Asking for book recommendations is always fun

Pasting below a facebook thread for posterity.

Looking to read some more books this summer, I asked for suggestions on historical fiction on twitter and got some wonderful titles. Sharing the list below. Do tell me, which ones are your favourites or you have any

[caption id=”attachment_318" align=”alignright” width=”196"]

From the Flashman Comic. This picture has been sourced from Wikimedia.[/caption]

recommendations.

In historical fiction, I enjoy more political thrillers — books which probe the, “what if”, inverting a fact and then embellishing it with fiction (as opposed to Irving Stone’s the Agony and the Ecstacy). The type of book, which could fall afoul of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Devidas Ramachandra Tuljapurkar v. State Of Maharashtra.

Edit: Further books sourced and added from the FB Comments below. Thank you all for these excellent recommendations! Since I have not read most of the books below I cannot rate or list them as per preference. The only rule for the list below beyond its topical collection is a cut off of 2 books per author to ensure diversity. Beyond it everything is sorted alphabetically as per author name.

Now challenging myself to finish at least 5 of them this month.

The list.

1. Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (Ibis Trilogy #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1330324.Sea_of_Poppies?ac=1
2. Amitav Ghosh, the Glass Palace https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77103.The_Glass_Palace?ac=1
3. Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18143977-all-the-light-we-cannot-see
4. Carlos Fuentes, The Death of Artemio Cruz https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12764.The_Death_of_Artemio_Cruz?ac=1
5. Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1232.The_Shadow_of_the_Wind?ac=1
6. Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/480570.The_First_Man_in_Rome?ac=1
7. Elizabeth E. Wein, Code Name Verity https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52320.Elizabeth_Wein
8. Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10692.The_Historian?ac=1
9. George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142458.Flashman
10. Günter Grass, Crabwalk https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24077.Crabwalk?ac=1
11. Hillary Mantel, Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16117978-wolf-hall-bring-up-the-bodies?ac=1
12. Indu Sundaresan, The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27298.The_Twentieth_Wife
13. Island- Huxley https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5130.Island?ac=1
14. JG Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256280.The_Siege_of_Krishnapur
15. Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/109326.Cuckold
16. Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9592.Mother_Night
17. Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4981.Slaughterhouse_Five
18. Linsdey Davis, The Accusers https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/73032.The_Accusers
19. Manto, Bitter Fruit: The Very Best of Saadat Hasan Manto https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6288711-bitter-fruit
20. Mario Vargas Llosa, The Dream of the Celt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12980712-the-dream-of-the-celt?ac=1
21. Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53969.The_Feast_of_the_Goat
22. Mario Vargas Llosa, The War at the End of the World https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53925.The_War_of_the_End_of_the_World?ac=1
23. Markus Zusak, The Book Thief https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19063.The_Book_Thief
24. Mary Renault, The Alexander Trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1124146.The_Alexander_Trilogy?ac=1
25. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117833.The_Master_and_Margarita?ac=1
26. Mohsin Hamid, Moth Smoke https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/440777.Moth_Smoke
27. Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2517.My_Name_is_Red
28. Patrick Modiano, The Search Warrant https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192379.Dora_Bruder
29. Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216363.The_Man_in_the_High_Castle?ac=1
30. Philip Roth, The Plot Against America https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/703.The_Plot_Against_America
31. Phillipa Gregory, The Alexander Trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1124146.The_Alexander_Trilogy?ac=1
32. Qurratulain Hyder, River of Fire (Aag Ki Darya) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/902366.River_of_Fire
33. Robert Harris, Fatherland https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56842.Fatherland
34. Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5211.A_Fine_Balance?ac=1
35. Sarah Dunant, The Birth of Venus https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28078.The_Birth_of_Venus?ac=1
36. Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell?ac=1
37. Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119073.The_Name_of_the_Rose
38. Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50365.A_Suitable_Boy
39. Yashpal, Jhoota Sach (This Is Not That Dawn) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850018-this-is-not-that-dawn