Top Ten Tuesday: Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

http://www.brokeandbookish.com

Hello, everyone! Book-related places to visit seems to be a fairly popular subject. I've already done two posts on the subject: one about fictional worlds I'd like to visit, and a collab with Emma of Awkwordly Emma on real-life book locations. However, I'm very happy to do another, especially since my list keeps expanding with almost every new book or series I discover! To keep from repeating myself too much, I'll be focusing on specific places that I'd like to visit, rather than general locations or worlds.

1. The Shire (The Lord of the Rings). I'm going to try to minimize the number of LOTR-related places I put on this list, simply because if I don't, it'll turn into my itinerary for a year-long tour of Middle Earth. However, I do very much want to visit the Shire, especially Bag End. No doubt the hobbits would wonder about the strange human girl wandering about their hills and roads, but I'd be too busy trying to see everything (and meet my favorite hobbit characters) to pay much attention to their stares. Of course, since I've no chance of seeing the real Shire, I'll happily settle for the New Zealand version. (The same can be pretty much said of any locale from the LOTR books/movies.)
2. The Haven Library (Tales of Goldstone Wood). Some of you may recall that I've mentioned that I want to work here, not just visit. However, I'll settle for the latter if Dame Imraldera isn't looking for another assistant. With all the stories contained there, and all the interesting people who seem to pass through, it's probably my favorite location in either the Far or Near World!
3. Cair Paravel (The Chronicles of Narnia). Picking just one Narnian location to visit is difficult, since I've loved that world so long. In the end, I decided that Cair Paravel has probably made the biggest impression on me, and so that's where I'd go. 
   
4. The Shattered Plains (The Stormlight Archive). No, the Shattered Plains- particularly the warcamps, which is where I'd want to spend most of my time- are not a particularly pleasant place. However, there are certain not-so-pleasant places that I'd want to see anyway, simply because they sound interesting. The Shattered Plains are one of these, particularly since they play such a large part in the books. (Of course, the world of The Stormlight Archive in general is one I'd want to visit because it's so different from anywhere I've read about before.)
5. Rivendell (The Lord of the Rings). Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to put too many LOTR locations on this list, but I love Rivendell too much to leave it off. It seems like such a peaceful,
   
   beautiful place. It would be grand, true- it's the home of elves, after all- but not the imposing kind of grand like Minas Tirith (where I'd most likely feel perpetually mouse-like, if you get my meaning). 
6. Elendel (The Alloy of Law). Much as I love the Mistborn trilogy, I don't think I'd want to visit during or before the time it occurs. That world sounds absolutely miserable. Afterwards, however, is a different matter. I'd love to see for myself what the Mistborn would becomes after the trilogy ends, and Elendel seems like the best place to do that.
7. Fenworth's Castle (The DragonKeeper Chronicles). It's a castle . . . in a tree . . . which mostly consists of a massive library. Aside from its location (in the midst of a swamp), I cannot see anything about this that isn't rather awesome. 
8. The 12-Year Market (Tales of Goldstone Wood). The 12-Year Market could be considered more an event than a location, but I'm counting it anyway. Visiting a Faerie market would be quite exciting (and much safer than venturing into the Wood)! Who knows what I might find among the stalls- or who I might meet among the Faerie folk tending them? 
9. Great-Uncle William's House (House of Many Ways). This house might seem unassuming at first, but just how big is it inside? With one door leading to any number of rooms, it's hard to say. I'd love to explore and see what I could stumble upon. I'd probably get lost fairly quickly unless I borrowed Charmain's map, but I think the adventure would be worth it.
10. 
    
    

    Howl's Castle (Howl's Moving Castle). This is mostly because I want to know what it looks like. Is it just a castle that inexplicably moves around? Does it float? Is it like the movie, where there are leg thingys that seem to move it? Does it look like a traditional castle, or something else? (I usually imagine it as looking fairly traditional and floating a foot or so off the ground, but I do wonder.)

