Top Ten Tuesday: places books have made me want to visit (fictional or real)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

Sorry for the lack of posts last week! I was sick and just didn't feel up to it. But I'm back this week! I want to post at least one review and I have a giveaway scheduled for later tonight :)

On to the TTT. This week's topic is places books have made me want to visit, whether they're real or not. What an awesome topic!!



Prague: Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor / Book of Blood and Shadows - Robin Wasserman
I read DoS&B before I went to Prague and it definitely influenced the way I looked at the city! It's such a beautiful, mysterious place. All the alchemy, the magic, but also the blood and violence. It was also cool to visit the place where Kafka used to live and write.



New York City: The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare
I'd never really longed to go to NYC that much before I read those books. But then, I wanted to walk around Brooklyn and ride on the subway and maybe get a glimpse of that world behind the world. That didn't end up happening when I finally went, but it was great anyway :)



Venice: Venom - Fiona Paul / City of Masks - Mary Hoffmann
Renaissance Venice or Florence would be so great to visit! I've been to Florence and it was beautiful but haven't made it to Venice yet. And either way, it's different now. To be at a masquerade or drive in a gondola through the city after midnight with my beau - that would've been something! (What? I can romanticize stuff too, every once in a while)



The Hollows / Cincinnati: world of Kim Harrsion's Hollows series
This was my gateway to Urban Fantasy and still one of my favorite worlds ever. I'd love to take a trip across the river to the Hollows and have pizza at Piscary's. Maybe get a glimpse of Rachel, Ivy, Kisten, and Jenks.


Alternative world of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Seriously, a world where everyone goes nuts about books? Dodos as pets? To be able to read yourself into a book? Yes, please.


The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
I'd love to go there for a night. Where a read scarf. Walk the tents. See the wonders.



New Orleans: The Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice / Darkness Becomes Her - Kelly Keaton / Drawing Blood - Poppy Z. Brite
Okay, my conception of New Orleans has been heavily influenced by vampire and horror novels. But I'm telling you, when I actually sat in Café du Monde last June, knowing that some of my favorite characters had had their coffee there, it felt great. This city is a blend of so many different influences and I loved it. I also think Kelly Keaton's re-invention of it as New 2 in her series is amazing.



Seattle: Richelle Mead's Succubus series
I didn't make it to Seattle during my trip across the US last summer but I definitely want to go there in the future. I loved the way Mead described the city and its bookstores and coffee shops in the series. Also, grunge music. Can't forget that.



Japan: all the manga I've ever read, plus books by Federica de Cesco, and Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor series
I've been wanting to go to Japan since I was about 11. Haven't made it yet, but hopefully in the next 1-2 years. I want to see Tokyo and Kyoto but I'd also like to travel cross-country and see more rural areas.

Hogwarts
Duh. I actually didn't come up with this one, my sister did. But obviously I want to go there. When I was 9 or 10 and first reading the books, knowing that I never would was akin to a physical pain.

I'm sure I could have come up with many more places, but sometimes it's hard to tell what was first: the book, or the wish to go there. For example with Paris and London, the way I see those cities is completely tangled up with books I read that are set there, both before and after I went.
Do we have any places in common? And link me to your own post! I want to find more places to go to :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Things on my reading wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

Today is about things on our reading wishlist, meaning things we'd like authors to write about (not books we wish we owned). Books that aren't written, at least as far as we know.
To be honest this is really hard. I used to have a lot of these wishes/ideas when I was younger, but I think I've grown a bit jaded over time. I haven't thought about this in a long time, I usually just think "oh wow, what a cool idea!" when I see a book that sounds awesome to me, but I rarely actively think about what I'd like to see. Let's give this a try though.


More diversity
This is a very general wish. I'd love to see more stories with characters from non-white backgrounds as main characters (rather than sidekicks). Same goes for characters with a disability or illness, LGBT characters... you get the idea. I know these books are there but they're a tiny minority compared to the bulk of literature being written and published.

Something steampunky and magical with libraries
Yup. I want gaslight and rolling ladders on the shelves and books books books. Maybe a scientist. Zeppelins. Secret passageways. Late Victorian London and its underworld. Adventure. A dash of romance. Obviously, there are already a lot of books there but I feel like I'm looking for a very specific vibe, and so far I haven't quite found it.

Something written from the POV of the villain
If there is a villain-POV book out there that you've enjoyed - please send me a link to info about it! Villains are so compelling. And I want to read from the POV of one who is unrepentantly evil. Maybe also a tad snarky.
I might just have to write the person myself.

A fantasy set in the 'old' Japan
I know there is Stormdancer but I've read such mixed reviews about the way the author represented the culture, I don't know what to think and whether I should read it. Basically I want Japanese customs, architecture, rice paper walls, secrets, samurai, ninjas, and an awesome girl character. I want part accurate historical depiction, but also fantasy elements and magic. Something a bit like Across the Nightingale Floor, but with a different focus.

Something set in a Carnival or Circus
You know, kind of like the HBO series Carnivale meets Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. I'm not sure what I'd like to happen, it's the setting that intrigues me. Maybe in the 1890s, with some spiritualism thrown in. If you know of something like that - link me up, please!

Urban Fantasy set in Zurich
I know, I know. But seriously, there are UFs set all over the US and some in the UK, but not all that much that I know of set in central Europe (I know a few set in Prague). I'd loooove to see my own city in a new, magical way!

Written from the POV of Death
I know there already are books like that out there, for instance The Book Thief, but somehow they aren't quite what I'm looking for, at least those I've read. In The Book Thief, it's more about what happens to Liesl and the Third Reich than Death as a character/entity/perspective. I'd love unique writing and rich lore. I guess I'm looking for a specific tone in the writing that I can't quite describe.

A really great vampire novel
I know, vague and there are tons and tons of vampire books out there. But I want something new. I want to be swept away as I first was by The Vampire Lestat, or by Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls. I don't want romanticized sparkly vampires or gloom-and-doom tortured souls. I want a vampire who revels in being what he or she is. Something decadent. Something kind of like Holly Black's Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

A Modern Retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray
Has this been done? If so, link please! I love Wilde's story and I'd be very curious about a modern take on it. And very open to how it's done.


This is only 8 things but I think I'll leave it at that. What do you think of my ideas? Any books that could match what I'm looking for? And what's on your wishlist?