The Man Who Never Missed (and sequels) by Steve Perry.

The Skyway Series by John DeChancie. (Starrigger, Red Limit Freeway, Paradox Alley) Silly, adolescent adventure, driving across space and time.

Kindred by Octavia Butler. Actually, EVERYTHING by Octavia Butler is great.

Artificial Things, by Karen Joy Fowler. Short stories.

Blue Champagne by John Valey. Short stories.

Taking the movie on its on merits it'll be a mindless effects laden summer movie blockbuster type so you shouldn't expect much in terms of mind blowing writing and the such. Now what I take offense too, and this is something Hollywood continues to do, is take incredibly interesting historical events, which on their own merits are remarkable stories in it of them selves and completely change the stories to make them more "bad ass" and appeal to a general blockbuster style fan base. Take 300 for example, now nothing wrong with Frank Miller's amazing graphic novel, or Zack Snyder's direction of the adaptation BUT now we'll never see a real true telling of the battle of Thermopylae or at best have to wait like 20 years since the rights to Stephen Pressfield's Gates of Fire are locked away in the phantom zone of Hollywood. The story of the 47 Ronin is amazing and should be told as it happened, not with dragon ladies, giant armored Samurai monsters and Keanu wielding a lightsaber katana. Also, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a pretty damn fun read...which Hollywood dumbed down beyond possible levels and changed pretty much everything in the book, in fact they pretty much just share Abraham Lincoln and little else. - Ends rant, Steps off soap box. (Also fist post here so if it was way too long sorry lol)

What other reddits do you surf?
I moderate /r/RATS, /r/Louisiana and /r/OpenChristian. I also read a lot in /r/SquaredCircle, /r/SRSBusiness, /r/SRSDiscussion, /r/polyamory, /r/woahdude and I've been dipping back into /r/Christianity a bit lately as well.

What do you do in your free time?
I read. I reddit. I smoke my pipe and drink my cocktails. I watch pro wrestling. I cuddle. I toy around with making jewelry (trying hammered wire recently) or playing with polymer clay. I'm considering this thing they call "ex ur size" or some such. It involves riding on a bike that goes nowhere. I understand I can read or watch TV while I do it, so I figured what the heck.


What do you read?
Right now I'm going back and forth between The History of White People and A Canticle for Leibowitz. Before that I read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. the most powerful book I've read in the last few months was Silence by Shusaku Endo. You should read it. And then you should read Lamb because you'll need something a bit more jovial. But not until after you've sat with it a while.

What do you watch?
Ring of Honor Wrestling, WWE, Leverage, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother.

Do you Blog?
Yup, though not regularly enough to develop any sort of readership.

Do you game?
I just got my first console since the original NES when I was in junior high. It's a Wii. Every once in a while I'll play Mario Kart of do something on the Wii Fit.

Do you play a musical instrument/sing?
I make noise periodically. I want to do more.

What are your favorite movies?
Absolute number one favorite? Hedwig And the Angry Inch. The only tattoo I have is from that movie. Other favorites include The Big Lebowski, Pump Up The Volume, The Wrestler, Shortbus, Dangerous Beauty, Walk The Line.

What is some favorite music?
My absolute favorite band is Over the Rhine. Behind them, tied for second place, you'll find Boris, the Cure, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash. Also up there are Kris Kristofferson, Mischief Brew, the CrimethInc band called Requiem (there are lots of bands called Requiem), The New Orleans Bingo Show. The list goes on for days.

> Demurrage the shares at whatever rate means that it would take you putting in the same portion of your stollars each unit of time to stay in the same place?

That makes sense. It's equivalent to my model, but with only a limited amount of companies you can vote for per "election" cycle. Neat solution for voting, as well.

> Are you sure that the ability to grow that large isn't just an effect of regulatory capture?

I guess I can't be? My point is that a monopoly on invested capital is as problematic as a monopoly on e.g. railroad stock, and as such a company that massively outranks the next competitor in terms of capital investment should be treated the same as a natural monopoly.

> If you can explain why even amazon as a co-op is a problem, then sure.

Coopazon would be able to insert itself as a crucial part of a supply chain and proceed to eliminate all competition through predatory pricing, then create class separation in the same way the Yugoslavian energy coop did.

> Woah, really? Source?

It's mainly linear programming (developed by Leonid Kantorovich and intended for economic planning. There's an absolutely excellent fictional novel about him), Krylov spaces (developed by Aleksey Krylov, a Tsarist admiral who switched sides during the war to become a Soviet admiral -- quite an interesting character as well), as well as a ton of work building on the works of Kantorovich, Markov (e.g. Markov chains), or Chebyshev (e.g. information theory) -- Markov and Chebyshev were both dead by the time of the revolution, but their students and their students' students published a ton of theory that is used today. You've also got Kolmogorov, famous for Kolmogorov complexity, as well his collaborator Vladimir Arnold. I don't have a good source, I just work in AI currently trying to teach a robot language with a bunch of old Soviet mathematics :)

Anyway, Kantorovich developed his theory of linear programming in 1939. He tried for years to convince people that the idea should be applied to economic planning, which is actually not a stupid idea (if economic allocation was not a nonlinear problem, his idea would give a provably optimal solution). Brezhnev finally told him to stuff it after getting into power, then proceeded to take away the majority of his funding for being insufficiently Stalinist in his approach to mathematics.

> Have you run into my concept of stratodemocracy

No, but please explain!

I think it's from page 272 or 268.

I used Google Books to find the excerpt. You can read it for "free" if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber. Here's the source:

>Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Kindle version) Page 268 of 372 Position 36789 of 4808

>When her hands move to my shirt, I open my eyes. She undoes the buttons slowly, methodically. I watch her, knowing I should stop her. But I can't. I am helpless.

>When my shirt is open she pulls it free of my trousers and looks me in
the eye. She leans forward and brushes her lips past mine—so softly it’s
not even a kiss, merely contact. She pauses for just a second, keeping her
lips so close I can feel her breath on my face. Then she leans in and kisses
me, a gentle kiss, tentative but lingering. The next kiss is stronger still, the
next one even more so, and before I know it I’m kissing back, clutching her
face in both my hands as she runs her fingers over my chest and down my
body. When she reaches for my trousers, I gasp. She pauses, tracing the
outline of my erection.


>She stops. I am reeling, teetering on my knees. Still staring into my eyes,
she takes my hands and brings them to her lips. She presses a kiss into
each palm and then places my hands on her breasts.

>“Touch me, Jacob.”

>I am doomed, finished.

>Her breasts are small and round, like lemons. I cup them, running my
thumbs over them and feeling her nipples contract under the cotton of her
dress. I crush my bruised mouth to hers, running my hands over her rib
cage, her waist, her hips, her thighs—

>When she undoes my trousers and takes me in her hand, I pull away.

>“Please,” I gasp, my voice cracking. “Please. Let me be inside you.”