Well, there's my list. I meant to include some real places as well as fictional ones, but as you can see, that didn't happen. Of course, considering the kind of books I usually read, my lack of real locations shouldn't be surprising. What about you? What book-related locations, whether real or fictional, would you like to visit? Please tell me in the comments!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Random Fridays: Dream Vacations- Book Edition

http://bookworm716.blogspot.com/

Hey'a, everyone! I know, I said that there wouldn't be any Random Fridays during NaNoWriMo, but Emma asked me to collaborate with her on this week's, and her idea sounded so cool that I couldn't say no. This week's theme is dream vacations, but Emma and I decided to add a twist. Our vacation locations will be based on, what else, books! As a note, I haven't read all the books on this list, though the locations are all places I'd like to visit. Emma picked most of them- which was probably wise, since the majority of my favorite books are set in places you can't actually go. (E.g. Middle Earth. Or Narnia. Or any of the eight locations in my second to last Random Fridays post, which was actually on that topic.)

Anyway, time to start the grand tour! We'll begin with the place that's closest to my home (though still pretty far away).

1. New York, NY.

Book: From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg*

New York is one of those places I've wanted to go pretty much as long as I can remember and I don't even know why anymore. It probably had something to do with some book I read when I was much younger and I've forgotten about by now. (There are a lot of those.) But I wanted (and still want) to see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.

And we can't forget the Metropolitian Museum of Art, where The Mixed up Files is set.

Ok, enough with the big city. Let's go somewhere more relaxing.

 2. Prince Edward Island

Book: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Very relaxing-looking, wouldn't you agree?

Of course, I had to include Green Gables.

This one isn't Green Gables, but isn't it pretty?

Time to move on. NYC and Prince Edward Island were the only two locations on this side of the Atlantic; our next stop is . . . 

Random Fridays: Book/Movie Worlds I'd Like to Visit

http://bookworm716.blogspot.com

Most of us probably know the feeling: you read or watch an amazing book or movie set in a time and place different from our own, and when it ends, you can't help thinking, "Oh my pumpernickel, how I'd love to go there." That's what this week's Random Friday is all about: book and movie worlds you wish you could visit. These are the places I'd choose.

1. Middle Earth. I don't think this one needs explanation. Who wouldn't want to go to Middle Earth?  I'd especially want to visit Rivendell and the Shire.
2. Goldstone Wood (Tales of Goldstone Wood series). The Goldstone Wood series has one of my favorite settings of all time. At first, it seems very simple, but once you get deeper in, you see that though the setting may seem familiar, it's also quite different than what you might expect. I'd love to explore the Wood (provided I had a guide, a Path, or both) and the different worlds it connects. I'd also want to spend a very, very long time in Dame Imraldera's library. Once I went in, actually, I might never want to come out.
3. Narnia. Again, do I really need to explain? It's Narnia, after all.
4. Aria-Prime (The Sky Riders). This is another one of my favorite settings. I haven't read any other books set in floating cities, and I think it would be really interesting to explore the different levels and find out how things work. Plus, I'd love to see a Felrell if I could. 
5. Amara (The DragonKeeper Chronicles) or Algaesia (The Inheritance Cycle). These two are grouped together because my main reason for visiting them both would be the same: I want to see dragons that aren't evil. Of course, I wouldn't be at all opposed to visiting Vendela, Kale's castle (or Fenworth's, depending on the time period), or Kimen Falls in Amara, or Farthen Dur in Algaesia.
6. The Realm (The Door Within trilogy). The Door Within was one of the series that got me into fantasy, and I've visited the Realm hundreds of times in my imagination. I'd love to see if I was imagining it correctly.
7. Bayern (The Books of Bayern). This might just be because I just read Forest Born and so I'm on a Bayern kick, but I really want to go there right now. I especially want to visit the Forest and Tira. The Forest makes me think of the area where my family goes cabin camping every year, but better. And Tira just sounds really pretty, though also really hot during the summer.
8. The Character Conversations and Complaints Thread on the Underground forum. Ok, this isn't exactly a book or movie setting, but it's a roleplay thread setting, which is kind of similar. I mostly want to visit here so I could meet all my favorite characters from some of my friends' stories, but I also think it would be rather fun to see the CCC house for myself and find out exactly how big it was. (And yes, I'd probably end up dying multiple times, but it's not like injuries are permanent there.) 

 Well, that's my list! What about you? Where would you go if you could?

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)