The Broke and the Bookish ask us today to consider our top ten books with X setting. It’s been a long day and I still have to write a blog post for work (well, first I need to finish researching it, and then I need to write it, so I’m procrastinating by writing here, of course), so I’m stealing TBatB’s interpretation of Top Ten Books with Settings I’d Love To Visit, but specifying it has to be a place I haven’t visited yet:
- Prince Edward Island/Anne of Green Gables: Karen and I were just contemplating a trip to PEI as something we could manage, but then we looked at how much it would cost us to get there, and we decided we’d have to back-burner it for now.
- North Carolina Coast/anything by Sarah Dessen: I like, but don’t love her books, but they all take place in the same (or the ones I’ve read all just seem the same?) small beach town off the Carolina coast. I’d prefer NOT to visit during hurricane season, though.
- Yorkshire/The Secret Garden: I want to hear the wind howling through the moor.
- Florence/Love and Gelato: I just read this one this summer (which you’ll hear about when I get to my June reviews). The area sounds lovely. Or maybe just the gelato. Hard to say…
- Guernsey/The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Definitely not during wartime, and probably also not immediately afterwards, but otherwise it does sound like a very nice place to visit.
- Melbourne/Cocaine Blues: Okay, so I get that this may be more influenced by the imagery of the tv series, than the book itself, but still…
- Yorkshire/The Secret Garden: I want to hear the wind howling through the moors.
- The Luberon/A Year in Provence: I’d prefer not to visit when the Mistral is blowing, but any other time seems like a good time to play boules or walk amongst the grape vines. (This is very nearly cheating, since I did visit Aix and Avignon in Provence because of their proximity to the book’s location. Shhh! Don’t tell Rudi that’s why I suggested them!)
- The North Pole/The Polar Express: Wouldn’t you like to see Santa’s village, particularly on Christmas Eve? Also, I’d like to drink hot chocolate on the train.
- Hogwarts/The Harry Potter series: Just because it doesn’t exist on any map I’ve seen doesn’t make it any less appealing. In fact, it’s probably exactly the opposite. Do you think the Knight Bus stops in the U.S.?
How about you? Where would you like to visit (that you haven’t yet), based on a book you’ve read that was set there?
Books always make me want to go to places! 🙂 I’d love to go to Florence!
Comment by Chrissi Reads 08.16.16 @ 1:49 amTuscany/Under the Tuscan Sun. Really, I would absolutely love to go there.
Comment by AsKatKnits 08.16.16 @ 6:54 amI got so excited for a moment…If you ever do start planning, let me know what I can help with!
Love the list. Gelato in Florence. I did that! We totally got ripped off at the place we went. I think it was 20 Euros, for 3 cones but they were already dished up by the time we realized it, and then we fell in fits of laughter at our foolishness.
I haven’t read all the books you listed, but I have read books in those locations. Except maybe the North Pole – I could live without that one.
I don’t know which is better: that you included Yorkshire twice or that I read through your list the first time and wondered why you hadn’t included Yorkshire. Apparently we are both tired 🙂
I have technically been to Yorkshire, so I can’t include it on my list. But of all the places I’ve visited via books, it may well be my favorite. I’d also like to live in the Swiss Alps with Heidi for a while. “The Thief Lord” by Cornelia Funke made me yearn to visit Venice. And of course, I’d like to travel to all the great fantasy worlds, like Oz, Middle Earth, Pern (but only if I get to ride a dragon), Narnia, etc.
Comment by Karen 08.19.16 @ 9:16 am@Karen: I thought about Venice and The Thief Lord, but am sad to report I did not recall Heidi, because Switzerland would have made my list if I had. I’ll have to see if I can figure out what I accidentally pasted over when I moved Yorkshire up the list, because I know it was complete when I thought to rearrange it. Clearly all the gunk in my head did not allow for clear thinking.
Comment by soe 08.19.16 @ 9:41 am@raidergirl3: I told Karen we’d need to be in touch with you if we decided we were going.
Isn’t getting ripped off part of the vacation experience? At least it was for something delicious!
Comment by soe 08.19.16 @ 9:43 am@AsKatKnits: Yes!
Comment by soe 08.19.16 @ 9:43 am@Chrissi: Me too!
Comment by soe 08.19.16 @ 9:44 am