>Somehow, we make it to the bed. When I finally sink into her, I cry out.

>Afterward, I curl around her like a spoon. We lie in silence until
darkness falls, and then, haltingly, she begins to talk. She slides her feet
between my ankles, plays with my fingertips, and before long the words
are pouring out. She speaks without need or even room for response, so I
simply hold her and stroke her hair. She talks of the pain, grief, and horror
of the past four years; of learning to cope with being the wife of a man so
violent and unpredictable his touch made her skin crawl and of thinking,
until quite recently, that she’d finally managed to do that. And then,
finally, of how my appearance had forced her to realize she hadn’t learned
to cope at all.

>When she finally falls silent, I continue to stroke her, running my hands
gently over her hair, her shoulders, her arms, her hips. Then I start to talk.

>I tell her about my childhood and my mother’s apricot rugelach. I tell her
about starting to go on rounds with my father during my teen years and of
how proud he was when I was accepted into Cornell. I tell her about
Cornell, and Catherine, and how I thought that was love. I tell her about
Old Mr. McPherson running my parents off the side of the bridge, and the
bank taking our home, and how I broke down and ran out of the exam hall
when all the heads lost their faces.

>In the morning, we make love again. This time she takes my hand and
guides my fingers, moving them against her flesh. At first I don’t
understand, but when she trembles and rises to my touch I realize what
she’s showing me and want to cry with joy at the knowledge of it.

>Afterward, she lies nestled against me, her hair tickling my face. I stroke
her lightly, memorizing her body. I want her to melt into me, like butter on
toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with
her encased in my skin.

>I want.

>I lie motionless, savoring the feeling of her body against mine. I’m afraid
to breathe in case I break the spell.



I think the page numbers correspond with the print version, but I'm not sure what ISBN it's from.

My go to easy reading series has been"The Hangman's Daughter" series by Oliver Pötzsch. It's about the family of a hangman in Germany in the 1600s and the mysteries they get entangled with.
Then writing isn't the strongest (though to be fair, it could just be the translation), but I like the characters, and the mysteries and adventure make for a nice escape. Plus, at the end of each book, Pötzsch describes the historical, social, and geographical context of the locations the book takes place in, which I find fascinating.

The series is also part of Kindle Unlimited, so if you have the service, you can read the entire series for free.
https://www.amazon.com/Hangmans-Daughter-Kindle-Motion-Tale-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=nodl_

Concerning the USSR, it's all relative to the conditions that existed beforehand. Living standards absolutely did rise. People had health care, housing, a job, free education and the security of a generous pension. Simply listing every negative thing that happened in 75 years does not mean it was "an awful place" to live for most people for most of that time.

Red Plenty is a great book about the myth and reality of the Soviet Union. It was a time of great hope and crushing disappointment..

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/1555976042

>Practically the entire economy was based on malinvestment

This is demonstrably false. From the conclusion of non leftist economists:

>Surprisingly, the evidence from our examination of nine industrial sectors during the period 1960–1984 shows only small differences in measured allocative inefficiency between the United States and Soviet economies.

Their ability to divert resources and invest capital in the most efficient manner is on par with the US in the same time period.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00153775

I've always been a big fan of The Alienist. It's not as big a book as the others mentioned here but I really loved it. It was a fun, exciting good period mystery.

This.

Not This.

Most of what's on here is fairly classic straightforward detective stuff, which is great, but I've always been a sucker for mysteries that merge with other genres or do unusual things. A good handful if that's your bag:

• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster - 3 short novels packaged together and vaguely related. Also a pretty great mindfuck book
  
• Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - detective novel whose narrator has Tourette Syndrome
  
• The Alienist by Caleb Carr or In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff - Historical fiction/mystery taking place around the turn of the century and during the dawns of forensics/criminal psychology/criminology
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - Sci-fi/hardboiled detective novel in a future where the human mind can be digitized and backed up off-site, rendering murder irrelevant. Terrific book, I find myself compelled to reread it and its sequels every year or so.
  
  Those are all more or less "detective fiction" style mystery, if you're looking at the broader genre I cannot recommend The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon any more highly. I haven't been sucked into writing like that in a long long time.
  

Since searching wikipedia turned up the Timeline of Non-Sexual Social Nudity(TIL) I'm just going to guess you're you're looking for a more techie true to life rendition of the hacker archetype based on the amazon synopsis.

Based on that I'd recommend:

Cryptonomicon

just.go.read.it.right.now.

It may take a little effort to get into, damn thing is a tomb, but give it a chance. You will not be disappoint.

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Stealing the Network Series

How to Own a Box

How to Own a Continent

How to Own an Identity

How to Own a Shadow

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These are told in a chapter/viewpoint style, each chapter is usually written by a different knowledgeable, and sometimes security famous, security dude. Out of those I've only read How to Own an Identity so far, but it was pretty good and and my guess is that the rest hold up to that standard, so dive in. They are a series from what I understand so reading them in order is probably a good idea, but not completely necessary.

_____

And then for flair (these are more scifi/cyberpunk-ish; so if that's not your thing avoid):

Snowcrash

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The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist. No seriously. He's a ninja, he's a hacker, he lives in a U-Store-it container, and he delivers pizza for the Mob in a post-collapse USA, can you really not read this book now?

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The Diamond Age

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All about the practical social implications of nanotechnolgy told through the eyes of a young girl, her father, and an assortment of disposable associates.

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The Sprawl Trilogy

Neuromancer

Count Zero

Mona Lisa Overdrive

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I've only read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which were both great, so I'm guessing Count Zero is probably good too.

Similar to Snowcrash in the lone gun hacker sense, except with more drugs a little bit more of a scattered tone.


And if all else fails there's always the DEF CON reading list.

ninja edits because I suck at markdown

Any book by Mary Roach- her books are hilarious, random, and informative. I like Jon Krakauer's, Sarah Vowell's, and Bill Bryson's books as well.

Some of my favorites that I can think of offhand (as another poster mentioned, I loved Devil in the White City)

No Picnic on Mount Kenya

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Collapse

The Closing of the Western Mind

What is the What

A Long Way Gone

Alliance of Enemies

The Lucifer Effect

The World Without Us

What the Dog Saw

The God Delusion (you'd probably enjoy Richard Dawkins' other books as well if you like science)

One Down, One Dead

Lust for Life

Lost in Shangri-La

Endurance

True Story

Havana Nocturne

Excellent work man, great progress.

Also, everything in this book is planned for a particular reason, trust me.

As for books, Gates of Fire is my favorite, the concept of brotherhood, duty, and masculine power are all covered within.

Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.

FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple

I love historical fiction as well - these may not meet the romance criteria, but they are interesting and entertaining. They are some of the more gender-neutral historical fiction books I have enjoyed - I usually stray towards military historical ficiton.

