Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love history and love going down wormholes and reading deeply on something that grabs my attention. I think overarching histories do tend to be a bit dry because they span a lot. My suggestions are to choose something specific to start with and maybe find a documentary or podcast series that you like. With a good narrator, these an be more engaging than reading a book.

Thought Lucy Worsley's 3 part History of the Tsars on Amazon was excellent. Could be an interesting place to start given everything that's going on with Russia at the moment. Russian history is pretty fascinating and, once you have watched that, you could read/listen/watch something about Russia in the 20th century and it will give you an excellent background to what is happening at the moment.

I’m not prone to hero-worship in general, but I totally worship Lucy Worsley. She’s the coolest!

OP, I’m partial to historical novels because they hint at what it might have felt like to live through various historical events and the stories help me to care about the facts more than I ever did when learning “X person did Y in Z year.” There have been a few threads on this forum, but a good place to start is Ken Follett. He did a 20th-Century trilogy and another one that was much earlier (1500s maybe?) in England.

Anonymous wrote:I love history and love going down wormholes and reading deeply on something that grabs my attention. I think overarching histories do tend to be a bit dry because they span a lot. My suggestions are to choose something specific to start with and maybe find a documentary or podcast series that you like. With a good narrator, these an be more engaging than reading a book.

Thought Lucy Worsley's 3 part History of the Tsars on Amazon was excellent. Could be an interesting place to start given everything that's going on with Russia at the moment. Russian history is pretty fascinating and, once you have watched that, you could read/listen/watch something about Russia in the 20th century and it will give you an excellent background to what is happening at the moment.

Anonymous wrote:

Also, I recommend this a lot and it’s a very random recommendation … but I absolutely loved Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. I’ve read a lot on Soviet russia and I don’t think anything really captured the real spirit of the Soviet era quite as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Winds of War is just a really good historical novel about Ww2 Europe. A really easy read and covers a lot in basically true historical detail.

Also, I recommend this a lot and it’s a very random recommendation … but I absolutely loved Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. I’ve read a lot on Soviet russia and I don’t think anything really captured the real spirit of the Soviet era quite as well. On Soviet life; there’s also dr zhivago which is great and then there’s a book about Pasternak and the publication of dr zhivago — it bogs down a little but is really very educational about Soviet history over many decades.

There are a couple books that focus on world history through food and beverage that I’ve wanted to read….like a history of the world in six glasses. A short history Of nearly everything by bill Bryson has also been on my list because I like his style so much. His book about England had a remarkable amount of history in it because he talks about the stories behind everyplace he travels.

I also recommend Winds Of War. And anything (everything!) by Sharon Kay Penman.

Anonymous wrote:Winds of War is just a really good historical novel about Ww2 Europe. A really easy read and covers a lot in basically true historical detail.

Also, I recommend this a lot and it’s a very random recommendation … but I absolutely loved Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. I’ve read a lot on Soviet russia and I don’t think anything really captured the real spirit of the Soviet era quite as well. On Soviet life; there’s also dr zhivago which is great and then there’s a book about Pasternak and the publication of dr zhivago — it bogs down a little but is really very educational about Soviet history over many decades.

There are a couple books that focus on world history through food and beverage that I’ve wanted to read….like a history of the world in six glasses. A short history Of nearly everything by bill Bryson has also been on my list because I like his style so much. His book about England had a remarkable amount of history in it because he talks about the stories behind everyplace he travels.

Anonymous wrote:If you like your history with humor, I love Sarah Vowell. Reading or audio - both are great!