Favorite novels?

So, what are our favorite novels?

My taste runs to historic fiction, especially the dense sort that go deeply into the life of the times. Character and plot that are of that moment rather than “timeless” or “universal.” I want to feel the tenor and timbre of the times. That also means the story and people must run close to reality. In this genre, the best reads for me are not the easiest reads.

Here are a few I have enjoyed:

Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver. A long, dense but readable trek through the social, political and philosophic terrain of Baroque-era Europe. Intrigue and competition among (among others) MIT as it is now known and Harvard, and Leibniz and Newton.

Gore Vidal, Burr, Lincoln, 1896. Skewering the 1% and popping inflated reputations and tweaking popular mythology, outrage that manages to stop short of cynicism.

Hillary Mantel, Wolf Hall. Vivid, fun, and does all the stuff I said above that a historic novel should do.

Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, The Prague Cemetery. Deep and dark but somehow you come away with the feeling that light has been shined on what really happened.

Here is a serendipitous connection. For go-to-sleep reading I finished 1356 by Bernard Cornwell. Mostly blood and guts about the battle of Poitiers and the events leading up to it. But also a vivid portrayal of the church, religion and the role of fear of the afterlife. I.e., a striking, if fictional, illustration of what Epicurus and Lucretius set out to debunk: how strongly irrational fear can direct the course of history in the choices of people.

I would very much welcome comment and what others have to say about the novels they enjoy.