The Physician by Noah Gordon

The Sand Reckoner by Gillian Bradshaw

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

In the modern literature category

Dave Eggers - What is the What. Or A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by him is also pretty good.

A.S. Byatt - Possession

Also, someone else mentioned Neal Stephenson, I cannot second this recommendation strongly enough! Very fun reads that don't shy away from intellectual engagement. I read Cryptonomicon by him recently and loved it.

I also note you don't mention Don DeLillo although you mention many of his contemporaries. Check out White Noise by him and go from there.

I could probably make some more suggestions, but it depends what genre's and styles you're really into? Do you want hugely post-modern? Do you enjoy the classics? (I notice your list had no Shakespeare, his tragedies are as famous as they are for good reason)

I agree that A Heartrending Work of Staggering Genius is a boring and monotonous exploration of the author's psyche, but Dave Eggers is still a great writer. What is The What is an amazing novel that everyone should read.

I would first recommend Shogun by James Clavell. It's an epic story with a great plot. I don't believe it's too accurate, but it's a good read.


If you want to continue on with historical Japanese literature you can't go wrong with Musashi or Taiko both by Eiji Yoshikawa.


Moving on to more western stuff, I recommend the many James Michener books, but they can be boring at times. My favorite of his is Hawaii.


I'd also recommend Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield about the Battle of Thermopylae.

Forever by Pete Hamill was pretty good.


>This widely acclaimed bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains ... forever. Through the eyes of Cormac O'Connor - granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan - we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know the city's buried secrets - the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope.

Well since no one else has taken you up on this...
I was not able to find much for .99 but here are three (all under 3.00), any of which I would very much enjoy if you feel so inclined and are willing to change your 99 cent policy haha!
The Golem and the Jinni,
Tolkien's Letters, and/or
The City Stained Red.
Thanks for your kind consideration!

I would recommend the novel Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. It's a success story of the man winning the Sengoku period.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4770026099/

If you prefer games and pop culture in general, this Wikipedia article may also be a good start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Sengoku_period_in_popular_culture

Just responded to Hopped, but sounds like you might be interested too. Have you read https://www.amazon.ca/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/1555976042 ?

I read a huge blog post over a series of days going in depth about market planning and it single-handedly (and quite enjoyably) convinced me that a market economy is the only feasible (if imperfect) way to do things. This was the blog post I think: http://crookedtimber.org/2012/05/30/in-soviet-union-optimization-problem-solves-you/

It seems that it would take a computer the size of the sun to process the multi-million by multi-million matrix of inputs and outputs in an economy.

As an Englishman I'm actually rather interested in American history, mainly in the greater context of the conflicts with France happening at the time. If you enjoy GRRM's series I would recommend you read either some narrative histories or some historical fiction.

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones is extremely good as a cursory introduction to the beginnings of the English monarchy. It starts with the anarchy and makes it's way up to the fall of Richard II to the Lords Appellant and Henry IV that was so fantastically dramatised in Shakespeares play of the same name.
Dan Jones also wrote some terrific narrative history on the Wars of the Roses. He's a young historian, more focused on the narrative than the analysis but his bibliography is impressive enough.

For historical fiction, look no further than The Accursed Kings

It's a terrific look at the end of the Capetian dynasty and the set up for the Hundred Years War, where Edward III claimed to be the successor to the Capetians by English inhetitance laws and the French claimed he was not due to their new found love of Salic inheritance law. This was truly the war that forged the nation states of France and England and set them apart from each other.
Give it a read, although I'm not sure whether the last couple have been translated yet.

Silence by Shusaku Endo

This is a great book about the persecution of priests and Christians in Japan. It's a pretty interesting and rather shocking fictional tale based on historical truth. I had to read it for my study abroad class, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.

Edit: FYI I'm agnostic-atheist.

Hello, I'm Chelsey. I'm addicted to all things sweet and I'm a'feared that that love has been passed on to my son. Anywho, one of my favorite books of all time is Water For Elephants. I've read it three times already, but I love it. Saw the movie, liked it...just not nearly as good as the book.

I'm a huge fan of the historical fiction by Bernard Cornwell--especially the Arthurian legend trilogy, the Warlord Chronicles (beginning with the Winter King). Obviously Arthurian tales influenced and captivated Tolkien, as demonstrated by his poetry, but these books are just spot-on for any lover of good fiction with fantasy elements.

Try, believe it or not, Water for Elephants.

I wouldn't call it a romance novel, but it's most certainly a very character driven novel, and I felt for all the characters very much. And the end is fantastic.

Sarah Vowell writes some interesting and particular books on American History. I don't think it is on the lines of the swashbuckling adventure you mention above but it is quite fascinating and humorous. Latest being Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.

If it is historical fiction, political intrigue, & sea fairing adventure you seek, there is the Patrick O'Brian novels on the the British Navy during the the beginning of the 19th century. Master and Commander, Aubrey/Maturin Novels The movie Master and Commander (with Russell Crowe) took a stab at a bit of the story. I am presently on Book 10. It is a long series.

I change up the books on the non-fiction list every year and this one is no longer on the list. It's a good one though: here's a link to it on Amazon.

Students may enjoy looking into Dave Eggers' work. He's written another book I've considered putting on the non-fiction project list, Zeitoun, a wonderful fictionalized work of true events called What is the What, and he is the editor and founder of McSweeney's, which has spawned the cool sport's writing quarterly Grantland and a sister literary magazine, The Believer.

It's beside my bed-side table.

Which is a pretty major step, considering I have literally hundreds of unread books to get through. Consider it on the (physical) short-list. :) It's a toss up between that, a biography of Muhammad, The Luminaries (which just won the Booker Prize), Bring up the Bodies (which won last year) and HHhH.

Also, after years of resisting I bought a Kindle and now buy most of my book in ebook format; something I thought would never happen. My impulse buying of books has increased, and I find myself reading on the Kindle more than picking up real books these days. This saddens me in a strange way.

Not horror, but this one is brilliant:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan.

Also very good: Cryptonomicon.

Its nonfiction ish but I just read HHHH
reddit!

Story is amazing anyway, his telling makes it fun

Peter Hamill's Forever is about a man who arrives in New York City in 1740 and through events becomes immortal as long as he does not leave the island of Manhattan. It's a pretty interesting concept and allows the reader to trace both the character's story, as well as the growth of NYC from the mid-18th century onwards.

I'll recommend some newer literature I really enjoyed:

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I'm also a big fan of John Steinbeck if you want to go the more classic literary route; East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men--they're all regularly assigned in literature classes for a reason. Some of his less well-known works, like Tortilla Flats and Travels with Charley are also a delight.

Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front has some of the most haunting and soul-stirring depictions of war that I've ever read.

For novels that might have more of a women's perspective, consider pretty much anything by Barbara Kingsolver (The Bean Trees and Prodigal Summer are my favorites) or Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic is fantastic).

