Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme/feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Ten Bookish Settings I’d Love to Visit

1. Ingary – Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: I completely fell in love with the little storybook inspired world Diana Wynne Jones created in Howl’s Moving Castle and became so stuck in Ingary I never wanted this book to end. I’m so excited to read the rest of this series to get more of Ingary and more of the other worlds that Jones created.
2. Red/White/Grey London – Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab: Alright, so Grey London is the only one that really exists (or that we know of anyways) but I was so intrigued by the idea of multiple parallel London’s in these varying magical worlds that I found myself wanting to visit them all. I’m so happy Schwab is continuing with this series (even though it’s with different characters) and I’m curious if she’ll focus on a different London instead of Red.
3. Hogwarts – Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Would this be a true Bookish Settings list if I didn’t include Hogwarts? I mean, come on it’s Hogwarts, what bookworm doesn’t want to visit Hogwarts? To get sorted, to learn magic, to explore the castle, it’s every bookworms dream!
4. Avonlea – Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery: As a Canadian this one hits close to home, though I didn’t grow up on Prince Edward Island I fell in love with it through Anne’s story and Montgomery’s beautiful description of the island. While Avonlea isn’t real, I do like that Green Gables is and that the Island promotes so many Anne things for her many fans. Maybe I’ll get to visit it someday!
5. The Forest/Lake – Warriors series by Erin Hunter: I know, this is a weird one, but I was obsessed with these books as a teenager and loved the idea of battling and living and fighting in a forest, and the fact that the book follows cats makes it even better! Of course I’d only really like to visit this setting if I were turned into an actual cat, then I could really be apart of the Warriors story!
6. The Night Circus – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I’ve never been to a circus, so Erin Morgenstern’s Cirque de Reves is the closest I’m ever going to get. I know it’s far from accurate to a real circus (the magic, the fact that it comes unannounced at night, the lack of animal abuse) but the descriptions Morgenstern gives of the caramel scented air, the black and white with a splash of red, who wouldn’t want to visit it for a night?
7. Different Planets – The Host by Stephenie Meyer: The Host is easily one of my favourite books by Stephenie Meyer. She took an alien invasion story and made it into something unique. I loved the different planets Wanderer described being on and found myself wishing their was another book or encyclopedia explaining the different planets of Meyers world. I doubt we’ll get it, since The Host started out as a promised series that never came to be (which I am okay with, since I think it’s a better standalone book) but I’d love to know more about the other planets.
8. Future Alternate Society – The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon: One of my favourite series out their (and another alternate London too!) I absolutely adore the sci-fi/fantasy future that Shannon created in her series. The different hierarchies of magic, the strange combination of dystopia and sci-fi, it’s such a unique setting and one I’ve never seen in another book before. Though release dates between the books are usually longer than I’d like, I love every chance I get to revisit this world.
9. The Island – The Tempest by William Shakespeare: There’s something about The Tempest that just gets me. Maybe it’s the magic, maybe it’s because I love Shakespeare, maybe it’s because I haven’t read a lot of books that take place on a deserted island. Either way, the Island from The Tempest is definitely unique to any of Shakespeare’s other works, and is charming and strange enough to have reader’s wanting to spend time their (though maybe not as long as Prospero and Miranda).
10. The Moon and Other Planets – Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente: More planets! But yes, I loved the way Valente wrote about the different moons and planets in Radiance. At times it was like a travelogue for anyone who’s ever wanted to visit another planet, where in Valente’s world, these moons and planets have been colonized and can be lived on and visited. It reminded me a lot of Space Mountain at Disney when they advertise all the planets you can visit, but Valente brought it to life and made me want to go their.