Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons To Read Historical Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today, we’re talking about why readers love historical fiction. History has always been one of my favorite topics. Even as a young reader, I was drawn to historical books. (Though I preferred historical nonfiction as a kid. I read everything about Arctic exploration.)

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of historical fiction fans on Twitter, so I asked them to chime in on this post. Here’s a list of reasons why I (and Twitter) think you should give historical fiction a try.

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Reasons Why Readers Love Historical Fiction

You’ll learn stuff without feeling like you’re learning stuff. Were your history classes in school as boring as mine? I mostly remember dry textbooks, long lectures, and a billion names and dates that I needed to memorize. Historical fiction isn’t like that. The books focus on a few characters who are living through historical events. You’ll learn about the events, but you’ll be so invested in the characters that it won’t feel like school. There will be no exam at the end.

Fiction makes history less abstract and more personal. Reading about events in a textbook can make history seem distant and impersonal. Why should you care about some boring, complicated thing that happened 300 years ago? Seeing history through the eyes of a character brings it to life. You’ll see how events changed the lives of ordinary people.

You’ll come closer to understanding older generations. The way people act is shaped by the world they grew up in. Did your grandparents (or great grandparents) live through a major economic crisis? A famine? A war? A refugee crisis? Or were they isolated in a small, boring town where nothing dramatic ever happened? Reading about their experiences can help you understand how they see the world.

You’ll feel fortunate to live in modern times. We have so much cool stuff that people didn’t have in the olden days. I’m especially grateful for modern medicine. It’s comforting to know that I can take a pill if I get a headache. I don’t have to call a doctor who will slice open my guts with a rusty saw to remove my “poisonous excess” organs.

There’s variety. Are you curious about a certain part of the globe? Or about a specific event or group of people? If you look hard enough, I bet you can find historical fiction that satisfies your curiosity.

It can spark a new interest. Sometimes, while reading historical fiction, you will come across a surprising fact. Then you’ll have to Google it to find out if it’s really a fact. Then you will disappear down an Internet rabbit hole and emerge hours later with loads of new esoteric knowledge.

You can escape to a different “world.” Obviously, historical fiction takes place in the real world, but it’s a different real world. The technology and rules of society aren’t the same as what we’re used to. The characters sometimes have problems that we’ve never experienced. The world is real, but it’s different enough to feel unfamiliar and fascinating.

Authors rock at world building. One of the first historical novels I fell in love with was Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. It’s about a woman who’s in jail for murdering her boss, but she says she doesn’t remember committing the crime. I was astounded by how much research went into this book. All the tiny details bring 1840s Ontario to life. The story feels so real that I couldn’t put the book down. I needed to know if Grace was really the murderer!

You’ll realize that history never dies. The characters in historical fiction are relatable because we’re all dealing with the same crap. Some problems have been around forever, and sometimes history repeats itself. Events that happened before we were born have formed our modern world. History is definitely still relevant. You become very aware of that when you’re reading historical novels.

Do you read historical fiction?