Don't discount the work of Stephen King, either, especially if you have only seen his movies. The Stand and The Shining are extraordinary, many of his short story collections will just blow your mind (that's where the source material for the movies The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me come from). I particularly loved 'Salem's Lot and It (which cemented my lifelong aversion to clowns).

For non-fiction, I'd recommend any biography by David McCullough. His research is impeccable and he does a fantastic job of storytelling. I first encountered his amazing talent in Truman but American history fans really go nuts over John Adams and 1776.

/u/LurkerTriumphant did a good job of answering this question. If you're looking for more information, I highly recommend reading Silence, by Shusaku Endo. It is a historical narrative that deals with the time frame and issues you're interested in, and will help paint a more vivid picture.

I never liked Snow Crash much although not as bad as the Baroque cycle. Of all Stephenson's books: Anathem and Diamond Age are excellent and Cryptonomicon and The Cobweb are very good.

Edit: grammar and links

I've read Unconquered, and it was pretty good. The Author also wrote a book about Bioshock that was really good. I haven't read The Fallen yet though.

This month I read the Valerian The Empire of a Thousand Planets book that has a movie coming out. The copy I got smells weird. Pretty standard for a European comic from that time period. I'm always amused by how comics describe decadence :-)

I am also in the middle of Kindred, by Octavia Butler. Very good, highly recommended. In having trouble putting it down to go to sleep at night.

This year I want to read a bunch of stuff by minority authors. Oh, and some non fiction.

Forever by Peter Hammell is one of my favorites, it's slow to start but after the first chapter, I was hooked! Another is by a local Connecticut author it's based on his personal experience in Ukraine at the fall of the Soviet Union while learning about Chernobyl Journey To Chernobyl: ENCOUNTERS IN A RADIOACTIVE ZONE by Glenn Cheney, the Amazon reviews for both a mixed, but I loved them.

[The Yiddish Policeman's Union] (https://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel-P-S/dp/0007149832) is alternate history rather than sci-fi, but is interesting.

Altered Carbon is a popular noir styled sci-fi that you've probably already seen recommended, and has an in production Netflix adaptation.

Karl Marx doesn't really give us a system of government. He gives us a critique of capitalism, with the occasional remark about how we might not be alienated under another system. If you really want to see how Marx talks about future governance, don't look to the Communist Manifesto, but to this later essay:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_the_Gotha_Program

Lenin is the thinker you want instead of Marx if you need to talk about actually existing socialism.

This novel might also interest you:
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/1555976042

Edit: Also, there is no way of analyzing "objective effectiveness of hypothetical systems of government." You should define what you mean by "successful" as it pertains to your interests, and see how that trait is dealt with in the various thinkers that you read. You will not have the time or the space to do what you're proposing to do, which isn't a problem! But you should take some time and try to shrink down this project to Communism in a particular time or genre (i.e. literature or political pamphlet)

There exists a great novel that goes into this topic.

Silence by Shusaku Endo

Check it out, well worth the read.

http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Shusaku-Endo/dp/0800871863

Forever by Pete Hamill is about a guy who is immortal as long as he doesn't leave Manhattan. Hamill is an excellent writer and I really enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed Refuge, by Richard Herley. It's about a man who thinks he is the last person in the world until he discovers a recently-killed body in a creek near his home.

Here is the book's first chapter.

There's also Aztec, by Gary Jennings, which is a fantastic adventure story set in pre-Columbian Mexico. You can get a preview on its Amazon.com page.

Clavell's Shogun is loosely based on actual history. Very, very loosely. Decades of history are blended together, and various historical figures are conflated into new characters. It's not even close to an accurate reflection of the political and cultural situation at the time, and of course it shoves in a white guy hero... Yeah, it's an entertaining read, but it also tends to make historians froth at the mouth.

The issue with ninjas is that most of the ninja mythology was invented during the 1800s... a good 200 years after the end of the "Warring States" period when much of this ninja action supposedly took place. A whole slew of popular novels were written featuring Sanada Yukimura (a samurai commander known for his cunning tactics) and his "Ten Braves," who were all legendary ninja. Sarutobi Sasuke is probably the most famous of the Ten Braves. Although Sanada Yukimura and the Ten Braves ultimately lost to Tokugawa Ieyasu (whose dynasty would rule Japan for the next 250 years), they were made out to be folk heroes with almost supernatural skill and cleverness.

...However, there's virtually zero evidence that any of these ninja ever existed outside of novels. The whole "ninja" mythos was invented in the 1800s, partly because it sounded cool and partly because the descendents of Sanada's samurai compatriots had suffered two hundred years of oppression under the ruling (but declining) Tokugawa regime, so there was still plenty of simmering resentment. Those two factors together sold a hell of a lot of books.

Samurai did use spies and saboteurs, but they weren't dudes who ran around in black Cobra Kai outfits slinging shuriken at each other. They were basically normal samurai. Political tensions were high during the Warring States era, but most samurai were surprisingly blatant about their backstabbing. Why go through the trouble of using ninja when you can simply lie, bribe, and threaten your way into power?

The biggest influence on modern ideas about ninja was actually the theatre. Kabuki stage plays and bunraku puppet plays both make use of stagehands who dress all in black and cover their faces with black cloth. Since the actors were brightly dressed and painted, these black-clad stagehands were "invisible." So a "ninja" character could creep around the stage in a stagehand's uniform, totally ignored by the audience until they revealed themselves.

Anyway, you were asking for books! The real history of the samurai is, at least to me, much more interesting than made-up ninja stories. It's full of power struggles and epic battles and tragic miscalculations and dirty tactics. It's good stuff. If you're interested, I highly recommend basically anything by Stephen Turnbull. He's written several visual guides to major battles of the samurai era, with tons of illustrations and analysis. He even has a book on ninja, although as I mentioned, ninja are a pretty contentious point among Japanese historians and any modern "ninja training school" that claims authenticity is full of pure bullshit.

Turnbull's War in Japan 1467-1615 is a good place to start. Osaka 1616 and Sekigahara 1600 (by Anthony Bryant) are the real source for Clavell's "Shogun" novel. Europeans actually did have a pretty significant role in Japan's civil wars, but not to the romanticized extent of "Shogun."

Those are probably the most accessible and easy-to-read books on the Warring States era. Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa is a semi-fictionalized but very well researched novel that covers some of the same time period, but it's a much more challenging read. Most of the other academic books I have are pretty dry, so start with Turnbull for the fully illustrated action version~

Got the perfect one for you - Caleb Carr - The Alienist


edit -don't worry that it's pre '40s - it's excellent

You want the W. W. Norton Company edition from 1990 onwards the cover looks like this got all mine from Barnes & Noble. Easy to find

I have been wanting to check out [Daughter of Nothing] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F7ROSHC/?coliid=I9833N2VDEV4T&colid=2F75C4UXELQLN&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it) on [this wislist] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ls/?ref=navm_em_mobile_menu_lists) just because it looks really interesting. Also I think that /u/iassessoldpeople should get [The Hangman's Daughter] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P9XMFI/?coliid=I2KZO33A3O8SY0&colid=2AVU1O0LS10FR&psc=0&ref_=lv_vv_lig_dp_it) because that is an awesome title.

