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If You Could Live in the World of One Novel, Which One Would You Choose?

May 19, 2010 by Nathan Bransford 328 Comments

One of the joys of reading a novel is immersing yourself in a different world, whether it’s the verdant hills of Middle Earth, the magic around every corner at Hogwarts, the intrepid and dangerous seas aboard the Pequod, or spaceships and strange planets hitchhiking around the galaxy.

If you could pick one fictional world/setting/time period to live in, which one would it be?

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Moby-Dick, You Tell Me

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Austin Girl says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:02 am

    I'd escape inside a vintage hard-boiled detective novel surrounded by obese men who lust after my bird aka "MacGuffin."

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:03 am

    O might be fun right about now. She gets lots of sex.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:46 am

    Nathan,

    You're missing tons of wonderful anime worlds, which are described in novels that are now available in English. You need some more diversification here.

    Reply
  4. Goldilocks says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:52 am

    Wonderland. Anyone for tea?

    Although, I wouldn't mind aquiring a wizard education…

    Reply
  5. Augustina Peach says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:57 am

    I just spent a week without a refrigerator waiting for mine to be fixed, and it was no fun. But I'd still like to visit pre-electrical times. Maybe I would hang out with the Ingalls family in one of their Little Houses, or go to 17th-century England with Ann Turnbull's characters (except there's that black death thing….time travel visitors would be immune, right?).

    Reply
  6. Elliot Grace says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:23 am

    …any Gaiman fans? Somebody please sneak me over the Wall from "Stardust."

    Reply
  7. anna black says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:25 am

    Hogwarts of course. Before Sirius Black's death (Gary Oldman is so hot)

    Reply
  8. Deepa says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:26 am

    Forks… with the Vampires! 😛

    Reply
  9. Deepa says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:28 am

    @ Jolene,

    Not twilight free anymore. lol

    Reply
  10. Amanda says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:31 am

    I don't care if everyone else says Hogwarts, I wanna go there too. Or Mrs. Weasley's home. I would have knitting needles going for sure! I'd have a quill (not an evil one like Rita Skeeter) that would write for me whenever I had a new writing idea.

    Reply
  11. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 6:03 am

    The Great Gatsby and Mad Men–I know it's a TV show but can't I have two fantasy/reality worlds?

    Reply
  12. Dawn says

    May 20, 2010 at 6:03 am

    I'm not going to argue–I'd love to live through Hogwarts! I also wouldn't mind being tossed into any Jane Austen novel or living out Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South."

    Reply
  13. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 6:09 am

    I would live in Eve Dallas's world from the In Death series if I could be married to Roarke. Wait.I'd pick the book version of the Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightly and accept Mr. Darcy's first proposal.However,the world of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy is fascinating and thrilling. Then again,Michael McDowell's Black water series is eerily fascinating.Sigh,I confess I cannot choose one book. Perhaps that is why I write.

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 7:24 am

    I would live in any romance novel, the only place where every woman has an orgasm every time.

    Reply
  15. John says

    May 20, 2010 at 8:33 am

    The Gospels, by Matt, Mark, Luke and John. Love the quirky protagonist.

    Reply
  16. Shirls says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:03 am

    I'd like to live on Heinlein's Tertius and get a rejuvenation and visit with Lazarus and Maureen and Tamara and Laz and Lor…

    Reply
  17. Cathy says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Earthsea.

    Reply
  18. Amanda Plavich says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:45 am

    Harry Potter world post-Voldemort 😉

    Ooo! Or inside of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. That giant room made of candy…oh yes.

    Reply
  19. Heidi says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:55 am

    Unoriginal, I know, but I clearly remember being fifteen years old and reading Harry Potter for the very first time, and even back then, it struck me that I had never ever wished so hard for a fictional world to be reality.

    My second choice would be the Two Rivers in Andor (Wheel of Time). Or Tar Valon.

    Reply
  20. T. Wolfe says

    May 20, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    I can't decide between Anne McCaffrey's Pern or Rowan series … both would be nice. 🙂

    Reply
  21. Debbie says

    May 20, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    Definitely Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. Every time I watch the movie, I want to be there.

    Reply
  22. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    What can I say? The Star Wars Universe, even though this was a film before it was a series of novels. After that, Star Trek, Novels again, after it was a series.

    Reply
  23. Disgruntled Bear says

    May 20, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Top 3:
    Ganzfield from MINDER.
    Hogwarts.
    The alternate-reality Victorian England of Gail Carriger's PARASOL PROTECTORATE (Soulless, etc.).

    However, ONLY if I BELONGED there. I think it would just be sad to be a muggle at Hogwarts or a G-neg at Ganzfield.

