My friend said something really interesting today that made me think. She said she would not mind living in the fictional Mitford Jan Karon writes about in The Mitford Years book series. Although I was not impressed by Mitford’s quaint charm, I definitely agreed with her re: living/studying at Hogwarts. That would be amazing! This led me to come up with a few more places I could definitely live and some that I definitely could not.
Live-Worthy:
Lyra’s Oxford (The Golden Compass)—A sort of alt-universe Oxford as imagined in The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. A place so neat that Pullman wrote a novella which strongly focused the place itself.
Avonlea, Prince Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables)—I have told JP I would actually visit here for a number of reasons: First, I just think it would be neat, and if I’m going to go to Canada, Avonlea is one of the places I’d like to visit. Secondly, and I think this is hilarious, PEI has a large tourism trade because of the book series, and draws women from the world who dye their hair red and have Anne-themed weddings there, specifically Japanese women. (???)
The Other Side of the Wall (Stardust)—Even though there are a number of things to concern yourself with, e.g. witches, murderous siblings, et al, I remember the setting as beautiful and idyllic.
Un-Live-Worthy:
Panem (The Hunger Games)—Yikes! I would not want to live in a society that forces child tributes to fight to the death. That is the worst. It makes for a fabulous book series, though.
Winterfell/The Kingdoms of Westeros (Game of Thrones)—Yeah, war-torn kingdoms loosely set in the Medieval era are not my idea of a fun time. Maybe the more dramatic the place, the less I want to live there?
Are there any novel settings you would really want/really NOT want to live in?
Yeah, there's no amount of money that would convince me to live in Westeros or Panem. I also wouldn't want to live on Pern, on account of how classism and sexism seem to be woven into the fabric of the society (see also: Chandrakar from "The Twelve Treasures").
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like to visit Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Barcelona, even though it seems like terrible things are always happening there. It just sounds beautiful. I'd visit Avonlea, but I'd get bored living there.
Narnia, on the other hand, I would never leave.