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 :)

Get To Know Me: Zurich in Pictures, Pillow Fights, and Sirius

Hey guys, as I said yesterday in my Stacking the Shelves post... it's been a while. The reason is a combination of going to concerts, my master thesis that needs to be written in half the usually alotted time if I want to graduate this summer, general course work, and me not feeling very well. I spent last weekend in bed watching series( I wasn't sick, just listless). I also didn't get much reading done in the last two or so weeks, though I finished Crash Into You yesterday and will hopefully write a review once I finish this post (heads-up: it's amazing!).

I know I promised a shelf- and apartment tour, but I need my sister to film that during daylight and she had to work all of today and yesterday. Besides, I still want to hang up some posters etc. before I show off the apartment. So what I'll give you instead is a couple pictures I shot of Zurich, my Wahlheimat (according to my dictionary that means 'adopted home' but I'm not happy with that translation. It's more like 'chosen home'). They're from different years, and if you like them I can post many more. Most people associate only banks, fancy rich people and a stressed, unfriendly atmosphere with this city, and that's not true at all. It's a very multi-faceted place.

At about 396,000 people, it's also Switzerland's biggest city. I know this must seem ridiculous to many of you Americans, but I really like the size. It makes me feel that if there's something I want, I can get it in this city if I know where to look. At the same time, I can walk many places (or just jump on the Tram or bus real quick - you're better off without a car here) and I always know where I am.

All the following pictures are my own, so please don't take them without asking/crediting me. Click them to make them bigger.

Views from the river bridges in the summer. The Limmat river always has such a clear color then, I'm always tempted to jump right in (as some people do near the lake).

Zurich main station. It looks fairly empty now, but it's packed during rush hour and in a week or so, the space will be taken up by Europe's largest indoor Christmas market.

This is the Bahnhofstrasse. It goes on all the way to the lake. After a few hundered meters, I can't afford anything anymore. Chanel, Dior, Luis Vuitton, Armani, Burberry, Jimmy Choo... you name it, they have a shop there. The closer you get to the lake, the more people in suits and expensive cars you see.

See that store on the left? That's Orell Fuessli The Bookshop, the largest English-only book shop in town. Now you know where my money goes :P The alley on the other side is the Rennweg. I can't afford things there, but they're pretty to look at.

Lake Zurich. On a clearer day, you could see all the way to the Alps.

This is the town center. If I did a 180, you'd  see the lake again. There are a lot of beautiful old buildings to the left and right of the river. So let's go there. The following shots are from the old part of town, the Niederdörfli. There are a lot of small shops, bars, and pubs there. People live there too (if they can afford it or have been living there for decades when it was cheaper).

 The Konditorei Schober is very expensive (and yummy) and has got tradition. If you like your tea and cake - go there.

 This work of art is hidden in a side-alley.

 If you follow this alley, you get back down the river.

So... that's one side of that part of town. At night, there are parts of it full of cabarets, strip clubs, brothels. There's a small square where you've got a tiny Starbucks and a candy store right opposite a porn cinema. The seedy and the traditional and the commercial all right next to each other.

And one time, there were camels. I don't know whether they came from the circus or the zoo...

 Probably not Harry Potter related, but it made me grin ;)

 I have also participated in National Pillow-Fight Day. Everyone had a lot of fun! You could either bring your own pillow or buy one for five bucks.

On to some university life! This is the English Department building. Small, but cozy. Everyone knows everyone. The floors creak when you walk on them because it's so old. We have a 'Kafistübli' though, which is a room with sofas, a couple computers, and tables where everyone can relax, chat, or study (not many departments have those). There's even a piano. Sometimes we also have cake sales and other events there.

 Behold the library entry. It's small but it's great if you're looking for something quieter to work. I've now got my own table there, which is great because I can leave some books there and don't have to lug that many around with me.

 This little piece of lawn is next to the main building. Everyone's chilling out in the garden during lunch period in the summer. Or, you know, sometimes also a little longer than just lunch ;)

This is the Lichthof (light court). It's got a glass ceiling, so it's always light (and loud) down there. It's the heart of the main building. You can get food from the cafeteria - if you're quick enough to get a spot to sit. I like to sit in the arches with the pillars you can see on the other side. It's quiet and you can watch everything.

Winter view from the window of my old apartment. It was at the edge of the woods of the Uetliberg, but as you can see it was also close to the city. I loved watching the lights twinkle. No more of that now, but I can step out onto a court with trees now. That'll be nice in the spring.

What you haven't seen here: pictures from the Langstrasse and the Trams. I really want to shoot a couple of those. The Langstrasse is kind of a 'problem' area because of all the bars and... other establishments. In the 90s, there was also a huge drug problem. But now it's where a big chunk of the 18-25 or 30 year-olds go on a Friday or Saturday night.

Hm... I actually wanted to tuck a short story into this post, but I think it's long enough already. What type of things would you like to see in the Get To Know Me posts in the future? More pictures of Zurich / other cities I've traveled to (Prague, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Milan, Florence, Dresden, London...)? Me blathering about movies or music? I'd also kind of like to do a post about cultural differences between Switzerland and the US. It could be fun to talk about weird habits/preconceived notions (and how they're maybe wrong) but I'm also a bit scared of stepping on people's toes. An alternative would be something about weird Swiss German words - I could make a video of that so you could actually hear them.
I could also post more short stories, if people want to read them. Basically I'll try to keep these Sunday posts varied.
So what do you think of 'my' city? Do you like it? Any questions? Where are you from, and where do you want to live one day? P.S.: kudos for making it all the way to the bottom ;)

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!