Can't Get Enough...

...historical fiction that is! (what were you thinking???)

I love historical fiction. I can't remember when I started liking it, but it certainly has me in its grasp now! There is just something wonderful about being able to read about people in British history in a way that makes them seem REAL; you're not just reading a textbook. I love it. It is something that if its just not your thing...well...its not your thing and that's okay. I find most anything else dull and boring now.

Of course, my picks 99.8% of the time have to do with British history. I can't get enough of all that. There's so much history there and its so fascinating!! I mean really, the history of some of the British monarchy are THE original soap opera!! Henry VIII? Need I say more? I started out with the Tudors (Henry, all his wives, Elizabeth I) and I really enjoyed delving deeper into their history. After a while though, I was reading the same info over and over again and I began to travel further back in time to read more. There are some fascinating people! The Norman Conquest (y'all know that William the Conqueror won his wife by beating her up??), Edward I and William Wallace, Edward the Black Prince, Henry V and Agincourt, the War of the Roses...it is absolutely fascinating to me and I'm gobbling books up as fast as the library can get them to me!

I have read Philippa Gregory and I have enjoyed (most) of her books but I do NOT consider them very historically accurate. They are bringing more people to the historical fiction genre and causing older historical fiction authors to be republished, so for that I am eternally grateful to her. However, I have come across some wonderful authors that I can't get enough of and feel that they stick to history pretty well (as well as someone writing FICTION can). Some of my top favorites are:

1. Sharon Kay Penman
2. Jean Plaidy
3. Anya Seton
4. Karen Harper
5. Robin Maxwell
6. Alison Weir
7. Rosaline Miles
8. Bernard Cornwell

There are so many out there and they cover so many different areas of history. My preference just happens to be British. I love it all so much that (drum roll please) I have been trying my hand at some writing. Its something I've always loved to do and I'm really giving it a push right now. Wish me luck!*Oh...the three pictures, starting from the top are: the Plantagenet coat of arms, Caernarfon Castle in Wales, and the Tudor Rose.