Mod post: theme suggestions

[damned_colonial]

Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:

ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!

Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:


What does it mean to run the theme?

1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.

You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.

Comments

Prehistoric

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Prehistoric
Prepared to run it: nah, just throwing it out there
Books:

Clan of the Cave Bear!

Another thats look interesting from http://www.historicalnovels.info/Prehistoric.html ... William Golding, The Inheritors (1955), about conflict between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Restoration
Prepared to run it: Sure.
Books:

Rose Tremain, "Restoration"

Other ideas from historicalnovels.info:

Diane Haeger, The Perfect Royal Mistress, about Nell Gwynne, the actress who became mistress of the seventeenth century Restoration King Charles II.

Karleen Koen, Dark Angels, about a lady-in-waiting in the Restoration court of Charles II.

Jude Morgan, The King's Touch, about Charles II, the English king of the Restoration period.

Jean Plaidy, The Wandering Prince (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #1 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, A Health Unto His Majesty (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #2 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord (1957), about the Restoration King Charles II, #3 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, The Pleasures of Love (1991; new edition titled The Merry Monarch's Wife: The Story of Catherine of Braganza), about the Portuguese wife of the promiscuous Restoration king Charles II; #9 in the Queens of England series

Susan Holloway Scott, Royal Harlot (2007), about Charles II's mistress Barbara Villiers Palmer.

Susan Holloway Scott, Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill (2006), about an ancestress of Winston Churchill at the Restoration court of Charles II.

Kathleen Winsor, Forever Amber (1944), about a mistress of Charles II who survives plague and the Great Fire of London; a forerunner of the bodice-ripper historical romance genre.

English colonies in America, 17th century

[damned_colonial]

Theme: English colonies in America, 17th century

I don't know much about it, but it would be cool to have a theme around eg. the Mayflower, Virginia plantations, Jamestown, Maryland, etc.

Some book suggestions here: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Seventeenth-Century.html#17Brit

Mission-era California

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Mission-era California
Prepared to run it: only if nobody else steps up
Books:

I got nothing! Except, um, Zorro.

Old Testament

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Old Testament
Prepared to run it: no
Books:

Anthony Burgess, Moses (1976), a narrative poem about Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt; #3 in the Biblical trilogy.

Anita Diamant, The Red Tent, a feminist literary novel about the wives and daughters of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob.

More here: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Ancient.html#Bib

The Khazars

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Khazars
Prepared to run it: maybe
Books:

I just put this theme here because I would love to re-read Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road". Here's a Wikipedia page with more ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazars_in_fiction

It's a pretty marginal/obscure subject though. I wonder if it can be usefully broadened?

Re: Old Testament

[naraht]

Just so you know, Old Testament is a specifically Christian term. You might want to use something more inclusive... I believe "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Scriptures" are used by scholars although there isn't a total consensus.

Re: Old Testament

[damned_colonial]

Good call, thanks.

Re: French Revolution

[kinetikatrue]

An interesting reworking of Scarlet Pimpernel: C. Guy Clayton's Daughter of the Revolution, which is a bit in the Flashman line, published in the 80s, etc.

Re: The Khazars

[naraht]

Central Asia in the Middle Ages? Jews in the Middle Ages? Russia in the Middle Ages? Picaresque historical novels?

[sarlania]

Late to the party- sorry! Is it still too late to suggest themes?

Theme: Revolutionary/Communist China
Prepared to Run it: I suppose so
Books:

Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
Wives and Concubines/Raise the Red Lantern Su Tong

Many of Pearl S Buck's novels including The Good Earth

[damned_colonial]

Not too late! But too late for it to be the theme for July.

This is a great theme but I'm worried about the first 4 books all being published within a few years of each other. Wonder if we can find anything from eg. the 50s-70s?

[sarlania]

Hmmm... maybe from non-chinese authors or expatriates living overseas, but definitely not books published in China- given the the communist party basically banned free thought and intellectualism. I'll have a hunt around.

[epershand]

A personal favorite of mine is the historical fantasy The Dragon Waiting, by John M. Ford. It's got some fantastical elements, but the politics and personalities are spot on.

Ford's also got a delightful War of the Roses poem, where a series of Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights play each of the kings.

[sarlania]

Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if "The Little Red Book" and other propaganda material published during that time would be suitable? That should be on the internet somewhere!

[damned_colonial]

But that's not historical fiction, is it?

[damned_colonial]

Yeah, I was thinking people outside, obviously. I wonder if there's something like a good juicy Cold War thriller or something? Plenty of contrast there :)

[sarlania]

Nor is the first three suggestions I put up. *shrugs* Nevermind, forget I ever suggested it, I don't think there's anyone who would actually WANT to read it. I know I don't.

Re: Gold Rushes

[adelheid]

Jack London's "White Fang" is at least tangentially on the Yukon gold rush, isn't it? (it was in the film... ~ducks~)

Re: French Revolution

[adelheid]

Haven't read it yet, but Michelle de Kretser's The Rose Grower ( *think* I've got the title right) is a French Revolution novel.

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

[adelheid]

The only actually *fictional* account I can think of right now is Anita Heiss' "Who Am I?" which is part of the "My Australian Story" YA series, and probably impossible to get overseas.

I rather doubt any Balanda (non-Indigenous person) these days would dare write from the white pov on the Stolen Generations, although there are some older classics like Mrs Aneaus Gunn and the Billabong books (both of which are Station life rather than Stolen Generations.)

Re: Hebrew Scriptures

[adelheid]

(Idea-spamming here...)

Madeleine L'Engle has written a book called "Certain Women" about the wives of David.

Re: US Civil War

[beckyzoole]

I love this reading list! It has the added bonus of being "balanced" for North/South points of view.

I would add Killer Angels, too, for a look at the war itself.

Edited to add: Oh, and I would love to help run this. I'm a little bit of a Civil War geek.

Re: Industrial Revolution in Britain

[beckyzoole]

How about "Tooth and Claw" by Jo Walton?

Re: Old Testament

[beckyzoole]

Selected chapters of The Source, James Michener, would be perfect here.