Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Top 10 Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books


Each Tuesday The Broke and The Bookish provide a book related Top 10 theme.

This week we're picking The Top 10 most vivid worlds/settings in books. 

I’m separating my list into two groups.  This first group is the list of dystopian/apolcalyptic/fantasy that I’m sure will make quite a few lists

  1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – I marvel at the imagination of J.K. Rowling.  How she put together a world this involved that spanned almost a decade, seven novels, and remained consistent and REAL the whole time is amazing.  The fact that she didn’t leave any plot lines hanging astounds me.  Seriously.
  2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – You could see the rundownness of district 12, the over-the-top extravagance of the Capital, and the brutality of the arena.
  3. Partials by Dan Wells - A little more science fictiony than most recent dystopian YA it gives more of a post apocalyptic world.
  4. The Passage by Justin Cronin - There aren't words for the world building required for this one. 
  5. The Host by Stephanie Meyer - A world where Earth isn't violent is definitely different than what I've seen.  It's interesting to see how this can be disturbing too.  I felt like I was in the caves of the human camp.
The second group of books are vivid and require equal world building, but also research because they are real times, and real places even if the characters are fictional.

  1. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy M Montgomery – Even without seeing the movies, who didn’t feel like they had seen Prince Edward Island?
  2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – I remember picturing the South and the parties and the hoop skirts (a world just as foreign to me as Hogwarts) and feeling like I was there. 
  3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson – Oh my Lord.  I didn’t love this book, but I respected the hell out of it.  Seriously I have never done drugs, but after this book I feel like I know what they would feel like.  Yikes!
  4. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger – Again I read this before seeing the movie and the world of high fashion is extremely vivid and then add in a Miranda Priestly and watch out!
  5. Room by Emma Donoghue – That room was their whole world and it was disturbing and comforting all at the same time.

2 comments:

  1. The consistency and reality of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World over seven novels truly is amazing! Quite a feat.

    I meant to mention The Host, too, and forgot--I'd picked Forks, as I live just up the coast a little ways and found it very real and relatable, but the caves in The Host (which is my favorite Meyer book) were definitely well done.

    Oh, but I did remember to include P.E.I. Totally agree with you on that. :D

    Great list!

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  2. I really, really didn't like The Host, but for some reason the scene where the sunflower planet dies has always stuck with me. I enjoyed your list- there were lots of unique picks!

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