If you like LOTR/historical stuff try

- A Song Of Ice And Fire, George R R Martin. Start with the first one ("A Game Of Thrones"). They're very well written, it's based on the Wars of the Roses, does have fantasy elements but they're not in-your-face (I can't stand straight fantasy writing but I love ASOIAF)

- The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell (not Victoria Coren's funny husband). Set in the time of the Dutch East India Company on a tiny Dutch outpost off the coast of Japan. It's a mystery story, a love story, a story of political intrigue - beautifully written and with some paranormal elements (...or are they? You need to read the rest of Mitchell's oeuvre to decide...)

Other things more in the way of historical fiction (so no fantasy/paranormal elements):

- This Thing Of Darkness, Harry Thompson. A flictionalised biography of Captain Fitzroy who (among other things) took Charles Darwin for a trip on the Beagle. But it's about much, much more than that, engaging, dark and well paced.

- Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies; Hilary Mantel. Some find her writing hard to get to grips with but I loved it. About the time of Henry VIII told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. Again brilliantly paced and written and though we think we know the period I for one learned a lot from it.

- The Last Pilot, Benjamin Johncock. Much more recent history (the space race) but sparsely written, a lot of what happens goes on between lines of dialogue rather than through them; captures the paranoia of the space race and I defy you not to cry at the end.

Posted By: Old Man, Feb 1, 15:19:27