Edit my kindle email is lovekataralove@gmail .com and iassessoldpeople is amberbowers79@gmail .com in case I didn't link right.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.ca

amazon.com.mx

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

The Accursed Kings series from Maurice Druont are the main inspiration for ASOIAF. And it's a great series.

By far the best book on getting a feel for what it was 'like' is actually a novel: Gates of Fire: A novel of Thermopylae. Highly recommended.

Soviet planning was based on a system of five-year-plans, the first of which was enacted in 1928. The plans were comprised of the national targets as set down by the upper levels of the party. For instance, the first five-year-plan set a target for replacing the then current agricultural system with the kolkhoz, or collectivized farms.

The five-year-plans were rough guides that mostly dealt with the end states rather than the path to hit the various targets. The day-to-day planning was left to an agency known as Gosplan, or the State Planning Committee. In the absence of private property and a price system, Gosplan had to keep a massive inventory of every input within the economy. Given the targets, Gosplan officials would use a a system known as the method of material balances to allocate inputs to producers. Their decision making made heavy use of linear optimization. They would build production functions for every sector in the economy and would allocate resources based on which allocation maximized production functions relative to five-year-plan targets.

Obviously Gosplan could not perfectly predict the output of each producer. There were literally infinite complications that could occur to cause minor deviations in the plan. Even minor deviations create huge calculation costs, since if output in one sector didn't live up to the projections, it would reduce output in another sector. Since every single input had to be accounted for to fully optimize production, any problem would basically necessitate recalculating the allocation of almost every input in the economy. After de-Stalinization, Gosplan moved to using a partial price system to alleviate this huge calculation burden.

Edit: While not a work of history, Francis Spufford's Red Plenty is a fictionalization of Soviet planning and the people who made it happen. It's a moving and, in my mind, true to history look at this massive process.

For those interested, one of my favorite historical novels is about this period of Japan: Silence by Shusaku Endo. [Wiki], [Good Reads], [Amazon], [Endo's obituary], [a blog review].

It's about Christianity in Japan, and missionary work from the perspective of a Portuguese missionary, and the Shimabara Rebellion, and the persecutions that followed, and life as a Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christian"), and what it means to be religious, and torture, and faith, and apostasy, and suffering, and martyrdom, and self-sacrifice vs. the sacrifice of others, and hard questions about the true meaning of moral courage.

It's a book about religion and morality that I think the pious, the non-believing, the wavering, and the "religiously unmusical" (to use Weber's turn of phrase) will all enjoy.

BioShock: Rapture has been at the forefront of my must read list for a while. Really, anything involving Andrew Ryan is going to be one of my favorite things. I love the BioShock series.

Cryptonomicon

After I powered through the first 100-200 pages I couldn't put it down (This is not sarcasm) It made me realize some (Cant think of the word here... Amazing? Earth Shattering? Life altering?, meh) things! Such as there is no "chance". For example we say the flip of the coin in a chance thing, but it isn't, if you could replicate all the variables (how hard you hit the coin, the angle at which you hit the coin etc.) the coin would land on the same side every time.

It's long too! I think it was at 1000 pages? It had me reading a good two weeks before I finished it... That was in a third world country where I had nothing to do BUT read.

http://www.amazon.com/Cryptonomicon-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0380973464

Actually, that was a bit unkind. I remember what it was like to be a kid and dream big. By way of apology, I'd like to recommend some books to you:

https://www.amazon.com/Dove-Robin-L-Graham-ebook/dp/B0089LOFX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462196&sr=1-1#nav-subnav

https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum-ebook/dp/B00CTOKB8G/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462104&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/My-Old-Man-Sea-Father/dp/0060976969

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026772N8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#nav-subnav

https://www.amazon.com/Years-Before-Mast-Richard-Henry/dp/149224936X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.amazon.com/Moby-Dick-Bantam-Classics-Herman-Melville/dp/0553213113

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Commander-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels-ebook/dp/B006C3Q6GG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473462069&sr=1-1

The ladycrappo 7-Step Dealing With Depression Plan
Brought to you by a chick who's been hospitalized for major depression on four separate occasions and is now living a relatively stable normal life

1. Exercise, exercise, exercise. This may be the last thing you feel like doing, but it's one of the cheapest, safest, most effective ways to boost your mood. Don't feel you have to go to a gym if the ambiance creeps you out; ride a bike, get out in the sunshine, whatever works for you.
   
   
2. Eat well. Shitty diets make you feel shitty physically and mentally. Depressed people tend to have trouble with eating either too much or too little, and with eating crappy stuff in general that wrecks your blood sugar and makes you lethargic. You don't need that. Make a good healthy diet a priority: fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean protein, unsaturated fats, you know the drill.
   
   
3. Get your sleep schedule sorted out. Don't let yourself sleep too much because you don't want to face life; it just makes you more listless. If you're having trouble sleeping enough, force yourself to get on a more regular schedule. Sleep is fundamental to good mental health.
   
   
4. Shower every day. Keep up with personal hygiene, even when you feel like a hideous human turdball. A clean turdball can feel slightly better about itself than a dirty turdball, and whatever bit of dignity and self-worth you can reclaim for yourself is really important.
   
   
5. Do stuff. You won't want to, you really won't want to, but do it anyways. Answer your phone, get out of the house, go out to eat or see a movie-- do normal people stuff despite your profound sense of abnormality. This serves to keep you feeling like a member of the human race, keep you connected with the people in your life who are your support system, and also just to distract you from the ugly world inside your head.
   
   
6. Read up on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is focused on concrete strategies of altering your thinking and behavior. Pick up a copy of Feeling Good and give it's recommendations a serious try.
   
   
7. Do what it takes to get out of your own head. Depression turns you in on yourself, blots out the larger world, traps you in the darker aspects of your own thinking. It's a particularly dark and dangerous sort of self-absorption. Do things that force you to empathize with other people, in other places: do some volunteer work, spend time with loved ones, read about people in unfortunate circumstances who maintain a core of dignity (e.g., What is the What).

Gates of Fire.

Its fiction, but pretty well researched historically.

Forever by Pete Hamill. If you happen to have seen the cutesy ABC tv adaptation, the book is much darker and beautifully written.

I'm about half way through The Alienist by Caleb Car and it's awesome. Definitely check it out.

Do you have prime? This one is free to borrow. I recently read it and really liked it:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hangmans-Daughter-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1370108822&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hangmans+daughter

Perhaps you might enjoy this book.

