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?
I'd escape inside a vintage hard-boiled detective novel surrounded by obese men who lust after my bird aka "MacGuffin."
O might be fun right about now. She gets lots of sex.
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.
Wonderland. Anyone for tea?
Although, I wouldn't mind aquiring a wizard education…
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?).
…any Gaiman fans? Somebody please sneak me over the Wall from "Stardust."
Hogwarts of course. Before Sirius Black's death (Gary Oldman is so hot)
Forks… with the Vampires! 😛
@ Jolene,
Not twilight free anymore. lol
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.
The Great Gatsby and Mad Men–I know it's a TV show but can't I have two fantasy/reality worlds?
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."
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.
I would live in any romance novel, the only place where every woman has an orgasm every time.
The Gospels, by Matt, Mark, Luke and John. Love the quirky protagonist.
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…
Earthsea.
Harry Potter world post-Voldemort 😉
Ooo! Or inside of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. That giant room made of candy…oh yes.
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.
I can't decide between Anne McCaffrey's Pern or Rowan series … both would be nice. 🙂
Definitely Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. Every time I watch the movie, I want to be there.
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.
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.
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 …
Harry Potter
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!
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.
Send me to Mr Darcy's world! 🙂
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
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!
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, without question.
Easy, "The Great Gatsby"
The island from THE BLACK STALLION.
Water, food, alone time with my favorite horse…
Alera, but only if I get my own fury.
Frank Herbert's world, Dune or even Caladan.
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.
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?
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!
Damar, in Robin McKinley's novel THE BLUE SWORD.
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.
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
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
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.
I would swing on over to Terabithia (although I wouldn't mind stopping by Hogwarts on the way).
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.
Off the top of my head, definitely Avonlea from the Anne of Green Gables Series.
Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles – I look great in a fedora.
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.
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.
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.)