Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. A new topic is posted each week, and bloggers post their top ten in the category. I love making lists, especially about books, so when I found out about Top Ten Tuesday, I just had to participate.

Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books

10. Setting - The Tiger's Wife

By Tea Obreht

The first thing that jumped out at me from this book was the setting. Even months after reading the book, I can still vividly picture the zoo with the tiger, the public restroom Natalia is standing in as the book opens, the restaurant where her grandfather encountered the deathless man and the village where the tiger's wife lived. The beautiful imagery is what brought this book too life, and the incredible opening descriptions are what got me hooked on the story. 

9. Setting - Akata Witch

By Nnedi Okorafor

I loved this book, although since I read it at the beginning of last school year, some events are a little hazy. What I do remember of the plot, I remember because of the setting. I remember the massive library, the bridge they had to cross, the mysterious hut, the soccer game because of the description of where it took place. The writing and the plot where amazing, but the unique and beautiful setting is what makes this book stick in my mind,

8. The Dells - Fire

By Kristin Cashore

I absolutely loved the setting Kristin Cashore created in Fire - I desperately want to visit The Dells. They're beautiful, strange, and unbelievable, and the writing in Fire portrays that perfectly, which is almost as impressive as The Dells themselves.


7. Setting - The Infernal Devices
By Cassandra Clare

Ah, Victorian London, with its dark foggy streets, endless rain, carriages, opium dens, mansions, and werewolves and warlocks...wait, what? Cassandra Clare creates an exquisite setting, and weaves her own inventions into it seamlessly. As an added bonus, the covers of the books perfectly fit the world - muted shades and grays that shimmer faintly with a hint of magic. 

6. The Inkworld - Inkheart Trilogy

By Cornelia Funke

Maybe it's just because I read these books over and over when I was younger, but to me, the Inkworld is sort of like home. I can close my eyes and I'm there - in the forest with the fairies and the Motley Folk, or in Ombra or the forest or Fenoglio's rooms with Minerva and Rosenquartz, or in the Adderhead's castle in Argenta. The Inkworld is and always will be incredibly real to me. 

5. Mirror World - Reckless
By Cornelia Funke

Or maybe it's just Cornelia Funke's amazing writing. Because one of the few settings that's as real to me as the inkworld is the mirror world in Reckless. The castles, the landscape, the creatures...it all comes to life in the pages. It's another setting that's so vivid not only because it's beautifully described, but because it's so unique, and it's continued to stand out to me and influence my own writing ever since I read the book.

4. Setting - The Old Man and the Sea
By Ernest Hemmingway

All of Ernest Hemmingway's books make you feel like you're right there with the characters, but The Old Man and the Sea is the most prominent for me. Just seeing or hearing the title leaves me immersed in an incredible sensory experience. I'm not exaggerating - when I think of this book, I can smell the fish.

3. Setting - Life As We Knew It
By Susan Beth Pfeffer

The picture this book paints of a post-apocalyptic world is scary real. I could go on for hours describing it, but I think it suffices to say that when I read this book, it took a lot of effort to pull me back into my own world, and even then, I was still thinking about it for a long time afterwards. This world was so vivid, I feel like I've lived there and experienced it, even though I've never been through anything remotely similar.

2. Thisby - The Scorpio Races
By Maggie Stiefvater

This is another place I'm dying to visit. It's just so incredible. The setting. The descriptions. The island, the cliff, the beach swarming with capaill uisce...and it's not just the land itself that's so rich and detailed. It's the culture, the tradition, and the people who inhabit the island. Maggie Stiefvater's incredible writing brings Thisby to life - to me, it's so much more than a backdrop for a story. It's a real place.


1. Middle Earth - The Lord of the Rings

By J.R.R. Tolkien

Of course, this one had to be number one on the list. This world is so detailed and beautiful it just takes my breath away. The amount of effort and creativity J.R.R. Tolkien put into this world - just, wow. There's history, there's culture, there's languages - it's so real. I can easily believe this place exists. I know a lot of people find Tolkien's long descriptions boring, but for me, they're what bring the book to life. He doesn't just tell you a story, he takes you on a journey, and lets you stop and linger as long as you want to take in the beautiful, terrifying, and impressive scenery. 

~blackandwhitedreamer