After many years of hosting this meme The Broke and the Bookish has passed it on to one of their own, Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Bookish Worlds I’d Want to/Never Want to Live In. I decided to focus on the worlds/places/lives I’d be willing to live in.
- The Shire and Rivendell in the The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings series. I’ll skip the rest of Tolkien’s geography, but those two places? Sign me up!
- Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory from Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It’s more than a little bit creepy, but I think I could find a few happy places 🙂
- The Cemetery of Forgotten Books in Barcelona is a place I wouldn’t mind spending some time. (Shadow of the Wind by Zafon)
- It’s 2019 and the world has discovered music coming from another planet and they send a ship to Rakhat. Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and Children of God took us on the ride and I’d be willing to go.
- When Frances buys an old villa in Tuscany, I was living vicariously, so this is a no brainer! Under the Tuscan Sun sounds good to me.
- In Stephen King’s 11/22/63, time travel from a good cause goes awry. Maybe if he had a willing partner with some sense he would have been more successful.
- Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series was a magical place. Yes, some scary things happened there, but it never lacked for excitement.
- If I could jump into Claire’s life I’d choose her travels in the Outlander series. With Jamie being played by Jason of course 😉
- A chocolatier in a small French village in the 1950s would be a nice little life, even when dealing with the worst of the worst the village has to offer. (Chocolat by Harris)
- I think the late 1700s in New York would be a fascinating place to visit for awhile. I loved the story in Into the Wilderness by Donati.
So, tell me, if you could choose ONE place to visit for an extended amount of time what book would you choose?
After many years of hosting this meme The Broke and the Bookish has passed it on to one of their own, Jana at 
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a childhood favorite I’d like to read again before seeing the movie.
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende was my first magical realism experience 20 years ago and I’d love to read again to see if it’s a good as I remember.
I fell in love with Emerson in college and would love to dip back into his writing.
I remember falling in love with The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly and immediately buying the next two in the trilogy. That was 8 years ago and now I want to read it again and do the trilogy back to back to back.
Maybe this will be year that I finally re-read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
Ten Books We Meant To Read In 2017 But Didn’t Get To (and totallyyyy plan to get to in 2018!!) See what else bloggers are looking to read this year at the 
There is history, romance, and a perfect sense of place in all Kearsley books. Julia was sure she’d found her house and she packed up and moved from London to a small English village without a second thought. She was a children’s book illustrator and was able to make a few friends right away just as she was being transported back in time. It’s tricky when you are going back and forth between time periods and characters. Inevitably, you are drawn more to one story than the other. This one did a great job of tying the two together so I was invested in both.
Abused by her father and then her husband, Celie relied on the love of her sister to get her through. When Nellie goes away and Celie doesn’t hear from her she begins writing letters to God. When her husband brings home his mistress to live with them, Celie finally starts to see herself in a new light. This is not an easy read. It’s emotional, sexually explicit and might wake you up in ways that you don’t like. Celie’s perseverance gives a voice to all the women who experience abuse and still manage to stay on their feet. It exceeded expectations and now I’m anxious to get my hands on the movie. Set in 1930’s Georgia it’s still relevant and addictingly readable.
Jane was a true survivor. This fictional book, spanning her 110 year life really comes full circle in the end and I would have been happy to spend another 110 with Jane. Jane was a little girl of 10 or 11 when Lincoln freed the slaves and she left her plantation with a small group hoping to walk their way north from Louisiana. When something bad happens Jane is left in charge of 3 year old Ned and she must rely on her wits to keep them safe and free. She eventually comes to raise him like her own son and find both happiness and heartache, never leaving her beloved Louisiana. Jane is a warrior, a realist, and a trailblazer.
Shaker Heights is a real place and I love it. Ng chose to show the Shaker that she grew up in and I think it’s fair, and even though it has changed over the years it does still remain a progressive hotspot with old mansions lining picturesque streets. The Richardson family embodies this perfectly. I understood and felt for every one of the characters and even when I didn’t like them I understood them. The story centers around not only the fight over a baby left at a fire station by a distraught mother but also the mysterious Mia. So many layers to this story and they were all connected by mothers. I loved this book because it is overflowing with gray area.
I don’t keep up with Comedy Central’s The Daily Show much since Jon Stewart left, but I have seen Trevor and he’s good. He’s smart and I love smart guys. Trevor’s honesty and humor about his early life during South African apartheid was shocking while still being entertaining. His mother is black and his father is white. Reading how he could not walk with his dad to the park or grocery shop with his mother made me so sad. The memoir ended too soon and I wish it had been longer. We read this one for our book club and it was universally loved.
Cranston’s dad was an actor and left his three kids when they were young. Cranston and his brother survived their childhood together, living with relatives, traveling overseas, and taking a motorcycle road trip across America. Cranston has led a very bold and ambitious life and he pulls no punches. It started a little slow, but for most of this book his stories made me laugh out loud or have a motherly concern for his wellbeing. If you are at all interested in reading about the acting life or love Walter White then this will be a good fit for you.
This beauty of a book felt like a classic throwback. The language, the atmosphere, the characters, the story. Perfection. Katey was smart, independent, driven, and, ultimately, likeable. This is a perfect New York City story, circa 1938.
Beryl’s English mother couldn’t handle her life in 1920’s Kenya so she moved back to England with her son, leaving Beryl with her father. Beryl was able to run wild as a child and was accepted by the local native tribe, at least until she was old enough to be sent away to school. She was attacked by a tiger and lived to tell the tale. She was fearless with horses and broke every mold a woman trainer could in the 1920’s. Her unbridled nature led her to questionable relationships and choices, but she always maintained her independence and paid dearly for mistakes. She was an immensely flawed character, but that made me love her that much more.