Top Ten Tuesday #337

Hi all! I hope you’ve had a good week since my last post, I had dinner with a friend on Wednesday night at one of our favourite Italian places in London which was lovely, I’ve not been there since before the pandemic so it was nice to go back.

Anyway, since it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Favourite Book Settings, and I’m sure these will be no surprise to a lot of you who have been reading this blog for a while and know what kinds of books I like to read, but here we go:

1. Libraries

Naturally being a reader, I love any kind of book-related setting and I’ve read some really memorable books that are set in libraries, from the Great Library series by Rachel Caine (well the first two books at least) which are set in an alternate Great Library of Alexandria, to my current read Sorcery of Thorns, which involves a lot of magical libraries. There’s definitely something incredibly comforting and home-feeling about reading a book set somewhere with lots of books!

2. Boarding schools

I think this one is kind of a hangover from Harry Potter, and I’m less partial to school based stories now than when I was a kid, but there is still something I really love about boarding school settings. Boarding schools are usually these really big, old historical buildings (at least in books) and the idea of exploring that along with the characters is always a lot of fun. I definitely thought you were allowed much more freedom at boarding school through reading books when I was a kid than I later found out through being a day student at a boarding school (with boarder friends) was actually the case!

3. Circus/Carnival

There’s definitely something really magical about a circus setting, even if the book itself isn’t a fantasy, as the things that circus performers can do a really amazing. I also love the adventure surrounding these kinds of settings, as obviously they move around a lot, so you’re never in one place for too long and as someone who loves travel that has always appealed. There’s always so much to discover at a circus/carnival setting too, between all the different stalls, and I always end up feeling massively hungry reading about all the treats described.

4. Castles/Palaces

Yes, I know these aren’t the same thing, but I like them for a lot of the same reasons so I grouped them together. Castles and palaces are both really beautiful buildings, that have lots of rooms to explore, which make them really great settings for books. They also tend to have libraries, which is obviously catnip for this bookworm! They also tend to be very old which I love, since as a lover of history and a history graduate, I love learning about the history of these kinds of buildings!

5. Creepy old houses

I may not be a big horror reader, but I still love a creepy old house as a setting as they tend to be super atmospheric, and again, have a lot of secret nooks and crannies to explore, which is a great for a reader who loves adventure like me. One of my favourite examples of this is the old schoolhouse in Frozen Charlotte, and Charlotte Says, which becomes basically a character in itself in the books.

6. Bookshops

This is kind of a no-brainer for a reader, and quite connected to the library one, but I also love books set in bookshops. Bookshops are some of my favourite places to go, so there’s something very comforting about reading books set in them. My most recent example of this was The Last Bookshop in London, which I just reviewed on Sunday, Primrose Hill Books sounded like such a cosy and lovely shop and the audiobook just made me wish it was a real bookshop I could visit so much (there apparently actually is a Primrose Hill Books in London, though it’s not old enough to be one of the bookshops that inspired this book).

7. Any kind of historical time period

Kind of vague I know, but I love books set in the past. I love learning more about parts of history that I didn’t know about before, and even with historical periods that I’m more familiar with, there’s always something knew to learn. Historical fiction is like a little window to the past, through a fictional story, as a history nerd and a reader, I love that!

8. Wintery Settings

Cue inner Lorelai Gilmore, “I smell snow!”. I love snow, it makes everything look so beautiful and wintery settings of course have that in abundance. In addition I think I’m just a very wintery person, I love all the aesthetics of winter, being wrapped in cosy clothes, drinking warm drinks by a fire etc so wintery settings are always perfect for me and I squeal whenever I find books with them.

9. Paris

Yes, yes, I know, it’s super cliche but I love Paris as a book setting. I think it’s a really beautiful city, and there’s so much to do and see and explore, so I think it makes a great setting for a book (and is one of the settings in one of my WIPs, so totally not biased here at all!).

10. London

Again, probably quite cliche, but I love books that are set in London, as it’s a city I’m very familiar with, so I love seeing characters exploring places that I know or have been to many times, it’s a lot of fun reading a book and seeing a character in a setting that you’ve actually been to a lot in real life. It also works quite well the other way around as reading books set in London gives me places to explore when I visit (for instance, I ended up going to Seven Dials because it’s a setting in the Bone Season books!).

So there we go, those are some of my favourite book settings! Do we share any? Have you read any great books with these kinds of settings? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next Tuesday, the topic this time is meant to be Online Book Resources, but I honestly can’t think of many for that, so I’m going to be returning to a fairly simple one and talking about the Most Recent Additions To My Bookshelf, I did it last year, but it’s a good topic to come back to when you’re stuck for ideas as I’m always guaranteed to be able to come up with ten new ones!