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Hi Guys, great group! What do you think are your top 5 favorite books in the genre?

I hate to sound like a broken record, but OUTLANDER series by Diana Gabaldon is amazing. 

Phillipa Gregory and her series on the Tudors including The Other Bolyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover are also very fun.

John Gardner's Grendel is also wonderful.

Here are my 5:

1. Katherine by Anya Seton

2. Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (because it was the first one I read)

3.The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

4. The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

5. Everything written by Jean Plaidy--ok, that's a couple of dozen books, but if you love English history, you MUST read her books. She starts with William I and goes all the way to Victoria.

Here's a shocker at #1, coming from me...

1. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (http://www.enotes.com/grapes)

2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (http://www.enotes.com/catch22)

3. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (http://www.enotes.com/last-mohicans)

4. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (http://www.enotes.com/time-butterflies)

5. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron (http://www.enotes.com/confessions-nat-qn)

Another good one which I don't have a eNotes link to is Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo. It's a page turning mystery set at the 1848 Women's Rights Convention. http://www.amazon.com/Seneca-Falls-Inheritance-Miriam-Monfredo/dp/0425144658/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202944652&sr=8-1

For YA fiction, I'd also like to nominate:

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (http://www.enotes.com/bronze-bow)

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg (http://www.enotes.com/proud-taste-qn)

In reply to #2: I'll second Grendel!

http://www.enotes.com/grendel

In reply to #4: I am somewhat confused, I was under the impression that historical fiction is a fictionalized re-telling of actual events, and the main characters are notable people from history. Most of your choices would fall into this category, but not all. What is the definition of Historical Fiction, if there is one?

In reply to #6:  Whoops.  I guess I lost my train of thought when agreeing to the Grendel (though it is fabulous). 

As for an official definition, my thinking is that the work is based on actual characters or events.  Some combine both, like Alex Haley's Roots.  Others, like Heller, take an event and add fictional characters (his an almalgam of his own experiences and those of his friends.)  Cooper I would defend on the basis of his experiences and interviews of the Frontier.  Styron is probably the closest to combining the two; Steinbeck a close second as many of the characters (like Tom Joad) were based on people he actually knew.

I wouldn't include Grapes of Wrath and Catch-22 in the category of historical fiction. I think the author needs to be far removed from the era in which the novel is set, and I think the Depression was during Steinbeck's lifetime; the same goes for Heller and Cooper.

In reply to #8: Completely disagree.  Steinbeck was adamant in his letters and journals to capture history "as it happened" and was very concerned that he "get it right."  I don't see why an author must be far removed from historical "fact" in order to write historical fiction.

Same is true of Heller, IMO. 

I like Bernard Cornwell's books, including his Grail Quest series and his Anglo-Saxon series.  He's also the author of the Sharpe series, but I haven't read those.  I also have enjoyed Margaret George's books on Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry VIII.  Although those are about real people, I would still put them under "historical fiction" because they are definitely NOT biographies.