Hey y’all! Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish question idea that was originally created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, from way back in June 2010! Since January 2018, Top Ten Tuesday has been hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Thanks for taking it over! The idea is to make a list of ten books or bookish things on different topics each week. Check out her site for details on how to join and what the upcoming prompts are. 😊 You can also see all the posts from other bloggers linked on each weekly post on their main site.
This week’s prompt is place I want to go that I’ve read about in books, whether real or fake. This is insanely easy for me both because I love to travel physically, and because I read a TON of books set in places I’ve never been around the world. That’s a specific draw for me. 🙂
I did have a weird moment of realization during this though. Since fictional places are also included in today’s list options, I got to thinking how there didn’t seem to be any fictional place I’d ever want to visit because in books they’re always so violent and dangerous and a million things could kill me. This was followed by me thinking how someone from one of those places would view Earth and/or the United States. And I was shocked when I realized, oh… they might feel the same. 😅 War and human rights issues constantly, a car might run you over, some places on Earth have now become literally too hot for humans to live anymore… there are definitely some issues here, even if they aren’t literal dragons. I mean, heck, we even had a recent plague!
Side note: reading about real current events in a dramatized, fictionalized way would be cool. I’d read that news site.
Anyway. The list.
The Books
Approximately arranged by how far away they are from me currently.
The Places
The Cat I Never Named: Bihac, Bosnia
Because this book was incredible and more than enough to make me fall in love with Bosnia and want to see where they’re at now, knowing the history.
The Puma Years: Bolivia
Because this book made me go from “I could NEVVVVVER do that!!!” to looking up the volunteer site for more information…
Moloka’i – Hawai’i, United States
Because it’s a tropical place I can go without technically leaving the country I live in. But it would sure feel like it.
The Lioness of Morocco: Morocco
Morocco has a particular spice to it that I really want to experience. In this case I mean it kind of literally since the MC farms saffron, but it’s in the world and the culture, really. Plus it seems to have some truly spectacularly gorgeous places.
The City of Brass: Egypt
Because PYRAMIDS AND SPHINXES! I’ve also never seen a desert, and it would feel just incredible to float down the Nile in a felucca.
When The Apricots Bloom: Baghdad, Iraq
Because it seems like the United States has been at war in some way with Iraq for my entire life and US citizens are basically told to never ever go there unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. I think that’s incredibly sad, and it would mean a lot to be able to visit this vibrant place in a time of peace and feel like that bullshit is past.
A girl can dream…
City of Saints & Thieves: Kenya
Because it has an awesome mix of huge cities and incredible wilderness. I found a picture of the Nairobi skyline from a field where a fucking giraffe was just strolling along. Y’all. The cities I’ve been to don’t casually have giraffes nearby.
Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic: Singapore
SINGAPORE!!! This to me is the city to beat all cities. I am constantly impressed and baffled and amazed by what they can do here, from extremely compact living to innovation of outdoor spaces to compensate for that compact living. It just seems like a really unique place in the world that I can’t wait to learn about myself.
The Lucky Escape: Australia
Because it’s just so huge and varied. If there’s any land space unexplored in the world, it’s probably somewhere in Australia. Also my friend will be moving there so I’m obviously going to visit. 😀
Chasing the Light: South Africa, Antarctica
This is a twofer and a maybe-fer. I haven’t read this one yet (the only on this list I haven’t) but it starts in Cape Town where I’d love to visit, and maybe ends in Antarctica if they’re lucky. Antarctica might not exactly be around much longer in the expected way, so this probably needs to be a priority if I truly want to go. 😐
Are any of these places (or books!) on your list? Do you have any fictional locations to recommend that might be less scary than the ones I thought of? Drop a link to your post and comment below! 😊
My Book Joy 
Great list, Jennifer! I’d love to visit Bolivia (also have that book on my TBR) and I totally forgot about City of Brass but I’d definitely love to visit Egypt someday too 😊
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And now that you’ve finally read CoB you can include it! 😉😁 Just a note that it was also extremely depressing and gross/graphic at times so it’s not as fun and games. But it is a FANTASTIC book
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I’ve had the same thought about fictional settings! Most of them sound really dangerous.
