Nov 272009
Hi, everybody -
We’re on to Week 3 of the forum and so far, it’s been a great success. I’ve found books I definitely want to read thanks to your comments and books I absolutely need to read again.
This weekend I thought we might talk about setting because I love books where I feel like I can walk right into a place and imagine it in all its sensual details.
What books do this for you? And why?
I’m ready to add to my list!
Kate
The first name that jumps into my head is Susan Wiggs. I started reading Wiggs’ Lakeshore Chronicles series and couldn’t stop. It wasn’t just the stories. I fell in love with the town, Willow Lake, the summer camp. She makes it all come to life.
I recently read JUST BREATHE, which is set in an area of California I visited often as a child. I felt like I’d returned. I love that–a book that combines a great story with a vacation.
Oh–forgot to say–my favorite in the Lakeshore Chronicles series (so far) Snowfall at Willow Lake. If you like to start at the beginning of a series, the first book is Summer at Willow Lake.
Strangely enough, the setting for the ‘Ladies #1 Detective Agency’ books–Botswanna– makes me feel right at home. It is the characters and their view of the land; in the South, the reverence of land is the same.
Love all of Fannie Flagg’s books for this reason. Just started re-reading ‘A Redbird Christmas’ and feel right at home. The setting of the book is so much like where I am from in North Carolina, and now I actually live in south Alabama, so it is like, well being here, which I am.
CurtissAnn, I agree that The Ladies’ #1 Detective Agency has an excellent sense of place. I’m from South Africa, right next door to Botswana, and I really feel like I’m there with the characters, but the popularity of the series makes me think the setting and the strong sense of place come across to everyone.
I also got that same sense of place in C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake series set in Tudor England.