Genre Spotlight | Historical Fiction

I’m sure this has been done a thousand times, but I wanted to start a little series on my blog where I talk about some of my favorite genres to read. I don’t really know how many of these I’ll do, but I thought it would be fun! I hope you enjoy it too.

I never talk about my favorite genres that much, and I figured now is the time. My all-time favorite genre is historical fiction. It always seems to get me out of reading slumps. This post will give you a few reasons why I love it, and why you should at least give it a shot.

There are so many different perspectives that an author can write from. 

I can go into most historical fiction novels and expect a new perspective. I can learn about another little percentage of a different era. Think about all the people who aren’t talked about to this day. We could all write a novel about someone different. Isn’t that super cool to think about? Learning about what they did, and how they impacted the future—our grandparents’ generation, our parents’ generation, and our generation. Just take a second and think about that.

If you choose the correct author, you can learn so much from just a single novel.

There are wonderful authors that do their research (e.g. Ken Follett, Philippa Gregory, etc…). I haven’t read from either of them, but I have heard such great things that they are definitely on my list. I have learned a lot from other books not written by those authors. Love and Ruin by Paula McLain taught me a little about the Spanish Civil War. I Googled a lot while reading that novel. There was so much I didn’t even know, and now I do!

I find the dialogue to be more complex and interesting.

There is nothing worse than boring dialogue! That’s all I really have to say about that. Some books can pull off simple dialogue, but it’s pretty rare. That’s all I really have to say about that.

Lives of ordinary people are brought to light.

This is one of my favorite aspects of historical fiction. There are so many characters based on real people from the past. I know that not a lot of people enjoy that, but I definitely do. A few good examples: Love and Ruin by Paula McLain (Martha Gellhorn) and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (Sarah Grimke). Love and Ruin is one of my favorite books to date.

I never would have learned about these interesting people of history if it weren’t for my love of historical fiction. I can’t thank the genre enough for that.

Conflicts during that time are different compared to today. 

The twenty-first century has its own conflicts, but that past was especially different, and dare I say, more compelling. WWI and WWII were such substantial fragments of history that are perhaps overrated at this point, but I still love reading about it. There is so much to discuss, and so much light to shed on that generation! It’s also fun to see how far we have come, or ways we have fallen backward. I think a lot of it is my urge to learn something new. Books are my favorite way to do that!

– Disclaimer –

I’m not saying that all historical fiction novels are amazing. Yes, there are a ton out there that misrepresent the genre, but you just can’t focus on those. I know this genre won’t be for everyone, but I think it’s worth a shot. These are my opinions, so if you hate historical fiction, then that is 100% okay.

What’s your favorite genre?

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