You might like Panga from Becky Chambers Monk and Robot series. It’s very peaceful. 🙂
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-a-place-id-love-to-visit/
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OOoh thank you, I’ll check it out! I’m always looking for more calm and soothing reads. I don’t seem to find many on my own
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I would love to visit Egypt and Hawaii!!!
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You go for warm places, huh? 🙂
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Bolivia would be such a cool place to visit!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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Anywhere for a rainforest 😁😍
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Now I really want to read The Puma Years. Thank you for the recommendation of it and the other books.
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Happy to help! I think it seemed to get some traction from being an Amazon First Read book, but I’m not sure how many folks actually ended up reading it. It’s really powerful and engrossing!
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Great list! I would love to visit Egypt also, though it has similar travel issues as you mentioned with Iraq—I grew up being told “it’s not safe” to go to Egypt.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2022/08/02/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-a-place-id-love-to-visit/
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Yeah, it seems like sometimes in the US, anywhere that isn’t Europe seems to get that label.
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Yup. It’s so frustrating. Then again… I don’t know if it’s a joke or not but I’ve seen comments about how the US is being labeled as unsafe for tourists because of the frequency of mass shootings. So I guess turnabout is fair play?
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Seems legit. Seems fair that anywhere that has children doing safety drills for if a person came to murder them at their school is maybe, uh, still got some work to do. /sigh
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Yeah, it does seem legit, which is really depressing.
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I have The Puma Years to read, so thanks for the reminder. The only one on this list I want to go to is Australia, but I have already been to Hawaii. My reason is the turmoil in many of the other areas. Great choices though, if I wasn’t such a scaredy cat.
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Happy to remind! There’s definitely some practical concerns in my way for some places, but still… it would be wonderful to get there someday. ^.^
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Sooo many people said Hawaii! We should all just do a huge blogger meet up in, Hawaii!! Lol great list!
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THERE’S A WINNING IDEA!!! And whomever travel the farthest for it gets a free book from the rest of us haha
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Omg, yes!!! That sounds brilliant! Haha
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Good point! Earth and the U.S. can be a scary place sometimes. There was a gunman in one of our local malls yesterday wreaking havoc on a crowd of people out school shopping. Luckily, he was caught before anyone got hurt, but still…it’s sad when you have to worry about that kind of stuff everywhere you go. At least the violence and sorrow in fiction is contained!
The only place I’ve been to on your list is Hawaii (but not Moloka’i) and it does, at times, feel like you’re no longer in the U.S. It’s very beautiful, though. You should definitely visit if you get the chance.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I hope someday soon it’s not a worry anymore.
Certainly very lucky that there is such a wide range of environment across the United States and the territories! Even without a passport, a person can experience a lot.
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Great point about our world! It’s fun to think about (well, maybe fun isn’t the right word) how someone from a fantasy world would look at OUR world. And yes, who ever saw a plague coming?? Anyway… Hawaii for sure, and then at the opposite end of the spectrum Antarctica! I love that cover for Chasing the Light.
Oh, and Australia also!
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The cover is gorgeous! It definitely caught my attention the first time, and then looking more into the book I was sold. This is one of those books I have where I’m so excited about it’s potential, I put off reading it so I can keep looking forward to it.😅
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definitely a tradeoff to think about there with fictional worlds. is it worth living in a world with dragons? on one hand, you’d get the chance to meet a dragon! on the other hand, that dragon might be inclined to eat you.
i’d still risk it
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You’d certainly go out in style I guess haha! I’ve been reading the Dragon’s Mage series by Ava Richardson and there are some funny moments of the MC adjusting to the dragons (who in fact do NOT want to eat her, luckily)
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I’d love to see Morocco or Egypt too. 🙂
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Maybe in their cooler seasons though haha
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