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 :)

Discussion: fravorite city-settings in books

Hey guys!

I'm ashamed of the lack of original content on the blog lately .___. I don't even have a good explanation or excuse. I'm just... not really feeling it at the moment and the thought of writing a review gives me an anxiety attack. So I just... read like a maniac. And the books pile up. Hah. Not very productive but I can't not read.

Anyway, since I still couldn't bring myself to review any of the great books I've read lately (doing them justice makes me nervous) I thought of something I'd like to discuss.


Cities I love as settings for books

I grew up in a village of 700 people but since my mid-teens, I've wanted to live in a big city, so when I was 21 I moved to Zurich (biggest city in the country). I love to read about cities. They have so many different places where things can happen and where different types of people converge. There's this sense of energy and possibility. Every city has its own vibe and I think that also flows into the setting of a book.

I've never been to the US, so whenever a book is set in Europe for once, that already makes me want to read it. If it's by a US author and/or if the characters in the book are from the US and traveling to Europe, it's also interesting to see how someone from there sees my continent. One example for that is Just One Day by Gayle Forman.

Other of my favorite European settings are London (because I've been there so when the characters go to certain places, I know what it all looks like and where they are, which is cool and unusual for me) and Prague. I finally got to Prague last summer and that resulted in me being even more into it as a setting. There's just something so old about it, and it has a history of magic and alchemy that I find very appealing. Examples: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, City of Dark Magic, The Book of Blood and Shadows. (I feel like I'm forgetting some...). For London there are just too many to count. Some of my faves: The Infernal Devices trilogy, Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series, Soulless, ACID, Neverwhere, Mrs Dalloway, the Black Butler manga. Feel free to share your own faves!

Other cities I enjoy reading about are Venice and Paris. They give off this romantic or seductive vibe and I especially love them for historical novels, for instance Venom by Fiona Paul. And there's of course Dublin! I love it as the setting for Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.

As for American cities, I like New York as a setting because that city is just so big and full of possibilites, but it can also really drag you down. I'm not such a big fan of an L.A. setting though I'm actually not quite sure why. I'd LOVE to read more books, especially YA ones, set in San Franscisco! I have a big fascination with that city and feel drawn to it, but I've only read very few books set there. So if you have recommendations, bring them on! As soon as I hear about one, especially with a paranormal element, it goes on my TBR automatically. Another city I really enjoy reading about is New Orleans. I love Kelly Keaton's Gods and Monsters series, where she creates her own unique version of the city, and I also love Poppy Z. Brite's books, many of which are set there. And of course there's Anne Rice.

But really, if the author can make me feel like I'm 'there' I can enjoy pretty much any city as a setting. It just has to set the right mood for the story, in my opinion. What I haven't touched on here are made-up cities. There are many of those I love but that would make this topic too vast for me right now... feel free to point some out to me though!

EDIT: Epic fail!! I forgot Tokyo, or Japan in genral. I haven't read all that many books set there (a couple by a Swiss author, Federica de Cesco, as well as Ink by Amanda Sun and the Across the Nightingale Floor books, which were inspired by Japan), it was mostly manga, but I'd looove to read more stories set in Tokyo! Could be historical or contemporary, fantasy or not, I don't care! If you have recommendations, please share :)

So what are some of your favorite city-settings for novels? Are there any that catapult an upcoming book to your insta-buy list? Are there any you really dislike reading about? Or does it not matter to you at all what city a story is set in? If so, I'm interested to hear why!

Review: Venom, by Fiona Paul

Release date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Philomel
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages

Goodreads description:
Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice’s lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady’s maid, and a wealthy fiancé, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman—practically in her own backyard—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret societies. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin... and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Beauty, love, romance, and mystery weave together in a stunning novel that’s as seductive and surprising as the city of Venice itself.


The following review is based on a copy I purchased myself.


