Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Top Ten Places in Books I'd Want to Visit

This week Top Ten Tuesday is asking us to share places from books we'd like to visit.  Allllllllllllllll aboard!


1. Hogwart's





2. Al's Diner with a Portal to 1958, a la 11/22/1968



Obviously this one is immediately on my mind because of watching the Hulu series  based on 11/22/1963,     but one of the reasons I was drawn to that book so much was because of the setting.  I grew up listening largely to music from the 1950s and 60s -- it was the only non-church music  my parents would listen to in the car  or in our home --   and watching series like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or The Wonder Years.   Granted, I wouldn't want to live in 1958 (insert the usual reasons, from pervasive smoking to race relations), but  how I'd love to visit it...again and again,  using the diner for historical tourism. Penn Station? The Hotel Albert?   It'd all be there waiting for me.


3.  Amsterdam, from The City of Bikes


Granted, this one isn't impossible. Once I pay off my student loans (OCTOBER OCTOBER OCTOBER),   I'll be able to travel more, and I could theoretically handle even a jaunt across the Atlantic.  I suspect, however, Amsterdam is more meaningful to me as an ideal rather than a reality, and if I got there I'd be overwhelmed by the crowds and the noise. 

4. The Flat of One Bertie Wooster (P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves-and-Wooster stories)



Honestly, I'd pop in to let Jeeves serve me some English drink I've never heard of ("A lemon squash,  Jeeves, thank you") and then listen to Bertie talk, because he's a riot.   Perhaps I could even witness him being shanghaied by one of his aunts.

5. The Oasis, Ready Player One


I realize that the real world Wade and company live in is definitely a craptastic wasteland, but I am only visiting after all, and if I'm visiting  you really can't get more value for money than the friggin' Oasis. 

6. Narnia, The Chronicles thereof



 The best bits of the medieval era -- castles, swords,   quests -- without the constant smell of manure, urine, and death.

7. The Shire, LOTR


 A quiet life surrounded by friends, food, drink, and gardens? Count me in, and if Gandalf shows up I'm not at home. And if those dwarves show up I'm most definitely not home.


8. Tara


 I've been in my share of grand antebellum estates and savored their smell and sights, but I've never been to a country plantation home, one that would have commanded the surrounding countryside like its kingdom in miniature.  Those who have read Gone with the Wind know that Tara -- for Scarlett -- means stability and home more than anything else, and the movie delivers that feeling well:

 ASHLEY: Tara, the red earth of Tara.
Mr. O'HARA: That land's the only thing that matters, it's the only thing that lasts.
ASHLEY: Something you love better than me, though you may not know it... Tara.
Mr. O'HARA: ...From which you get your strength...
ASHLEY: ... the red earth of Tara.
Mr. O'HARA: Lands the only thing that matters...
ASHLEY: something you love better than me...
ASHLEY: ...the red earth of
Tara...Tara!... Tara!... Tara!
SCARLETT: Tara! Home.


 9. The Nautilus, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

I can still remember being fascinated by the idea of the submarine having a Star Trek-like viewing window as a kid. 
10. The Abbey, Redwall

EULALIAAAAAAAAA!

C'mon...it's a medieval-like castle-monastery thing filled with woodland creatures who wear robes and pack swords and bows. I'd want to be one of the animals, of course (little awkward otherwise).  









17 comments:

  1. Yes, Tara would be a very interesting place to visit. I'd want to see it after slavery had been abolished.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

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  2. Potter and Narnia made my list as well. Ooo Tara - good one!!

    www.tbrandbeyond.com

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  3. What a splendid theme for a posting. I might try the same. Our paths will not cross too closely. My itinerary might surprise even me.

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  4. I've been to Amsterdam, it's wonderful-and not as crowded as some European cities.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/top-ten-tuesday-200/

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  5. I would love to go to Amsterdam! Great choices.

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  6. youth is so wasted on the young... narnia, amsterdam, blandings castle, Mr. Bean's farm (Freddy the Pig), camelot, Trantor, et alia...

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  7. What a fun idea. I might do something like that myself....

    Too much of a Muggle for Hogwarts, like the idea of time travel though (just to visit), been to Amsterdam (really liked it), definitely would visit the Oasis!, Narnia is too COLD (although I did spend my early teens tapping the backs of large wardrobes!), The Shire would be SERIOUSLY fun, YES! to the Nautilus (such a COOL craft).....

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  8. I somehow never picked up Redwall! It always did sound interesting, though. I'm also super amused by the view of Narnia as "medieval but much better sanitation."

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    1. Peter and Susan were renown for their sanitation skills. It's in the lost Narnia book, The Porcelain Throne.

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  9. This is a great list. I have not read all of these books but all the places that you list sound like places that I would also like to visit. I like the fact that you have included The Shire. When I first read The Hobot long ago, I remember so wanting to go there.

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  10. Narnia made my list when I did something like this in October. As did the Shire.

    And hey! Congrats on being so close to paying off your student loans! We figure my dh will have his loans forgiven after 20 years, but not before that...

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    1. Thanks! I've been paying extra for a few years now to get a head. It will be nice to have that taken care of.

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  11. OMG, how did I forget, the Oasis!! Here's my more traditional list: https://wordsandpeace.com/2019/02/26/top-ten-places-to-visit/

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  12. I think I told you about Amsterdam when you review that book, didn't I? How it truly is the city of bicycles and they have parking garages for bikes, and there are literally bikes everywhere and you are more likely to get hit by a bike than by a car there.

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    1. You did! And I would love to see it...pedaling through tulip fields on a bike would be wonderful, I think.

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