I did, as did the Pulitzer Prize committee.

I think boys can still read more adult literature. Maybe 8 or 9 is a bit young, but early on in high school was when I read Gates of Fire. It was very adult - it had rape, gore, swearing, and it also turned me onto history in such a big way that I now study the subject professionally. Yeah, it definitely would not fly as part of a school's curriculum, but thankfully I had teachers who either didn't give a fuck what we read or were just happy that we were reading on our own. It was my own book, not like they could really take it away anyway.

I hear my mom's book club did The Golem and the Jinni without anyone quitting. I'm reading it now and enjoying it. It's set in 1899 New York, so that might help hook the historical fiction crowd.

Try some of Martin's literary influences:

1. Roger Zelazny's Amber series is fantastic - http://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319117304&sr=1-1
   
   
2. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, one of my favorite Heinlein books - http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Strange-Land-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441788386/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319117340&sr=1-2
   
   
3. If you haven't tried reading any historical fiction, you should, as its also a big influence of aSoIaF. Try Bernard Cornwell's series of books on King Arthur, starting with The Winter King - http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1319117665&sr=8-9

Here are a couple books I think are pretty good:

What is the What by David Eggers

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Gates of Fire is an account of the battle of Thermopylae, as told by the sole greek survivor, himself a Spartan slave. A fascinating look into spartan culture and tactics, this book is required reading at Annapolis, West Point, and Quantico. It will make you wish you'd been born a Spartan.

The Iron King by Maurice Druon is quite good so far; I'm about half way through. The ebook is currently on sale for $1.99. George RR Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire (more popularly know as Game of Thrones) recommended it for historical fantasy fans. Here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371230196&sr=1-2&keywords=the+iron+king

Oh, there's much darker. I think the book was ultimately very sweet and touching even amid the harsh setting.

I'm with you, I don't like dard for dark's sake. But I think there's a big difference between Choke and, say, The Alienist which is the darkest book I've ever read, but also one of the best.

Woo! It's much cheaper than when I purchased it. I recommend it.

I recently read a very good historical novel about this assassination called HHhH.

https://www.amazon.com/HHhH-Novel-Laurent-Binet/dp/1250033349

Historical Fiction... Aztec by Gary Jennings. It is an excellent book. Just fantastic. But be warned. It broke my heart. When I finished it, I just went into my room, curled up and sobbed.

Read The Golem and the Jinni - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008QXVDJ0 TWO immortal protagonists for the price of one. Plus it is a wonderful story.

Haxan by Kenneth Mark Hoover is a pretty good Weird Western that needs more love/reviews. Also give these a try:

The Goblin Emperor

The Library on Mount Char

Academic Exercises - ($2,99 right now!)

Uprooted

The Golem & The Jinni

The Incorruptibles

Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. The world-building and character development here is really thorough and very engaging. Chabon is one of my favorite writers.

http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel-P-S/dp/0007149832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289938003&sr=8-1

The Ecstacy Club

The Alienist

Link for Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-golem-and-the-jinni-helene-wecker/1112581266?ean=9780062110855&itm=1&usri=the+golem+and+the+jinni

It is the same price on Kindle as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Golem-Djinni-Helene-Wecker-ebook/dp/B008QXVDJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418748008&sr=8-1&keywords=the+golem+and+the+jinni

I picked this up, I've heard many good things!

Gates of fire is a really good read. I mean, it is a poetic retelling of the battle of Thermopylae, so not strictly speaking fantasy, but you may enjoy it anyway.

1. The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell
   
2. 10/10
   
3. Historical Fiction (as best as I can describe it)
   
4. Cornwell basically takes all you think you know about Arthurian legend (the round table, lady of the lake) and tosses is out and rewrites it into a more believable tale of what most likely happened. The POV is from a made up character that interacts with Arthur through out his life from birth. You will want to finish this trilogy halfway through the first chapter.
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960

I highly recommend "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield if anyone is interested in reading about Spartan culture and the battle of Thermopylae specifically. It is fiction, but very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

The Yiddish Policemen's Union. I'm reading it right now, and I absolutely love it.

If anyone if interested I'd highly recommend this very interesting book about Heydrich and the men who were sent to try and assassinate him.

http://www.amazon.com/HHhH-A-Novel-Laurent-Binet/dp/1250033349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410924117&sr=8-1&keywords=Hhhh

Is this a book reference? There are several scenes just like that in Aztec, is that where you got it?

and by just like it I mean not that like it at all. There's a cruel Queen, and a slave girl, and the guy painting in the corner was a hermaphrodite, I think. I haven't read it in a long time and the details are fuzzy.

EDIT: Right, he's not a hermaphrodite in this book, that was another one by the same author.

I forgot a lot of details, I guess.

>b) Mixtli is a serveant to a Noble woman who assigns him the task of drawing pictures of random people around town. She then picks one of the pictures and requires Mixtli to find the person and order them to the palace where she has sex with them and then has them cooked and served as food. A lesbian encounter here as well.

Kindred, by Octavia Butler.

Hands-down one of my favorite books. It's about a modern black woman in the 70s, married to an older white man, who time travels back to the pre-Civil War era South to protect her ancestors who were slaves. I've read it several times. It's an excellent book.

Check out Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. It basically takes place prior to the beginning of Shogun, although Yoshikawa uses the real names and is slightly less fictionalized. His other books are a lot of fun to read, as well.

If you love Aztecs you will love this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Aztec-Gary-Jennings/dp/0765317508

I am (finally) getting close to finishing the book and it continues to blow me away with its research, accuracy, descriptions, and twists. Its a long ass book and slow at points but it is sooooo worth it

The graphic novels

Set to Sea by drew weing

Baggywrinkles by lucy bellwood

Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer

Literature

Master and Commander by Patrick O' Brian (based on historical events)

Two years before the Mast by Henrey Dana (Embellished but trueish)

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex by Owen Chase (True Story)

Endurance by Alfred Lansing (True Story)

The United States Navy Blue Jackets Manual by Thomas J. Cutler (useful for facts and lingo as it's made for teaching seamen the basics)

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (Historical info on Pirates)

Movies

Master and Commander (acurat for film)

Yellowbeard (comedy)

Cutthroat Island (Actiony)

Captains Courageous (Just a Film Classic)

Captain Blood (Buckle Swashing)

All links are to the Amazon.com Listings, but most of this should be available via resale or library for less.

Hope this helps.

I've been an avid reader for most of my life, and Aztec, by Gary Jennings, is one of my absolute favorite books.

Upvote for Dave Eggers. I love YSKOV and What is the What.

This historical novel is as accurate as it can be while remaining a novel. The author provides the list of inacuracies at the end. This book tackles the same topic and I remember really enjoying it. I definetly recommend it and it is accurate as well, I just feel like the first one affected me more. Other than that, there are obviously historical documents that give you the information in academic way, rather than storywise, but I'm not fan of those, I prefer historical novels.

