Top Ten Tuesday – Settings I’d Like to See More Of (Or At All)

23Jul
by Sarah - SWB

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday! Today as you will have guessed from the post name I’m talking about some of the settings I’d like to see in books. Some of them are concrete places or situations and others are more general ideas that could be taken in so many different ways. I had a little trouble coming up with ten, but then I had a bit of a brainstorm with the lovely Charlotte from Charlotte, Somewhere and managed to get there!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

ttt-big2

Settings I’d Like to See More Of (Or At All)

Devon

I’m starting this off with a very definite place – my home county! Now as you’ve probably noticed I’m a bit of a crime fan and I absolutely adore reading crime novels set in towns and cities I’m familiar with, I now live just outside Edinburgh so I’m blessed with plenty of crime stories set in places I’m familiar with north of the border, but I’d love something set where I grew up!

Fantasy lands with a concept that wows me

And now we’re on to a abstract idea so bare with me and I’ll do by best to explain. I want a book set in its own world with something about it that just clicks with me and makes me think yes I love this! Even if it wouldn’t be somewhere I actually want to live! The first example that springs to mind is Sempera from Sara Holland’s Everless duology where you pay your debts with your time.

Recognisable yet different worlds

Another general idea rather than a specific setting. Give me books that are set in a world I recognise but give it a twist, change it up a little bit! For example the Oxford that Lyra inhabits in His Dark Materials or the Britain of Vic James’s Dark Gifts trilogy.

Victorian or Edwardian era adventures

I have discovered recently I seem to have an affinity for novels set in this era. Especially middle grade and young adult adventure type stories, I’ve always loved the Sally Lockhart Quartet and I’ve recently discovered The Cogheart Adventures and The Sinclair’s Mysteries – I’ve only read the first in both series but I really enjoyed them.

Locked room mysteries

I grew up watching Jonathan Creek solve seemingly impossible mysteries every Saturday night, I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure exactly how well it would translate into a book because it was so visual but I think I’d like to see someone try! I guess something like Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express fits the bill but it wouldn’t have to be a murder. I’d take any mystery!

The sleeper

This is one of Charlotte’s suggestions but I love it! To explain I’m talking about sleeper trains, I think they are perhaps more common in some countries, especially where journeys can be thousands of miles but in the UK they only exist on two routes – London to Devon and Cornwall and London to Scotland. I think it would make a fantastic setting for an adult contemporary – two strangers meet in the lounge car…

Military crime

I guess this is cheating slightly as it’s more of a concept rather than a setting… Maybe I should have said military base… I’d love to see a crime investigated from a different viewpoint. Perhaps this is slightly inspired by Cormoran Strike’s army background…

Barbados

And we’re back to talking about books set in places I’m familiar with. My paternal grandparents came to the UK from Barbados back in the late 50’s early 60’s but I’ve been lucky enough to visit Barbados a few times so I’d love to see a book set there maybe not crime though…

Wilderness YA

Ally Carter wrote a book called Not If I Save You First where the central character lived with her father in the wilds of Alaska, the bulk of the story took place in the wilderness and I loved it so give me more stranded teens!

Road Trips

I’ll take a road trip book or two! A pre-university trip across Europe or maybe a group travelling through California’s wine country to celebrate turning 30. Somewhere exciting rather than stuck in traffic on the M6 would be preferable

Do any of my settings sound like something you’d like to read? Where would you like to see more books set? Let me know in the comments!

28 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday – Settings I’d Like to See More Of (Or At All)”

  1. goldenbooksgirl

    Love lots of these! I have some suggestions for you- Secrets of the Night Train is MG mystery set on a sleeper train and Field Notes on Love is YA romance on one across America! I do especially love a good road trip book too. See You in the Cosmos is pretty good, and I loved that part of the Paper and Hearts Society. Also just going to slip in here that one of Robin S’s books is set on a sleeper train AND features a locked room murder and you should totally read her…
    Amy x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. tiffshea

    Victorian or Edwardian era adventures were on my list too .. as well as stories that take place in even just the country I live in (Canada) … reliability in setting would just be a nice change in pace once in awhile lol

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Davida Chazan

    For Barbados, you could read “The Summer Country” by Lauren Willig. As for the road trip, I just finished reading “Keeping Lucy” which is mostly a road trip. There’s also “It’s. Nice. Outside.” which is also mostly a road-trip book.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. Lilyfae

    Love these ideas I’d certainly be on board for books if these settings!! I especially love the locked room scenario as I too adored staying up to watch Jonathan creek with my parent!
    If you don’t mind Middle grade the last chance hotel and bad luck Lighthouse by Nicki Thornton are both death behind a locked door Mysteries with a dash of magic. (Though not the stage kind like Jonathan) I thoroughly enjoyed the Christie style touches.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. RS

    Lots of great settings here. Not If I Save You First looks really interesting, and perhaps similar to Kate Alice Marshall’s “I Am Still Alive.”

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.