One of my deficits as a reader of literary and crime fiction is that I am unable to read books set very far in the past. It seems too much of the text is taken up with the presentation of arcane material on how people lived in that time.As a former history major, I am embarrassed at this failing. Is there a series or even single book that does this job very well, balancing crime and a evocation of the time period? I would like to read something different this summer and maybe this is the time for historical fiction. I am talking about a book set before 1900 and probably even earlier.
Hoax. Couldn't get past Richard Gere in this film to truly appreciate it. He gives the same unnuanced, dull performance in every film to my mind. I also thought Marcia Gay Harden was awful. And so many scenes with coporate types who are always portrayed the same way. Did I miss something because Rotten Tomatoes has an 87% approval rating.?
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I can't read anything before 1900 either. And I don't care. There's too little time and too much I want to read for me to torture myself. But then, you're younger than I.
Ed Gorman and (the late Ms.) Lee Hoffman's westerns don't pull a Michener (a dull lecture lightly dusted with duller fiction), and all of Ed's and most of Hoffman's strike me as also CF. And I can (and do) recommend Michael Chabon's (WW2) period (elderly) Holmes novella THE FINAL SOLUTION to everyone. Others come to mind...I've been meaning to get back to Clark Howard's DIRT RICH, even though it is definitely in the Doctorow mode (show us all your research, sometimes to the detriment of your story).
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