Friday, February 4, 2011

Blog Hop: Where in the World?

From this week's Literary Blog Hop,
Robyn asks: What setting (time or place)
from a book or story would you most like to visit?

I inherited some strange genetic combination
of both my father's love for travel with
my mother's deep desire to never leave her house.

Luckily for me, I have books.

And from my travels via books,
I've determined most that I really
don't want to be anywhere but here.

Here is my list of
places/times I would NOT want to visit:

The World is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg
Life in the 12th century.
"It's an epic of multiple pregnancies, miscarriages,
births, diseases, wounds, deaths, infidelities,
debts, superstitions, treacheries, feuds, battles,
flea-ridden castles, mud, cold, mold,
damp, dust, heat, flies, mosquitoes, and
other assorted attractions of the good ol' days."

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Life in a future dystopia.
If you thought the past was
bad for women,
this picture of a future is worse.


Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Tehran in the last century was not
a nice place for women.
Especially independent-minded women.
Nafisi established
a secret reading group for women in Tehran.
Here's a bit from my review: 
"Nafisi's group faces bullets and beheadings,
yet the most awful horror is the day-to-day
slow death of the world of the imagination."


Shooting the Boh by Tracy Johnson
A middle-aged woman travels to Borneo.
A little from my review:
"...Gimme a second here (pant, pant)...
Let me...ugh...rip this leech off my leg...
Ouch!...Jeez...another beesting!...And...what?...
What the heck is that GROWING ON MY FEET???..."

I hope you did better than I did.
Have you found some lovely
places/times to visit via books?
Posted by at

30 comments:

  1. TheBookGirlFebruary 4, 2011 at 9:13 AM

    I love the description of your parents' opposing travel psyches :) I definitely identify with your mom; that doesn't stop me from thinking I want to visit here there and everywhere, it's just that if I take steps toward actually doing it, I quickly think, oh not, that's not for me :)
    By the way, did you ever get any snow?

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  2. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 4, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    Sadly, no snow.

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  3. UnknownFebruary 4, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    If you're interested in snow, I can send you some of the 20 inches that fell on my world last Tuesday night :)

    Funny, I love the thought of traveling around the world, and would do that in a heartbeat. But lately I find myself turning down invitations to things across town because I just don't feel like going out.

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  4. @parridhlanternFebruary 4, 2011 at 11:07 AM

    Is there absolutely nowhere that ignites a spark in your curiosity, some dark corner of a book, that you would inhabit, cosy down & enjoy.

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  5. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 4, 2011 at 11:14 AM

    Oh dear, perhaps I am sounding like a curmudgeon today, whining about all the awful places books have taken me. Please forgive me. I'm trapped at home, a snow-less Snow Day here in southeast Texas.

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  6. UnknownFebruary 4, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    following back :)

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  7. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    What an interesting answer. And I think I agree in a lot of ways. There's very few books where I'd want to go live in them so much as I love going to visit the real or imagined worlds they have inside of their pages.

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  8. Natalie WFebruary 4, 2011 at 12:02 PM

    Love your blog! I'm a new follower and stopping by to say hi!
    Natalie :0)
    Thanks for stopping by my bog.

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  9. Ruth Cox aka abitosunshineFebruary 4, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    I'm like your mother, as I seem to like leaving the house more and more with each time I must do so.

    I like your NOT list and have only read one of them, The Handmaid's Tale.

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  10. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2011 at 12:14 PM

    I totally agree on those places where you don't want to go. I wonder what you parents do in their holidays? :-)

    Check my favorite place here: http://leeswammes.wordpress.com

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  11. Pg.59 Book ClubFebruary 4, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Hey, thanks for stopping by our page! I think I would like to visit ancient Greece or Rome... I love that time period.
    Have a weekend!

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  12. SidneFebruary 4, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    thanks for hopping by. I love your blog. will definite return to follow, clicks not going through. WE, Lone Star citizens are really getting our share of weather this year. eeekk.

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  13. Laura @ I'm Booking ItFebruary 4, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    I'm with you on the places you listed, both the ones I've visited in books myself, and the ones I know from your descriptions :-).

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  14. TCFebruary 4, 2011 at 2:02 PM

    Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog, I'm now following your blog. I think one place I thought sounded amazing was Kefalonia, as it appears in Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I think the film (which I think was filmed on a different island) only made me want to visit the Greek islands even more but my husband is like your Mum!

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  15. DeborahFebruary 4, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    Found you on the blog hop.
    I've done it the other way round...written a novel about a woman who loves to read too much, in a place I love, in the South of France. I have a bookish blog with a growing archive of background material that I hope will enhance the book. Hop over and see me if you like!

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  16. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    That's a really interesting/awful cover on A HANDMAID'S TALE. Wow. Should I wish you good luck on future reads?? LOL

    Hopping by.

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  17. LBCFebruary 4, 2011 at 6:39 PM

    I could think of quite a few places I didn't want to go as well. Atwood's Gilead would definitely be among them.

    Here is my post: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/02/literary-blog-hop-around-world-in-three.html

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  18. MysticaFebruary 4, 2011 at 11:51 PM

    Places to visit which I have done only via books is Provence and Varanasi. Both on my to do list.
    Didnt want to go - I dont think coming from tropical Sri Lanka I will be able to face the snow that the US seems buried under!

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  19. Alison Can ReadFebruary 5, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    Hopping through. I love traveling and have seen a lot of Asia and Europe. I'd love to go to Egypt and Israel, although I think it'll be quite awhile before that's safe.
    My Hop

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  20. UnknownFebruary 5, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    So you love to travel and stay at home. Wow, I so agree with that. I hate leaving my house. But the internet and reading gives me so much more. Those books so very interesting I actually added one to my wishlist.

    Thanks for hopping by my blog!!

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  21. Susan (Reading World)February 5, 2011 at 1:50 PM

    The World is not Enough doesn't sound very appealing as a place, but it was a wonderful book!

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  22. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 5, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    All four of these were wonderful books, Susan, but none of them take place in spots I'd be willing to visit in person.

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  23. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    I love to travel via books as well! Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm a new follower.

    Somer @ A Bird's Eye Review

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  24. bibliophiliacFebruary 5, 2011 at 6:44 PM

    Armchair travel is definitely safest!

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  25. ElizabethFebruary 5, 2011 at 8:02 PM

    Me gusta leer tambien..Hopping by from the blog hop....

    Stop by my blog if you like to see my answer and to read my reviews.

    Have a fun hop.

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  26. LeslieFebruary 6, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    Thanks for stopping by, I am an old follower. I love your reviews. I do not read a great deal of nofiction but I am always intrigued by it. I can live vicariously through your reviews. :)

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  27. SuzanneFebruary 6, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    I like your take on this question -- the places described in these books aren't anywhere I'd like to physically visit either (though Iran might be interesting).

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  28. RachelFebruary 6, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    You have some great books on here. I recently bookmooched 'Reading of Lolita in Tehran"... can't wait til it arrives!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Rachel
    And the plot thickens...

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  29. Ann SummervilleFebruary 7, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    I stopped by your blog today. Your inherited travel and non-travel genes made me laugh.
    Ann

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  30. NajelaFebruary 9, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog, I love your answers. I would definitely not want to be in The Handmaid's Tale world. Borneo sounds like fun, but I'm a little afraid of having things growing on my feet or bugs or anything strange like that.

    ReplyDelete

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