Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the fantastic blog The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic was focused on all the amazing places books have made you, as a reader, desire to visit, whether real or fictional!
1) Hogwarts/Diagon Alley/ Hogsmeade: Being a huge Harry Potter fan, there was no doubt in my mind that this was going to be at the very top of my list. Basically anywhere in the wizarding world would be fine by me to visit. When I was in London this past January I did several Harry Potter walking tours, and it was fantastic to see a lot of the interior and exterior filming locations, as well as doing the WB studio tour. However, nothing would compare to the actual, fantasy world!
2) Idris from The Mortal Instruments: I loved City of Glass largely because it took place mainly in Idris, the Shadowhunter country specifically for Nephilim, where everything is lush and green and woodsy. I always love when fantasy books have a realm where the paranormal characters get to live amongst just each other because its fascinating to see what their societies are like without having to hide their abilities.
3) Paris: Anna and the French kiss did me in, making my obsession with going back to Europe even stronger. I about died when she would describe the patisseries she’d visit and the rainy nights strolling along the Latin Quarter. This book made me swoon over a place more than a person! Also, I’ve harbored a strong desire to see France ever since I was introduced to Madeline as a small child.
4) Maine: Thanks to This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith, I can’t stop picturing staying in a tiny little seaside town at the tip of the country for a quiet and magical summer.
5) Omaha (or some other snowy loaction): I just finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell and the white Christmas setting in the book seemed so picture-esque and beautiful…although I’m assuming living in months of snow would quickly become more irritating than charming.
6) Cross Country Road Trip: Ok, not exactly a specific location, but after reading Walk Two Moons as a child, I was in awe of the majestic sights and natural magic that Sal saw and experienced from the backseat of her grandparent’s car. (Now I’m nostalgic for a reread!)
7) Greec: I loved returning to the colorful cliffside houses and the perfect blue sea and the culture of Greece with every installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Lena’s chapters were always my favorite, and I loved seeing her interact with her foreign relatives and reconciling with her Grecian heritage.
8) Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory: Self explanatory! I do love both the classic and the modern film adaptations as well.
9) Halloween Town: Ok, so there’s not one specific book I’d link this too, but the concept of a Halloween Town where the inhabitants are all fantasy and paranormal creatures pops up again and again in children’s literature (the Halloweentown movies by Disney, The Nightmare Before Christmas movie, book, and poem, etc). I love Halloween and as a child was obsessed with the idea of a Halloween Town, where the fantasy was real all year long!
10) Dreams: Thanks to books like The Dream Thieves and The Nightmare Affair, the idea of being able to manipulate my own dreams, play out scenarios actively in them, and manifest objects to bring back to the waking world seems too cool.
Brilliant choices! I have a feeling Hogwarts and Paris will be popular this week! Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is a great choice!
Thank you! I decided to try to choose some more unconventional places since I read a lot of fantasy and dystopian with settings I definitely wouldn’t want to visit!
Hogwarts and Paris made my list too, though I’d love to visit Greece too.
My TTT
Greece seems to unique and fantastic!
Gosh I’m seriously kicking myself for forgetting Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. XD And Idris. OH THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME TO SEE. Of course very very obviously Hogwarts. *nods* I would love to go to the theme park one day, at least, you know, if I can’t get sucked into the actual world. My letter never came. *sniffles*
Here’s my TTT!
I went on the studio tour and it was pretty great, but I’m still trying to make my way out to the theme park as well! I love love love Alicante and Idris as a setting in The Mortal Instruments series, and how both the Shadownhunter country and mundane countries are featured in the series as major locations!
I’m so happy to see someone else mention wanting to go to Paris because of Anna and the French Kiss! 🙂
Halloween Town! What a great choice. I’ve been wanting to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas as it gets closer to Halloween. I think I will this weekend now. 🙂
Here’s my TTT
I’m excited to bust out the Halloween movies as well! Hocus Pocus and Disney Channel’s Halloweentown are favorites of mine 🙂
YES to both of those! Also, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s a Halloween AND Christmas movie. How can you beat that?
Nice list! 🙂 I can’t believe I forgot about The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants! Might have to add it when I get home 🙂
That series did offer a lot of great travel locations! I also loved seeing the south when Bridgette went to Alabama.
Dreams is such an interesting interpretation of the question. I have Greece, Hogwarts, and Paris too!
Thank you! I tried to think of something rather than just physical locations because I didn’t want to sound too redundant!
Great selection! I’ve been to Crete a few times and it’s absolutely gorgeous, but I haven’t been to mainland Greece yet. That’s something I’ll have to change soon!
Were the houses as beautiful as they look in all of the pictures?
Does anyone not want to live at Hogwarts? I feel like there needs to be a clause on fantasy worlds, live there not during a time of war. Oh YES, living with MONTHS of cold and snow is awful. Michigan would be a pretty place to VISIT in the winter though. lol @ the chocolate factory. Nice choice.
I think Hogwarts ended up on every list this week, haha. BUT if I did have to live in a fantasy location during war time I would probably choose Hogwarts, seeing as it naturally defends itself while under attack!
I feel like Hogwarts is a must!! I’ve only read the first book in The Mortal Instruments series, but Idris does seem beautiful. I mentioned wanting to visit somewhere north and cold for a white Christmas as well.
Great List! 🙂
Here’s my list:
http://footprintsofthefancyfree.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-made-me-want-to-visit/
Halloweentown sounds fantastic. I’ve always loved Halloween, especially the creepier side. And dreams! I love The Raven Boys and that never occurred to me and to be able to bring something out of your dreams! It is equally awesome and frightening.
HALLOWEEN TOWN! Yessss! And dreams… how very Ronan of you 😉
I’m in a Halloween obsessed mood this month! Any excuse to listen to the movie soundtrack haha 😉
Oh me too! I love fall! I’ve been buying pumpkin everything lately- pumpkin bread, pumpkin oreos, and, of course, the pumpkin spice latte.
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