Ok, a little bit of backstory: in college, I took several medieval history courses that focused on medieval Europe (Britain and France in particular) and really enjoyed all of them, so much so that I almost went to grad school for the subject. I ended up getting my Master’s in something else, and it’s been almost ten years since I took a class in medieval history.
Fast forward to the present day: my partner and I just watched Game of Thrones for the first time (I know, we were very late to the party). Although fiction, Game of Thrones made me fall back in love with the Middle Ages. I’ve been thinking of picking up the books.
Here’s the thing: I’ve never really enjoyed fantasy novels. I’ve tried to get through Mists of Avalon twice (to no avail each time, although I do like that there’s strong female leads). I’ve never read Lord of the Rings because it always seemed like too much. Even just in general, I prefer to read non-fiction.
So my questions are: do you all think I would enjoy the GoT books, or even LotR, given my new love for the GoT TV series? Are there other good Medieval fiction books that don’t focus so heavily on fantasy? And also, what good non-fiction on the Middle Ages is out there? (I’m pretty sure I only read primary sources when I was in school and don’t know what authors to look for)
Thanks in advance, and thanks for getting through this wall of text with too many colons and parentheses 😋
by gillenmeg