I also just found this document issued by the Czech government that compiles the informations with pictures, maps and everything. I haven't read it, but I'd assume it's accurate based on the publisher.

Top 5 off those shelves would be:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Alt History detective novel by a Pulitzer winner
http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel-P-S/dp/0007149832
The Atrocity Archives - Lovecraftian spy thriller and IT hell
http://www.amazon.com/Atrocity-Archives-Laundry-Files-Novel/dp/0441016685/
Books of Blood - A compilation of Clive Barker's nasty little 80s horror anthologies
http://www.amazon.com/Books-Blood-Vols-Clive-Barker/dp/0425165582/
Perdido Street Station - Steampunky fantasy with excellent worldbuilding that's apparently a good example of the New Weird, whatever that is and however it differes from the Old Weird
http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Mieville/dp/0345459407
American Gods - Gaiman's mythology based urban fantasy; a modern classic
http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0380789035

As for the Weird Tales collection, it's Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors. It sets out to present the best tale from each year of the magazine's original run. Published in 1988 and edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz (as if the eldritch gods didn't inject enough unpronounceable names into the mix) you've got everyone from Isaac Asimov to Seabury Quinn to good ol' HPL himself with "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"
http://www.amazon.com/Weird-Tales-32-Unearthed-Terrors/dp/0517661233
Not quite the $1 deal I got from the library sale, but not as outrageous as some of the out of print prices on Amazon.

The Golem and the Jinni was an excellent book!

So... I tried to recreate the issue.

I found the Books with Narration

Mockingjay

Here's the description of [kindle unlimited] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1002872331)

> thousands of Kindle books come with the free professionally narrated Audible audiobook. With Whispersync for Voice, whenever you see "Kindle Unlimited with Narration,"

Here's a book with actual narration

Amazon isn't wrong. Just a bit unclear until you read the directions.

UMMMM UHHHHHHH I really like barbershop quartet music.

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur

ebook!

Most of my crew team read this in high school. I like to think it was at least partly responsible for who I am now along with rowing in general, of course. It taught me how to be tough, how to keep going despite being in physical pain, to always put the well-being of my friends first, and that if I have to down I should go down fighting. Fantastic read. Link

GRRM hismelf said on his blog: "Look, if you love A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, and want "something like it" to read while you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for me to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, you really need to check out Maurice Druon and THE ACCURSED KINGS".

https://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

The Accursed Kings series is amazing imo.

Unfortunately, I haven't played this game so I can't speak for its veracity or lack thereof. But I am going to piggy-back off your question to ask my fellow panelists about some other Mesoamerica-in-pop-culture questions.

Have any of you read Gary Jennings Aztec? It's been sitting on my shelf for a while but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. If you have read it, how well does it score for historical accuracy?

I've also not seen Apocalypto either. How well (or poorly, if what I've heard of it is accurate) does that film reflect Mayan culture at the time?

Whatshouldireadnext.com Didn't come up with much. When I did a search for Undersea Colonies this came up. It has good amazon ratings.

I really enjoyed this one. http://www.amazon.com/Forever-A-Novel-Pete-Hamill/dp/0316735698

"The magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains ... forever"

Is that from Game of Thrones...?

I really enjoy the Irenaean theodicy, and if literature is your cup of tea you should read Silence. It's a historical novel about the persecution of the secret Christians in Japan, and it has some very beautiful thoughts on the problem of evil.

Oh! And the Brothers Karamazov, too.

EDIT: Yeah...Princess Bride, that makes a lot more sense...it's a Wesley line. For some reason I pictured Jorah Mormont (from Game of Thrones) saying it...

Bernard Cornwell's battle scenes are some of my favorite. They're one of the main reasons I really liked the Warlord Chronicles. (link)

The Accursed Kings is a set of french novels about the French Royals, which Martin accredits as the inspiration for Thrones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

It's one of the few Butler's I haven't read yet, but the plot sounds like Kindred.

The Accursed King series by Maurice Dixon.

George RR Martin says this was one of his largest inspirations for A Song of Ice and Fire.

That being said, this series is not fantasy. It's historical fiction. But ASOIAF does often read like historical fiction with some dragons and zombies thrown in.

That book basically just plagiarizes Japanese history and inserts a western character where none would have been possible at the time.

Let your friend know about Taiko.

It's historical fiction on the generals that fostered the unification of Japan around late 1400's. Very epic book.

Read the book while you wait for the film. It is really good:

wiki - 遠藤周作 Endo Shusaku - 沈黙 (Chinmoku - Silence)


amazon link

The Alienist by Caleb Carr is a favorite of mine.

Aztec by Garry Jennings Told in the words of one of the most robust and memorable characters in modern fiction, Mixtli-Dark Cloud, Aztec reveals the very depths of Aztec civilization from the peak and feather-banner splendor of the Aztec Capital of Tenochtitlan to the arrival of Hernán Cortás and his conquistadores, and their destruction of the Aztec empire. The story of Mixtli is the story of the Aztecs themselves

http://www.amazon.com/Aztec-Gary-Jennings/dp/0765317508/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=aztec

[The faithful one would be this one.] (http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1426043827&sr=8-6&keywords=bernard+cornwell)

Lots of good stuff out there. You might look at

• Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground"
  
• Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire"
  

Here is a good read: AZTEC by Gary Jennings www.amazon.com/Aztec-Gary-Jennings/dp/0765317508

The Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. 20 books in all, plus one incomplete book (titled "21"). To me, O'Brian is better even than Shakespeare - I've never read anyone so good.

Here is the first one in the series.

Although, I do highly recommend The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

I highly recommend this historical fiction series by Bernard Cornwell.

The Winter King is the first book of it

I would also suggest cross-posting this to r/booksuggestions.

Also, I love historical fiction so a few of my recommendations:

• A - Aztec
  
• B - Book Thief, The
  
• F - First Man in Rome
  
• P - Pillars of the Earth, The

You might like Taiko was a good read overall but a lot more focus is placed on Japanese history.

You might be intrested in the The Accursed Kings Series. Its about the french royal familly in the high middle ages. It starts out around the time when the king goes after the templars. Its a lot of politcs and familly matters. It his really close to what actually happens, I always like that.

This one is the first: http://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

It's The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, and we're discussing it on February 21st.

I really enjoyed the book and finished it earlier today. It's not something I would have chosen for myself but I couldn't put it down. Can't wait to discuss it!

Perhaps, bioshock? https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B003OUXECE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1


I would ask this question /r/books, I am curious to know as well. I was looking with something futuristic but with retro aesthetics to read and couldn't find any either.

For what it's worth, a few Jewish fantasy authors, off the top of my head:

• Avram Davidson
  
• Lev Grossman
  
• Michael Chabon
  
  I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I can think of just now.

