Top Ten Tuesday (60)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Settings I’d Like to See More of

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!

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This is such a fun topic, friends! How often do I find myself wishing for more of this kind of book or book that takes place in this place/time period/fantasy world? ALL THE TIME, even though I love the settings of the books that are already out there. These are just a few of the settings that I’d be the most excited to see because I don’t see them very often or, in some cases, at all. I mixed it up between physical environments and time periods, all in the real world. Woo hoo!

The Jungle

Am I the only person who would die to read more books set in the jungle? I would LOVE to have a larger pool of books set in this humid, green, lively place. It’s so different not only from the settings of a lot of the books I read, but also from the places that I know in my real life. There’s no jungles in Jersey. I crave the otherness.

The Wild West

Yo, SOMEONE please write me a slew of cowboy books. PLEASE. I LOVE the idea of more YA set in the wild west. Give me pioneers, give me settlers, give me Native Americans and cowboys and high noon gunfights in front of the saloon. Plus, I find that physical environment–the mountains, the desert, the prairies–so beautiful. I’d read every book set in this place and time, a craving I attribute to two book series: Kirsten’s American Girl books, and Little House on the Prairie (I guess, now that I think on it some more, that the prairie and the wild west are two different places. They fuse together in my mind sometimes, but I love and want more of them both.)

Colonial America

OMG FRIENDS. This is hands-down my favorite, FAVORITE historical period. I love everything about it. Just thinking about it makes me history-nerd giddy. Mostly when I say Colonial America I’m talking about the period of time during the American Revolution. But I’d totally take a book about the first settlers in America, too. Since I shouted out Kirsten just before, I HAVE to shout out my girl Felicity as one of the reasons I love this time period forever. She was my favorite American Girl doll, and I loved her books. I’d pounce on anything set in this time period.

On Boats

YAY BOATS! Give me a book where the characters and the action are stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean, or wandering up or down a river, and I am totally in. Something about the small, confined space on the vast water is endlessly appealing to me. The potential for drama is high. I LOVE books that take place on or near water, so more books on boats would be right up my alley. I feel like we already get tons of beach books–which I love–so boats is the same kind of vibe, but a little different.

The Alps

I find all those little charming skiing hamlets in the Alps so effing charming! And also beautiful. I love the mountains and the cobblestone streets and snow. I feel like setting a book in the Alps–in any time, honestly–would be so great because the atmosphere would be great, and there’s really nowhere for the characters to go. Strand a few there in the winter? MONEY.

Ancient Rome

Or Ancient Greece. I’d take either, but I definitely have a preference for Rome. THE DRAMZ ARE NEVER-ENDING. Give me some gladiator business, or some crime or murder, or some political shenanigans, or some secret society something. I’d devour that shizz. AHHHH!!! DEVOUR. Leave the mythology out of it for now, too. Just give me the society and the people and the corruption and the wealth and poverty.

In a War Zone

I’m not really talking about civilians living in a war zone, although I’d read that, too. I know that reading books about soldiers or the military is not everyone’s cup of tea, but man. I kind of live for it. There is something really appealing to me about the military. Something about the structure and the danger and the “my life is in the hands of my fellow soldiers, and theirs in mine” that makes the drama so immediate and palpable. I’d read a book about deployed soliders anywhere. Oh! Deployed soldiers in the jungle! BOOM. Make it happen, authors! Pretty please?

Scotland/Ireland

It should be NO SECRET that I have a big ole’ soft spot for the Scots. Now, I know that Scottish people and Irish people are different, and I know that they are two different places, but I find myself attracted to them both equally for kind of the same reasons. I think both places are beautiful, I love the accents, and I love the gingers. I know that a lot of people might associate these two places with some kind of book about fairies or some such thing, but none of that for me. Give me some Celtic history–like the Ancient Irish kings of Tara or the Scottish clans–and I’d ride it til I die.

Under Water

I understand that setting a book underwater without it being either 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or The Little Mermaid might be hard, but I’d love to see more books about the former than the latter. It’s just so rare! I’m not always down with the mermaids; I love them in theory, but something always seems off to me in the execution. I’d take some drama on a submarine.

Euro Road Trip

To date, the only books I can think of when I think of “Euro road trip” are Maureen Johnson’s Little Blue Envelopes series. How is this possible? Am I missing some? I LOVE road trip books forever. Road trips in another country? In SEVERAL other countries??? That satisfies both my love of road trips and my love of traveling. No brainer.

On a Safari

SIGH. Guys, Africa is my number one vacation destination. If I die without ever setting foot on the Serengeti I’m going to be pissed. (Even though I’d technically already be dead.) There are precisely three reasons that I am now and have been for ages enamored of this place: The Lion King, Out of Africa (the movie AND the book), and THE POISONWOOD BIBLE. I can’t really put my fascination with Africa into words. But trust me: I’d elbow my way to the front of the line to read a book set here.