Read *London* in harback and got a copy in French for my wife, Lilac. Again, it's linked short stories following the generations of a group of families from ancient times to the present, so your fiction-fix is there while Rutherford drips in the 'real' historical elements. You come out feeling satisfied ... then suddenly realise you're also a heck of a lot better educated than you were when you cracked the spine.
I've read all Rutherford's stuff (except *Dublin* [high on the list]) and all of Michener's. Without even trying, I'm now something of a history buff.
I'm pretty catholic in my reading tastes, but if I was forced to name a preferred genre, I think I'd have to go for historical fiction/faction, legely because of these two excellent and honest authors ... but also because of many other tremendous researcher/story tellers who specialise in this fasncinating field.
Cheers. Neil
|