I read a book that tells it like it actually happened: [The Yiddish Policemens Union] (http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel-P-S/dp/0007149832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301463937&sr=8-1)

To add to this, the Immortals served the Persian Kings, including Darius' son, Xerxes, whose invasion of Greece included the Battle of Thermopylae and ended with the Battle of Salamis. I recommend the excellent book "Gates of Fire", which goes into great detail about the Battle of Thermopylae and the Spartans and their adversaries, the Persians.

The problem is that Communism made its debut too soon and in the wrong place. I'm going to quote from Francis Spufford's Red Plenty. You should buy it. It's fantastic.

>The problem was that Marx had predicted the wrong revolution. He had said that socialism would come, not in backward agricultural Russia, but in the most developed and advanced industrial countries: in England, or Germany, or the United States. Capitalism (he’d argued) created misery, but it also created progress, and the revolution that was going to liberate mankind from misery would only happen once capitalism had contributed all the progress that it could, and all the misery too. At that point, there would be so much money invested by capitalists desperate to keep their profits up, that the infrastructure for producing things would have attained a state of near-perfection. At the same time, the search for higher profits would have driven the wages of the working class down to the point of near-destitution. It would be a world of wonderful machines and ragged humans. When the contradiction became unbearable, the workers would act. They would abolish a social system that was absurdly more savage and unsophisticated than the production lines in the factories. And paradise would very quickly lie within their grasp, because Marx expected that the victorious socialists of the future would be able to pick up the whole completed apparatus of capitalism – all its beautiful machinery – and carry it forward into the new society, still humming, still prodigally producing, only doing so now for the benefit of everybody, not for a tiny class of owners.

If the USSR hadn't come about and poisoned the words "Communism" and "Socialism" (or, I should clarify, caused the West to poison those terms), there would still be some hope of Marx's dream coming about. As it is now, though, no matter how bad it gets, every's just going to go "Fuck Communism!" and trudge on about their repressed way.

So, I was in the same boat as you for a while in terms of what the hell to read for fantasy after GRRM. I highly suggest switching over to historical fiction for a bit, Bernard Cornwell to be exact.

Read his Warlord Chronicles, starts with The Winter King. Very dark and real retelling of the events of King Arthur.

I also HIGHLY recommend his Saxon Stories series, which starts with The Last Kingdom.

Both are fantastic series, and are actually quite similar to each other.

Here are the links:

First
Second
Third

I would put these easily on par with Martin's SoIaF series, and they're already complete!

I'm moving on now to the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and just wanted to give this series some well deserved promotion. 5 of 5 stars.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr sounds up your alley. Just fair warning though, it's very descriptive in its scenes, but ultimately it's personal favorite crime novel. The Alienist

Michael Chabon?

*edit: link to Amazon. Buy this book, people.

I'd recommend The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. It's not a distant future sci-fi, it's more alternate history version of modern day, but enough of a difference that things feel unique.

1. Forever -Pete Hamill
   
2. 10/10
   
3. Historical fiction
   
4. Hamill paints a picture of New York throughout 200 hundred years through the eyes of an irish man who was given the gift of immortality. He goes off to america to avenge the death of his family. It was the first book I've read by Pete Hamill, and I'm definitely checking out the rest of his works.
   
5. Amazon.com

Interesting topic. I recently read this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0800871863?cache=57da7cb9d62bf1111418b1c6247026fd&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1413159606&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1 that talks about why Christianity can't thrive in Japan. It follows a fictional account of a Spanish priest who goes to feudal Japan to be a missionary yada yada yada. Long story short: the book concludes stand Japan is a "swamp" that absorbs all outside forms of ideologies and creating their own form and denying the previous versions.

It's on Amazon

Kindred https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807083690/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4s13xbH68DTMS

I have all the books in a box in storage. I was reading them when I was in 6th grade, and now I'm 48.... tells you what an impact they had. There might have been 5 or 6 of them. I honestly don't remember much from them now except for the physical things (like the reallly thin string that can cut you in half if you don't handle it right, made to hold the night/day solar panels together). Since then, I've been much more into real science, black holes, physics, etc. I tried reading some of the classic sci-fi like Asimov and Dune and the Hobbit books but just couldn't get into them.

One exception is a book called Aztec [Amazon.com link] by Gary Jennings who wrote about the Spanish invasion of Mexico from the viewpoint of an Aztec. He also wrote one about Marco Polo (I think?) which was about the spanish explorer's world travels. Other than those..... I only really read about hard science and scientists' biographies. And I'm a jazz musician if I didn't mention it before.

Nice read about the historical massacres and bloodbath of communism:

The Rise and Fall of Communism

Funny story about the contradictions within communism - Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

Gates of Fire is a much better and more historically accurate fictionalized account of the battle of Thermopylae (told from the viewpoint of a Spartan slave, though not a Helot).

I don't think anyone mentioned Fire at the Gates yet
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

I read this book for the first time back in 04 while I was in Iraq. I've read it 5 times since. It's beat the hell up but I'm too attached to this copy to give it up. But if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

I think Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union fictionalizes this alternate history.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: http://www.amazon.com/The-Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel/dp/0007149832

The Yiddish Policeman's Union

The second part reminds me of Michael Chabon's book, Yiddish Policeman's Union

Sorta related? http://www.amazon.com/The-Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel/dp/0007149832

What is the What

The Winter King

Forever?

https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Novel-Pete-Hamill/dp/0316735698

• Cryptonomicon.
  
• Probability Theory: The Logic of Science
  
• Haskell From First Principles

Cryptonomicon, assuming he hasn't read it already. It should be right up his alley.

Cryptonomicon - ciphers, startups, WW2 references and haiku writing marines.

If you haven't already, I would suggest reading Gates of Fire

Gates of Fire

A book that was required reading at westpoint actually says as much https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

Is this the book you're talking about?

Scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvx7oXqiaMM

Wiki on the dude:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienekes

Everyone should read this book

Edit: Bonus scene

Gates of Fire by Steve Pressfield. It's 300 for grown-ups: http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

Aztec by Gary Jennings

Aztec series by Gary Jennings, if you're into something epic.

SILENCE

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr -

This book is also very gripping about the Heydrich assassination.

somewhat close to truth.

Am înţeles că Why Not Capitalism, de Jason Brennan, ar fi o replică mai bună, n-am început-o, dar recenziile sunt favorabile. Mie mi-a plăcut mult Red Plenty.

Since I'm technically on spring break from classes, I'm about to start the People's History of the US as suggested by my cousin or this book my uncle got me on the economy of the Soviet Union.

What kind of books are you usually into?

EDIT: Here's the book about the Soviet Union

Check out some of Yoshikawa's writing specifically Musashi and Taiko.

Water for Elephants

non mobile link:

http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-Rapture-John-Shirley-ebook/dp/B003OUXECE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408385444&sr=8-1&keywords=bioshock+rapture+book

Here