Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Settings To Explore

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish

Top ten settings I would like to read more about (bearing in mind that setting is defined as both a time and a place):

The Holocaust
Having thoroughly enjoyed books like Number the Stars, Night and The Diary of Anne Frank, I would like to further explore this period in history through literature. Some possible titles for future reading:
The Book Thief (Marchs Zusack)
Schindler's List (Thomas Keneally)
The Reader (Berhnhard Schlink)

Pioneer America
I am so intrigued by this period in American History yet I have read very little about it. I adore the Little House books and used to spend hours in the woods behind my childhood home pretending to by Laura Ingalls. I would love to read more books set in this time period. Currently for book club I am reading Follow the River which is the true story of Mary Ingles who was captured by Shawnee Indians, escaped, and walked almost 1000 miles barefoot in the winter with only a blanket and no shoes back to her homestead in Virginia  Starting this book made me realize just how much I love this period and long to read more about it.
Possible selection:
O Pioneers! (Willa Cather)

Tudor England
I read The Other Boleyn Girl in graduate school and really enjoyed it! I decided then to read more about this time period, but for some reason I never did. However, I still would like to and I'd like to start with the author that got me interested in this period:
Phillipa Gregory
Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies (Hilary Mantel)
I, Elizabeth (Rosalind Miles)
Allison Weir

Africa
I have read very little set in Africa, but this continent is on the top of my to-visit list. I have wanted to go on a safari for as long as I can remember. Hopefully I will be able to visit this setting in books until I can actually go on my safari!
Possible Selections:
Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese)

Appalachia
As you already know, Reader, I adore books set in North Carolina. My favorite NC setting of all would have to be books set in the Appalachian Mountains. There is always something dark and mysterious and foreboding about the books that are set there and I love the mood that is created just by setting a book in a particular place. I think that the Appalachian region evokes such a somber mood because it really is so remote and foreign, even if you happen to live in the state.
Possible Selections:
Vicki Lane
Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier)
Ghost Riders (Sharon McCrumb)

Asia (especially Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand)
I pretty much love any and all books that I have read that have been set in any Asian country. I love the foreign landscapes and the unfamiliar customs and the descriptions of the dress. Right next to Africa on my to-visit list is Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. So, for now, in lieu of physically going there, I hope to visit these countries more through books.
Possible Selections:
Lizard Cage (Karen Connelly)
Anna and the King of Siam (Margaret Landon)

The Pacific Northwest
I love all things cold and rainy and what better place to go for cold and wet days than the Pacific Northwest?  Since it is smack dab in the middle of winter here and a balmy 57 degrees, I will visit snowy days through books instead.
Possible Selections:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
Snow Falling on Cedars (David Guterson)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford)

Victoria Era
I have loved the books from this era ever since I took a Victorian Literature class in college. I had the most wonderful professor for this class and it was my favorite class I took in college. I have always wanted to read more from this period and now that I am engaging in challenges like The Classics Club and the 1001 Books To Read, I will undoubtedly be reading more books from this time.
Possible Selections:
Bleak House (Charles Dickens)
Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackery)
Wilkie Collins

India
File this under "want to visit, but can't, so I'll visit in books instead."
Possible Selections:
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
Passage to India (EM Forester)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

Edwardian England
Yes, Like the rest of America and England, I adore Downton Abbey and am obsessed with this time period now and want to read everything set in this era!
Possible Selections
Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)
The Forsyte Saga (John Galsworthy)

1 comment:

  1. Applachia would be amazing. If you liked the Other Bolyean Girl you might want to check out Barbra Kyle's work

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