    Reply
  24. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    I know Star Wars was a movie first, but I also read the novels. So the Star Wars Universe as 1. Also, Star Trek, though it was a series a movies first also …

    Reply
  25. Joseph W. Freynik says

    May 20, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    Harry Potter

    Reply
  26. Jeffery E Doherty says

    May 20, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    I love fantasy books with a medieval feel and in real life, I'm in a medieval re-enactment group BUT infrequent bathing, poor sanitation and no modern amenities takes the shine off the idea.

    Give me the worlds created by Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War) and (Serrano Legacy) series. She is the best Sci-Fi writer around!

    Reply
  27. L.M. Pruitt says

    May 20, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    I'm always torn between two–the St. Louis of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, and the Trenton, NJ of Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum series. I can never decide between sexy danger and sexy comedy.

    Reply
  28. CarolRose says

    May 20, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    Send me to Mr Darcy's world! 🙂

    Reply
  29. helen w says

    May 20, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    Alice in Wonderland or Swallows and Amazons for childhood – then Vile Bodies or The Garden of Eden and finally old age in The Summer Book

    Reply
  30. Jen Sadler says

    May 20, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    Who can choose just one? I always want to hang out in the world of whatever novel I am reading. Currently? I wish to be a part of Percy Jackson's world!

    Reply
  31. Shanti says

    May 20, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, without question.

    Reply
  32. Sean Patrick Reardon says

    May 20, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    Easy, "The Great Gatsby"

    Reply
  33. sex scenes at starbucks says

    May 20, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    The island from THE BLACK STALLION.

    Water, food, alone time with my favorite horse…

    Reply
  34. Dana Stabenow says

    May 20, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    Alera, but only if I get my own fury.

    Reply
  35. Stephanie S. says

    May 20, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Frank Herbert's world, Dune or even Caladan.

    Reply
  36. Keetha says

    May 20, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    I'm so boring. And a dweeb, too, I suspect but Mitford, North Carolina. Nothing like a twee small town. With a bookstore *and* a bakery.

    Reply
  37. Taryn Tyler says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    Perelandra in C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. I mean what could be better than living on ground that lulls you to sleep at night and gives you perfect fruit to eat and then spending all day long discussing philosophy?

    Reply
  38. KSB says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    Gerald Durrell's Corfu in My Family and Other Animals, Vikram Seth's India in A Suitable Boy. Also liked the suggestion of the Famous Five haunts!

    Reply
  39. Moira Young says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:29 pm

    Damar, in Robin McKinley's novel THE BLUE SWORD.

    Reply
  40. Sierra Godfrey says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    I would live in Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series, which is about a huge living tree that hosues nice fairies and goblins, and a different world comes every week to the top of the tree. The children of the story often visit. My favorite worlds: The Land of Birthdays and the Land of Take What you Want.

    Reply
  41. jenny wilson says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    I would like to live in th tudour court from the Philipa Greogory books mainkly for the amount of sex, food and fun they have, obviously I wold avoid having my head choped off

    Reply
  42. jenny wilson says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:55 pm

    I would like to live in th tudour court from the Philipa Greogory books mainkly for the amount of sex, food and fun they have, obviously I wold avoid having my head choped off

    Reply
  43. Sierra Godfrey says

    May 20, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    OH MAN I can't believe I forgot Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals series, ala KSB's comment — oh to live in those heady sun-soaked days of independently-walthy 1930s Greece. Yes, yes, yes.

    Reply
  44. Rebecca W says

    May 20, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    I would swing on over to Terabithia (although I wouldn't mind stopping by Hogwarts on the way).

    Reply
  45. TracyM says

    May 20, 2010 at 6:22 pm

    Although it's not fiction, I'd most like to hang out with Thoreau during his stay at Walden Pond.

    Then I'd like to be Jay Gatsby's other neighbor.

    Reply
  46. anulkah says

    May 20, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    Off the top of my head, definitely Avonlea from the Anne of Green Gables Series.

    Reply
  47. Dan says

    May 20, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles – I look great in a fedora.

    Reply
  48. bblueskye says

    May 20, 2010 at 8:44 pm

    I already live in the world of Gore Vidal's "City and the Pillar." Much of the main character's life I have already lived in a way. The struggle with accepting my own homosexuality, the world of gay life I don't agree with, and having that one person in your life you love and could never be with.

    Reply
  49. צניעות [פמ''ב says

    May 20, 2010 at 8:58 pm

    Annúminas, by Nunial, Evendim. One must reinvent one's self to earn the right to dwell in these places, and stand against the Kingdom of Angmar. Then again, since there's not a wisp of tragic-hero material in myself, I'd be a happy Hufflepuff.

    Reply
  50. evepaludan says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    Definitely plunk me inside of William Goldman's The Princess Bride (the 30th anniversary edition book!) and give me Buttercup's face and hair, Fezzik's strength, & Westley's wit! The only thing I would change: I wouldn't name my child Waverly. (No offense to people who have named their baby girl Waverly.)

    Reply
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