Do you read narrative history?  I’m talking about books like Eric Jager’s The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France or Leslie Carroll’s Royal Affairs: A Lusty Romp Through the Extramarital Adeventures That Rocked the British Monarchy or Jon Meacham’s American Gospel: God, The Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. When it comes to history, I appreciate a heavily-footnoted scholarly treatment as much as the next academic, but I find narrative history more appealing.  I think it’s partly the confidence these books bestow — in reading them, you learn enough about the subject to discuss it intelligently, even if you wouldn’t presume to present a conference paper on it — and also partly it’s the sheer enjoyment of reading a true story as well-told as a good novel.

I’m considering a book project of this nature, so your input would be much appreciated at this stage.  Do you read narrative history?  How often, relative to other genres?  What do you like or not like about it?  Do you have favorite periods (Colonial America), dynasties (Tudors), regions (Japan)?  What’s more important to you: compelling story or careful source citation?  How important is the cover art, the title length, or the author’s pedigree?  Do you have a favorite author in this genre?

Do tell—and thanks!

I’m so honored to be featured as a Pennsylvania author for the Literary Road Trip at Beth Fish Reads! As I have mentioned here a few times, a group of book bloggers—including myself—are working together to highlight local authors, state by state.  Since I was born in and currently live in Ohio, my goal is to feature Ohio authors; Beth, who was also born in Ohio but now lives in Pennsylvania, is featuring Pennsylvania authors.  So if I live in Ohio, what am I doing featured as a Pennsylvania author? Easy. My husband and I lived in Philadelphia for almost 6 years, during which time we began writing our History Lives series, and the first 3 volumes came out while we lived there. Beth graciously asked me if I would write a guest post for her blog, and of course I was thrilled to, since her blog is one of my newer favorites.  So please pop over and check it out.  She’s doing a great job with the Literary Road Trip–her clever ideas are inspiring me to get on the ball with all the Ohio authors!–and just in general writes a lot of thoughtful stuff.  Thanks so much, Beth!

Just a quick reminder that Brandon and I are appearing at The Stately Raven Bookstore (Findlay, Ohio) tomorrow.  We’ll be reading from and signing the titles in our History Lives series, and are so looking forward to chatting with readers.  If you’re anywhere in the area, please do stop by!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that a special event was in the works.  Now that the details are final, I’m pleased to announce that Brandon and I will be speaking and signing books on Sept. 15 at The Stately Raven in Findlay, OH!  This one-of-a-kind store is located in a beautiful former church, directly across the street from the University of Findlay, and features a working fireplace, a reading loft, and gorgeous murals inspired by the shop’s name.  (You can see some of these details in the introductory video on their homepage.)  We’re honored to be part of their fall event lineup and would love to show our appreciation with a big turnout, so if you’re anywhere near Findlay–say, a 500 mile radius? :o) –please come out and join us! 

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009
5:30-7:30 pm
The Stately Raven
1315 North Main St.
Findlay, OH 45840
419-427-2814

Please bring the kids!  An entire floor of the shop is devoted to kids’ books, so they’ll have lots to look at and plenty of room to curl up with a book.  Copies of all the History Lives books will be available and we’d love to sign them for you, your kids, grandkids, Sunday school students, mailman…frankly, we’ll sign them for your dog if you want.  We’re just excited to get to meet some of our readers!

We’ll try to get some photos to post for those of you out of the area.  And if you’re not nearby but still want an autographed copy, just contact the store to make your purchase and ask them to hold it for us to sign before shipping to you, and we’ll be glad to do it.  

Hope to see many of you there!

…on the History Lives 5-vol. set at Westminster Bookstore: they’ve informed me that the special price expires April 1.  After that, they will continue to offer the set at a discount off retail (just not as big a discount as the introductory offer).