I would like to read some historical fiction.  I am waiting on the book The Color Purple right now.  I think that's historical fiction, not sure.  Could you make some suggestions?  Thanks!

Oh my gosh -- you are opening the flood gates. But without knowing your interests, it's a bit hard to make specific suggestions. 

You might want to start with the "Essential Historical Fiction" list on PBS: Essential HF List. The list is unwieldy and contains a number of "non-essential" HF books as well as some books that are not HF (e.g., Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre -- these are classics, not historical -- defining what constitutes historical fiction is a whole 'nuther issue), but this list does include a lot of this forum's favorite HF books. 

I would also suggest looking at the following HF Forum threads:

• Top 10 All-Time Favorite HF Books
• Top 5 Books I Read in 2009
• 2010 Best of the Year
• My Top Ten HF, 2011
• Best Reads of 2012
• Best Reads of 2013

Hope this helps -- and happy reading!!

(edited to fix stubborn links that didn't do what I wanted them to do)

Thanks for the suggestions!  I am interested in things like the holocaust, underground railroad/slavery, things of that nature

Hmmm. That needs some thinking. Do tame a look at Csardas by Dianne Pearson. Latter half does involve WWII. Set in Hungary. 

Wow -- lots and lots of HF about the Holocaust. A search on Goodreads and/or Amazon will bring up a number of lists. Off the top of my head, I would recommend the following: 

• Sophie's Choice by Styron (not technically HF if we follow a 50-year rule, but hard not to include this title)
• Those Who Save Us by Blum
• The Book Thief by Zusak
• The Storyteller by Picoult
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by Boyne
• Sarah's Key by de Rosnay
• The Invisible Bridge by Orringer
• ​Night by Wiesel (not fiction but a classic -- actually, there are lots of fine Holocaust memoirs if you prefer non-fiction)

I have no doubt that others will add to this list. 

I'll have to think about HF titles on slavery -- so many titles about that subject as well. A recent book that immediately comes to mind is The Kitchen House by Grissom.

Thank you so much for the suggestions!  Csardas is a pretty big book!  Have never taken on a book of that size.  Sounds good though!

This is an older thread, over in the Jewish Literature section of the forums, but might be of interest for both fiction and non-fiction titles about the Holocaust:  http://www.paperbackswap.com/Holocaust-Books/topic/120701/