Top Ten Tuesday: Places Books Make Me Want To Visit

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a lot of fun. We get to think about all of the incredible places we’ve read about that we’d like to visit. It doesn’t matter if the place is fictional or real. I remember teachers telling us that books take you anywhere you want to go.  Books have taken us to Hogwarts, Middle Earth, Russia, Paris, London, Rome, San Francisco, as well as many variations of Earth in the future. So here are the places that we would love to visit:

1. Hogwarts: A place to learn magic, how awesome is that? Even more exciting would be the prospect of meeting Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny, Snape, Draco, Professor McGonagall, and the list goes on and on. Plus I would love to learn more Hufflepuff, since that’s the House I got sorted into in Pottermore. –Diana

2. Los Angeles: I’ll tell you a secret: I’ve never been to L.A. I’m not sure how I’ve made a living as an entertainment reporter without ever stepping foot in Tinseltown, but it’s true. But ever since reading “Sinner” this summer, I’ve really wanted to go and check out all those little neighborhoods and canyons and culinary delights. -Sandie

3. Middle-earth: Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, dragons, Ents (talking trees), what else can I say? I would never want to leave and I can’t even pinpoint who or what I would want to see first. -Diana

4. Amsterdam: I’ve never been to the Netherlands, but after reading Gayle Forman’s duology “Just One Day” and “Just One Year,” as well as those fabulous chapters of “The Fault in Our Stars,” I wanted to hop on the first KLM flight to Holland. Besides, the Dutch are polyglots, so I could get around in English. -Sandie

5. Russia: Having read “Anna Karenina,” “Crime and Punishment,” and “The Brothers Karamazov,” all made me wish that someday I might be able to actually see Russia. Growing up during the Cold War, made it seem impossible, but now? Who knows, maybe someday. -Diana

6. Australia: Basically every Australian author I’ve read has made me want to visit — and not just the city but the country too — everything, from the ocean to the outback. And if I were there, I’d work in a way to meet or see a reading by Melina Marchetta and Cath Crowley and Markus Zusak and all those other amazing Aussie authors. -Sandie

7. Narnia: Aside from seeing Narnia itself, It would be amazing to meet Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie. Even more importantly is Aslan, he alone would be worth a trip to Narnia. –Diana

8. Lumatere: I should put a big ol’ caveat that I’d only want to visit Lumatere after the events of the Lumatere Chronicles take place, and then only if I were a royal visitor to Lumatere, so I could hang out with the three royal couples I love. I just know Isaboe and Phaedra and I would be besties, and Quintana might not be ready for female friends, but I’d win her over too. –Sandie

9. Paris: From “A Tale of Two Cities” to “Anna and the French Kiss” and other books in between made me want to see Paris. So, when I finally got the opportunity in 2006, it was amazing. Someday I hope to go back with my husband and see all the things that I didn’t get a chance to see. -Diana

10. Tsarist Russia: OK, I know Diana covered this in No. 5, but hear me out. I know this is a horrible thing to say, because Tsarist Russia was a terrible place to live unless you were part of the aristocracy (well, until the Revolution that is), but all of the books I’ve read about 19th Century or fin de siecle Russia make me wish there was a way to experience the grandeur of that era beyond the architecture.  – Sandie

 

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