Don't you love it when a book is placed in a location that you know and in your mind you can see the characters drinking coffee at a cafe you know or meeting at landmarks you have been to. I just finished
The Brutal Heart by
Gail Bowen and it was set in Regina, Saskatchewan where I lived for over 10 years. I knew the streets, the court house even where the main character lived as it was just around the corner from my house. It adds to my enjoyment of the book. The Alexander McCall Smith series in Botswana is another one I enjoy for the same reason. My parents lived in Gaborone for 4 years and I visited them for 3 months. So when Precious Ramotswe of
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency goes to the Presidents Hotel for tea I can see it and remember being there also. The garage is at the same location as where my Mom took her car for service. What locations do you relate to?
Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Jul 2, 2009, 5:23am.
burial of ghosts by ann cleeves it is set in Northumberland where I live and I was curious to see how she would treat the area. She described it perfectly. In fact I wish I could remember her descriptions and carry them off as my own! :)
That's only happened to me once, but it was pretty cool.
A local author,
Lauren Beukes wrote the only South African sci fi novel I know of -
Moxyland. I was surprised (unfairly perhaps) to find that it was a pretty good book and I really enjoyed it. There weren't that many familiar settings because it takes place in the future, but I few scenes were set in a bar in a famous street in Cape Town. I could picture the characters playing pool and having drinks - I loved it.
I like
Kerry Greenwood's books for that reason too. The early Phryne Fisher (series link here
http://www.librarything.com/series/Phryn... ) are 1920's Melbourne, and i'ts interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't in the city streets.
Closer to what was said above, her Corrina Chapman series (link here
http://www.librarything.com/series/Corin... ) are present day Melbourne, CBD setting for most of it. I work in CBD so it is a nice feeling to read one of those books at a cafe near where Corrina's bakery is meant to be.
There's a fantastic essay by Anne Fadiman called "You Are There" in her book
Ex Libris which really captures that feeling. I recommend reading it if you find it.
(edited for sense)
Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Jul 2, 2009, 7:39am.
John Sandford's Prey novels take place in MN mostly in the cities but quite a few times in areas I'm familiar with in other parts of the state.
There is an awarding winning YA book from the 80s called
Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman. (Pay no attention to the TV movie of the same name. Not the same at all.)
Ruckman wrote about an actual tornado outbreak (8 of them) that hit Grand Island, Nebraska. It was fascinating for the kids and I to map out the places she wrote about. Except for Danny's own street, everything she wrote about was a real place. She even mentioned the local TV station and the well-known local broadcaster.
Yep, one of the things I like about
Katy Munger's Casey Jones mysteries is that they're set right here in the triangle area. One of them involved a chase down a road adjacent to my office. It was fun to see the area used in John Kessel's
Good News from Outer Space, too.
I'm from LA and there are quite a few detective series based there that I've enjoyed over the years - Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason,
Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series are the two that come to mind.
Most recently I've
really enjoyed the Justin/Cuddy series by
Michael Malone. They take place in the Piedmont/Triangle area of North Carolina, where I've lived for the past 18 years.
Jim53 - I'll have to check out Katy Munger's series.
(voltar ao topo)
