 | The Last Light of the Sun (Northland series) by Guy Gavriel Kay
Buy new: $9.42 / Used from: $0.28 The best of Guy Gavriel Kay- set in an alternate world but clearly based on 9th century Britain and Scandinavia. Detailed, moving and full of surprises
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 | Fitzpatrick's War (Daw Science Fiction) by Theodore Judson
Buy used from: $4.26 A sci-fi masterpiece, set in a believable, quasi-dystopian world of bigotry and war.
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 | The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 By far Follett's best work, if overshadowed by his lesser spy thrillers. The saga of 12th century England as seen through the eyes of a cast of disparate and diverse characters.
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 | Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $3.73 At times touching, at times hilarious, at times disturbing. Always captivating.
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 | The Hope: A Novel by Herman Wouk
Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $0.99 Overshadowed by his more famous "Winds of War" and "War and Rememberance"; in my opinion, better-written overall.
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 | The Glory: A Novel by Herman Wouk
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $1.00 Part 2 of the above
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 | Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 The heroism, brutality and savagery of Spartan society, and its finest hour at Thermopylae, as seen through an outsider. Pressfield's first (and arguably best) novel set in ancient Greece.
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 | One hundred times to China by Lloyd Kropp
Buy used from: $4.50 Sublime and moving... technically sci-fi as it takes place in a future America descending into chaos. The real story, however, is the strength of family ties and the resilience of the human soul.
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 | Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman by Walter Miller
Buy new: $19.66 / Used from: $7.15 "A Canticle for Leibowitz" is a sci-fi masterpiece, but this quasi-sequel (it takes place between Books 2 and 3 of Canticle) is a gripping thriller, with tortured characters, theological and philosophical conflicts and political intrigue. A motley crew of churchmen, nomad warlords, and petty kings gather to stand against the tyranny of an expanding empire.
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 | Caesar's Women (Masters of Rome Series) by Colleen Mccullough
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 The high point of the entirely-excellent "Masters of Rome" series by McCullough.
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 | The Name of the Rose: including the Author's Postscript by Umberto Eco
Buy new: $11.48 / Used from: $0.01 This was among the best novels I have ever read. And I find most of Eco's writings incomprehensible.
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 | Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 Turtledove always tells a great story, but his characters and attention to detail sometimes leave something to be desired. This story fully immerses the reader in a 16th century Britain that never was- but might easily have been.
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 | When Christ and His Saints Slept: A Novel by Sharon Kay Penman
Buy new: $11.52 / Used from: $1.39 |
 | The Winter King (The Arthur Books #1) by Bernard Cornwell
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $1.57 Flawed heroes and sympathetic villains rub elbows in this stunningly well-written retelling of the Arthurian mythos.
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 | Enemy of God (The Arthur Books #2) by Bernard Cornwell
Buy new: $10.87 / Used from: $2.00 Part 2 of the above
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 | Excalibur (The Arthur Books #3) by Bernard Cornwell
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $3.98 Part 3 of the above
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 | The Book of Abraham by Marek Halter
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $2.01 A family saga spanning two millenium. Brilliantly imagined and visionary in geographic and temporal scope.
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 | The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $1.14 Singer's bleak tale from post-"Deluge" Poland.
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