From TTT’s Central: “if you could make authors write about these things you would. Could be a specific type of character, an issue tackled, a time period, a certain plot, etc.”
For each of these, recommendations are welcome!
1. Historical Fiction set outside the US, Central Europe and Russia
… as I have the feeling only about 10% of them do. Or at least the ones that cross my path. What a breath of fresh air Dunnett’s Scales of Gold was, set in 15th century Timbuktu.
2. Novels set in Istanbul/Constantinople/Byzantium
I have a fascination with the city. Here’s my Istanbul bookshelf on Goodreads.
3. Novels set in Brussels
When I first moved here I looked for books in English set in the city and didn’t find many. Everyone always recommends the same ones: Brontë’s Villette, Chevalier’s The Lady and the Unicorn and a couple of Poirots.
4. Portuguese Discovery Period seen from the POV of Africans and Asians
The Discovery Period was an interesting time that encapsulated the best and worst of Portuguese history: an ode to human spirit and bravery, but it also marked the beginning of globalized slavery and colonialism (the best of times and the worst of times?).
I’ve only started reading about Portuguese history as seen from foreign eyes in the last 10 years or so. Until then, most of what I knew had the official sugar-coat of history classes.
5. Fiction about the Silk Road
Another source of fascination, especially after last years’ visit to Uzbekistan. I’ve looked around and there’s not much available. Do you know of any books about it? Non-fiction recommendations are also welcome, but a good historical fiction would be amazing!
Ad infinitum
In general, more books about all the stuff I’m curious about, including:
- Bees
- Spices
- Chess (and I can’t even play!)
- Art restoration/conservation/forgery/theft
- Perfumes
- Olives & olive oil
- Many historical persons, e.g. Henry the Navigator, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Roxane, Philippa of Lancaster
- Synesthesia
- Parenting across cultures
- Life is remote islands (as in Tristao da Cunha kind of remote)
5 comments
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January 21, 2014 at 12:27 pm
Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis
I’m on a ‘bees’ reading kick lately, too.
There’s lots of historical fiction set in Canada (but maybe that’s too close to the US?). If you’re interested in some recommendations, let me know 🙂
January 21, 2014 at 1:17 pm
Jay
Hi Alex,
I’ve been reading a history of the Ottoman Empire (Osman’s Dream) for ages now. I really like it, but its one of those hefty historical narratives that I can only read in small doses. I also remember, when my book club read Elizabeth Kosteva’s The Historian, that the parts in Istanbul were among my favorites. I’ve been fascinated by that region since I read The Iliad… 🙂
Oh,and I ‘ll be reading a couple short stories (for my annual “challenge”) this year from a collection you mentioned quite awhile ago, “The Meantime” – all stories set in Brussels. 🙂
-Jay
January 22, 2014 at 2:14 pm
Jay
I didn’t notice the first time I read your post that you mentioned chess also. If you’re interested in the life of Bobby Fischer, you might like the relatively recent book about his later years. (There’s also a very good documentary film “Bobby Fischer Against the World” which works well even for those who are chessplayers themselves). I wrote about the book “Endgame” on my blog a couple years back:
http://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/engame-the-latest-biography-of-bobby-fischer/
🙂
-Jay
January 22, 2014 at 7:52 pm
Kailana
All these things would be great. 🙂
January 22, 2014 at 9:02 pm
bookdaze
That’s a really interesting list – I’m racking my brains trying to think of possible recs, but coming up blank!
Re synesthesia, not a book – but there was a blog post someone linked to recently (and I can’t remember who/where so this is not going to be very informative!), but the (book) blogger had synesthesia herself and associated letters with colours. And she talked about how that affected her reading (not very much, IIRC) and also how that affected how she saw book covers, which was very interesting! Not sure if you saw that – I’m going to trawl through my history and see if I can find the original post…
Li