Top Ten Tuesday: Ingrid's Favorite Settings | The Blue Bookcase

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Ingrid's Favorite Settings

Posted by IngridLola at 1:00 AM

It's time for our favorite weekly meme, Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week ... Ingrid's top ten settings in books, and some of her favorite books that take place in them!

1. Alaska. The Final Frontiersman by James Campbell (my review), Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Alaska (via)

2. The Southwest. (Yes, by that I mean the southwestern United States.) Laughing Boy by Oliver LaFarge (my review), Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Monument Valley (via)

3. Scandinavia. Especially Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. One book I really want to read that takes place in Scandinavia is Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Scandinavia (via)

4. Russia, of course. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (my post on this), The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (review coming soon!)

Moscow (via)

5. Battlefields. I love war books. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

WWI trenches (via)

6. Polygamist towns. I'm obsessed with books about polygamy. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall (my review)

Polygamists (via)

7. New York City. Gotta love it. Moon Palace by Paul Auster

New York City (via)

8. Paris. Bonus if it mentions my favorite reading spot in Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg! Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Luxembourg gardens (via)

9. Europe in general. Love books that take place all across Europe. The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

European cities ... (via)

10. Nameless deserts. There's something about a nameless, dry, empty place that is appealing to me. Holes by Louis Sachar.

Desert (via)

Can you recommend any great books that take place these settings?

Comments (39)

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confessionsofacommonreader 12p · 721 weeks ago

man people keep picking real places! I guess I'm just a kid who loves fantasy at heart. I'd love Alaska too!

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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books4learning · 721 weeks ago

The only one I don't "like" is battlefields. Too real. Too raw.

@ commonreader, I picked fantasy place too :)

2 replies · active 721 weeks ago

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Paula · 721 weeks ago

Some looked good :) Though Im not too keen on a Battlefield or in a polygamist town , though I do love reading those novels but I don't think I could hack it. I picked a mixture of fantasy and real .http://thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-ten-book-place-settings.html

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Liesl · 721 weeks ago

Honestly, like the commenter above, I'd do fantasy: Middle Earth, Panem (from the Hunger Games), the Harry Potter universe, and all those fantastic chick-flick universes where you can live in NYC and be jobless but still live in a great apartment and wear designer clothes.

3 replies · active 721 weeks ago

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Trish · 721 weeks ago

I was toying with the idea of putting Russia (from Crime and Punishment) on my list too since I love cold places. Great list!

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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sarahabrown 35p · 721 weeks ago

Oh, I'd love to visit Scandinavia! The images that you choose for your different settings are gorgeous and really convey the feelings of the place.

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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Loni · 721 weeks ago

If you like war books, you should read Timothy Findley's The Wars (there's a review on my blog). It has really detailed descriptions of trench warfare.

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Rob Curry · 721 weeks ago

The open ocean can be a pretty good setting (Moby Dick, Master & Commander). I love books in the Jungle ( Lost city of Z). As for Europe check out Neither Here nor There by Bill Bryson. I also like foggy, spooky London (Sherlock Holmes) When it comes to Deserts - Desert Solitaire & Monkey Wrench gang comes to mind (Edward Abbey). For you Fantasy folks - how about the plain ol' apocalyptic future? (The Passage, by Justin Cronin) .

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Kirsten · 721 weeks ago

Death Comes for the Archbishop Book Club meeting at Dolly's Bookstore, in Park City, Utah, June 21, 7:00 p.m. Join us! Ok, I'm on board with everything except the Polygamist towns. But I am reading the Lonely Polygamist. Loving it, hysterical, probably enough for me. The Paris Wife–the Luxembourg Gardens are mentioned multiple times–isn't there a review coming up on that? Loved it. Also Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Battlefields, Scandinavia, Europe, New York. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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StinaVW 80p · 721 weeks ago

GREAT list!! This is such a good topic. I love to read books that take place in Europe and New York, too. And boy, that polygamist photo gives me the creeps! There's a memoir called Escape that is by a lady who left polygamy. It's by... Somebody Jessop, I think? I haven't read it and have no idea whether it's worth reading, but it piques my interested when I see it on bookstore shelves. And have you seen Grizzly Man? I haven't, but it's supposed to be good and it takes place in Alaska.

3 replies · active 721 weeks ago

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karen · 721 weeks ago

I picked New York too. I love it. Read a few Paul Auster's which I liked. Great list.

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Tara · 721 weeks ago

Okay, WOW, your list is awesome. I bunched Europe up all together and moved on, and I forgot about Russia!! Ah, oh well! Great list :)

Here's my list this week :)

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emmac6 48p · 721 weeks ago

For Paris, I recommend The Greater Journey, by David McCullough. I'm reading it now, so don't have a review yet, but it's absolutely fascinating. see here in goodreads in case you are not familiar with it: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10131648-the-g...
Emma @ Words And Peace http://wordsandpeace.wordpress.com

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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Laura · 721 weeks ago

Great choices! I wouldn't necessarily choose alaska from into the wild though! Not the nicestending to that story!

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Sarah · 721 weeks ago

Fantastic list! I totally forgot about Russia when I was making mine!

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Katie · 721 weeks ago

All Quiet on the Western Front was one of my favorite books that I was assigned to read in high school. Great list!

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What Red Read 121p · 721 weeks ago

Love the pictures you included! Some beautiful images, especially that Alaska & NYC ones.

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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Laura · 721 weeks ago

Scandinavia is my favorite from your list. Although I can't recommend any good books, Denmark is one of my favorite places that I've been.

Check out my list here

1 reply · active 721 weeks ago

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gautami tripathy · 721 weeks ago

Scandinavia is a great setting!

I covered almost every place, I think!
http://readbookswritepoetry.blogspot.com/2011/06/...

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Wendy · 721 weeks ago

Oh, I can add to your TBR pile :)

Alaska: Winterdance by Gary Paulsen - hilarious and wonderful
Scandinavia: Definitely read Kristin Lavransdatter...also Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson is wonderful.
Russia: The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Battlefields: I just read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - it is nonfiction, but is oh so good.
New York City: Lots of great books set there. My most recent favorite was Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. If you like mysteries, 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan is also wonderful.
Paris: Just finished a terrific book that also meet your "battlefield" love and is set in Paris: The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene
Europe in General: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (England), The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (Bosnia), The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (Czech Republic) which is also set in war time, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (Germany) set during WWII, Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali (Portugal), and Guernica by Dave Boling (Spain) - I have read several others set in Europe - you can see the complete list here: http://www.caribousmom.com/2007/07/27/europe-read...

Have fun!!!

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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