Review:
Venom was a gorgeous read full of mystery, set in Renaissance Venice. The author managed to portray the setting so well that I felt right there in the stifling heat of the canals rather than in snow-rainy, cold Switzerland. I love historicals, and the period was very well-rendered. I never had the feeling that the voice was too contemporary to be believable, but it wasn’t stilted or archaic either. I felt fully immersed in Paul’s description of Venetian culture with all its secrets, gossip, hidden licentiousness and outwardly moral strictness. A stunning debut!

The story begins with the funeral of a friend of our heroine Cassandra. During the service, she feels faint and leaves the church to get some fresh air. She is run over by Falco, a young artist apprentice. She finds him intriguing but also crude during those short moments they see each other. After the service, Cass returns with her aunt to her estate on an island a distance away from the main part of Venice. I found that setting very telling: the villa is ancient and crumbling, the servants are old, one of them blind. The villa is right next to the graveyard where Cass’ friend will be buried, as well. She is surrounded by death, decay, and very few people her age, and I could understand her feelings of being entombed alive and her desire to be free and truly live very well.

That same night, Cass wants to visit her friend’s grave and sneaks out to the cemetery – only to discover that the mausoleum has been broken into and the body removed, exchanged for that of a strangled girl Cass has never seen before! Once more, she runs into the mysterious Falco, and the two begin a secret investigation about the identity of the murdered girl and the reasons behind her murder. Their clues lead them deep into the Venetian underworld with its many shady and powerful characters. No one must know that Cass is exploring nocturnal Venice unattended with a young man who is neither from her class nor her fiancé, or her reputation (and thus her future) will be ruined. However, she realizes that she never feels more alive than when she’s out in the city with Falco, away from the repressive customs of her own class.

I could connect very well with Cass and liked her a lot. I did not necessarily agree with everything she did, but I understood the reasons behind it. She doesn’t really want to marry her fiancé, Luca, whom she hasn’t seen in three years. Falco is different from anyone she knows, and I really enjoyed the prickling attraction and tension between them, as well as their banter and occasional fights. They were both well-rounded characters and developed over the course of the novel. That actually goes for all the characters – none of them are quite what they seem at the beginning. Also Luca, who suddenly returns to Venice and is very much changed from the boy Cass remembers. Cass' aunt has realized that something is going on with her and wants to hasten their marriage. Cass feels terribly torn between the feelings she has developed for Falco and her duty to Luca (but not in an annoying love-triangle way, since the boys never meet), her dead parents, and her aunt. No matter what she does, she will lose something and someone dear to her. If she doesn’t lose her life first – the killer has his eyes set on her, too.

The writing and description were gorgeous. I never wanted to stop and just plunged ahead into the next chapter instead. I also have to mention the design of the book. The cover isn’t just gorgeous – every detail in it is actually important in the novel. Also, there is a swirly design on the inner part of every page, and every chapter is preceded by a page that is all-black and has a quote from ‘The Book of the Eternal Rose’ on it. We don’t know what exactly that book is yet, but the quotes set the scene for the next chapter without signposting too much or giving anything away. They are mostly medical discourse, and I really liked that aspect of the novel and how it was linked to the artistic.

Another thing I found intriguing is that there are so many suspects with possible motives, and that it is never quite clear how reliable Cass is as a narrator. I could never really pinpoint whether she is slightly paranoid and hysterical at times, or just a really intuitive young woman with keen instincts. Venice has eyes everywhere, and Cass feels almost constantly watched – often with good reason. She never knows whom to trust: Falco keeps secrets from her, her aunt never told her what exactly happened to her parents when they died on the continent, and she cannot go to anyone with what she knows because they might tell the wrong people.

Overall, Venom is a fascinating, sensual read in a wonderfully rendered setting, full of mystery, allure and danger. The ending was a good mixture of wrap-up with enough open questions to make me really want to read the sequel, Belladonna, asap! The novel is well-paced and beautifully written, the characters fleshed-out, memorable, and easy to connect with.
I’d recommend this for slightly more mature teens since it’s quite a bit more frank about certain issues than I expected (I’m not at all complaining!). A must-read for any fan of YA historical fiction with lush settings and a great cast!


Have you guys read Venom? What was your impression? Does it sound like your kind of book? I'd love to exchange some opinions :)