Rennaissance Books

[Lady Ellie]

What would be a good rennie book to start off with.   I love to read and am intrested in reading a good rennie book. 

Thank you,

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

The author Margaret George has written biographies (that are sort of novels, too) of Henry VIII & Mary Queen of Scots.  Both my husband and I enjoyed them.

My all-time favorites are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  Little later than the Renaissance time period, but I love those books!

Another favorite is The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.  It is actually sort of a science fiction story, taking place in Oxford, England in around 2050.  It involves time travel.  A young student plans to go through a time machine (which is new and just a trial) to around the later 1300's.  Of course there is a mix-up, and she arrives in the middle of the black plague.  Her professor has to figure out what went wrong because they don't know exactly where she is or at what time period.  In the meantime , there is a pandemic in Oxford, and they have to figure out why, too.  The descriptions of middle ages living are wonderful.  You feel like you are actually there.  I re-read this book every two years or so.

I read rather than watch TV, so as I think of more, I'll post them.  Have fun and enjoy!

[Athena]

Fiction:

The Birth of Venus

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Queen's Fool


Nonfiction:

The Six Wives of Henry the VIII

Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne

I highly recommend the novels, I couldn't put any of them down. I don't normally recommend nonfiction because a lot of it can be very dry, like reading a thesis. The above books aren't like that at all, they're very engaging and you don't feel like you're sitting in on a lecture.

I agree with Lady Renee about the Outlander series. Amazing books, and my all time favorites as well!

[Toki Bloodaxe]

    I have recommended a book that you might enjoy in the books section of this forum.

[Capt Gabriela Fullpepper]

The Courtiers Secret. While not so Renaissance it takes place in Louis XIV reign and is about a female noble who disguises herself as a male and helps save the Queen of Frances life. Lots of adventure. I was sad when the book ended as i wanted to keep reading about her adventures as both a male and as a beautiful noble girl in King Louis court

The Other Boleyn Girl as someone else recommended.

The Lady Elizabeth by Allision Weir one of the absolute best writers on Renaissance England. This is done as a fictional biography and she hits on all the details while telling Elizabeth's story.

The Six Wives of Henry the VIII by Allison Weir

The Children of Henry the VIII also by Allision Weir

[bellevivre]

For true history, anything by Allison Wier, Antonia Fraser and Alison Beer are very entertaining and ALSO factual.

George's Autobiography of King Henry VIII is purely wonderful, and has a LOT of historical basis.

Likewise, Birth of Venus is completely plausible and fun, if you want to 'go' to Italy.

Mistress of the Sun, though post Renaissance, is a very good read too!

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

I just read a wonderful book called The Illuminator.  I took the book back already so can't remember the author's name.  It takes place in Norwich, England in 1379, about the time when the Lollards are printing the Bible in English so that the masses can read it, and they are spreading the idea that God created everybody equal, and there shouldn't be nobility and commoners.  It is a novel, and it brings to life the differences between the classes, and the church's response to it (negative, with lots of burnings and riots).

Another good book, Agincourt, again I don't have the author's name, but it was about the fight between the English and the French.  A novel, so most of the characters are fake, but the story is told from the viewpoint of an archer, and it is considered today that due to the archers with long bows that the English, who were outnumbered by about 30,000 to 8,000 won the war.

[bellevivre]

Ooh ive been wanting to read the Illuminator! guess I really need to now!

[Queen Bonnie]

 Bernard Cornwell wrote Againcourt.
I loved his Arthurian series beginning with the winter King.
For a good Rennie book- read Road Dog Diary by Ray St Louis!  Early days of renn faires. Mentions TRF and Scarby! Fun reading!
I am reading Piratica now! Fun!

[midnightferret]

You might try A History of Private Life Volume III: Passions of the Renaissance.

This book may be a bit "substantial," but I really like the History of Private Life series. If there is information about what people did on a daily basis in a certain time period, it's in this series. And there are lots of pictures! It's win-win.

For lighter reading, I suggest Uppity Women of the Renaissance, which is a collection of amusing historic female characters from the Ren period and their exploits.