Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten listsEach week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!
This week the topic is "Top Ten Settings in Books." I am a big believer in the power of a good setting. I tend to be drawn to fictional settings, mostly those found in fantasy/scifi books. But I do enjoy the beauty of a real setting artfully described by the author.
1. Hogwarts from the Harry Potter Series -- My absolute favorite setting! The place I really wish I could go. I love Hogwarts. I love how Rowling describes all the places. I love how the movies interpreted the settings. I even love seeing Hogwart's turned into a Lego game. Just awesome.
2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth -- Carrie Ryan has created another character in the Forest. It has it's own personality. It's an obstacle. It's hope. It's despair. I was as scared of the Forest as Cassie. I can't believe Mary would not be afraid to venture forward. However, the Forest makes it a much more layered book. (I was tempted to put the city of Vista from The Dead-Tossed Waves, but I found other choices.)
3. Wonderland -- How could I not put Wonderland on the this list? The topsy-turvy world of crazy creatures and challenging puzzles is definitely one of my favorites. As much as I have issues with every movie version of Alice in Wonderland, I like the Tim Burton version for the colors. My vision of Wonderland is full of bright, psychedelic colors.
4. Jane Austen's England -- All the little villages and estates described in her books are beautiful. I want to visit England and see her inspiration. But I especially love her descriptions of Bath in the Regency era. Bath was the place to be and be seen. You can tell that Austen didn't like Bath and all the pretensions, but I still love the description. I imagine the Pump Rooms and the gardens and would love to visit.
5. Camp Half-Blood from Percy Jackson series -- This is the camp to be at. The strawberry fields, the cabins, the big house, the practice area, the ever-changing woods. I would love to wander around, with a demigod bodyguard of course.
6. Scotland from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series -- A great historical novel. I want to go to Scotland and see the old ruins, the glens, the glades, the mystery. I would love to follow in Claire's footsteps.
7. NYC from Fables series -- There's something magical about the real NYC. Throw in some fairy tale characters and it becomes even more interesting. I adore this series. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility to run into Prince Charming or Snow White in an all night diner in Manhattan.
8. The House from Neil Gaiman's Coraline -- A huge house split into four apartments with a garden out back complete with old well. I love how Gaiman makes the house another character in the story. I saw the movie before reading the book, so my image of the house is based more on the movie. But I also liked the descriptions in the book and the pictures from the graphic novel. They all give me different but somehow the same views of the house. I love creepy old houses and Coraline's comes complete with an Other Mother!
9. Templeton, NY from The Monsters of Templeton -- One of my favorite books from this year, Templeton is a real town in New York. Somehow Groff took a real setting and inserted magic into the story. I would love to visit and see if the real life Templeton has those whispers that complete the book. And maybe, just maybe, I could see the monster of Lake Glimmerglass!
10. Wonderland from Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Trilogy -- Just as I love the original Wonderland, I also love Beddor's version of Wonderland. Specifically his description of the plains where the Jabberwocky live. A real barren wasteland complete with lava flows and geysers. Priceless!
