QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Locations…
Do you pay attention to where (cities, countries, regions) books are set and if so, are you attracted to specific locations?
Susan
I love books set in the UK for some reason. Small villages, especially.
I also like the familiarty of books set in New York or San Francisco or San Diego…places I’ve lived…especially if done well and with authenticity.
I recently read the Men of Smithfield series by LB Gregg, and those are set in a fictional town very accurately based on my neighboring town in Connecticut. I loved it!
Kristi
I don’t think I pay too close of attention. Only to the point that I look for descriptions to be rich, taking me to that place, but not overly so to the point where I never want to go there. If a story is based in Seattle though? That’s when I pay attention. So many authors get things wrong, like heading North on I-5 to Tacoma when the person is starting off in Seattle… Um, no. Seattle would already be North of Tacoma. The internet is a wondrous place, more people, including authors, should use it for research if they’ve never been to the city or country before. And maps… MAPS! Geography people! Learn it.
Okay, so maybe I care a bit more than I’ve let on.
Gaby
While I don’t have a preference for settings I do get kinda excited with books that take place in England or Ireland. I have a very special love for Ireland, so any books set there give me warm fuzzy feelings.
Also, if I’m honest, I’m a bit bummed that nearly no books take place in Mexico, I think I’ve only read one or two books that do.
Tracy
Normally I don’t pay attention, and lots of books fall into Faceless City territory, unless it’s something local (like what Kristie mentioned), because if someone gets Seattle wrong, it kind of sticks out. I do appreciate it though when the author really creates a location that is very new to me, like Rose Christo’s Gives Light, which was on a Shoshone Indian reservation, or in Harper Fox’s Scrap Metal, which was on the windy coast of Scotland. In both books, the setting seemed to be a strong character itself, which made it a really vivid reading experience.
Sheri
It’s not necessarily something that I look for when selecting stories, but I do enjoy traveling the world through my books. I have noticed that I’ve been attracted to authors that take me to different places on a regular basis, especially those that create rich wonderful backgrounds….imaginary or real.
I agree with aspects mentioned above. I love places with a difference. English country villages, islands, Aussie outback, tropical rainforests, snowbound wilderness, deluxe train journeys (the Ghan, Rocky Mountaineer for example), lakeside cabins, cattle property, houseboats… well, you get the idea. I don’t mind generic cities if there is an event, occurrence or feature of interest i.e. weekend markets, rain lashed streets at night or Lady Isabella (the Laxey wheel – Isle of Man).
I also find I am more critical of a story where the named location is not portrayed accurately.
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I ‘m not partial to one over other location. What I care about is that the author take me to that place -real or imaginary, as Sheri indicates- but without overwhelming me, as Kristi points.
I’m a traveler, I really really love travel -I think that I work only to buy books and travel, everything else is subsidiary- but at the same time I believe that «There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.» (Emily Dickinson)
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I also like the author to take me somewhere, anywhere as that part really doesn’t matter. I do like to feel as though I am there.
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I discovered by accident that I actually prefer books set in different locations, ones that I’m not familiar with. I read a book a while ago that was set in an area where I had lived for years and there were references to geographical attributes that I know for a fact didn’t and had never existed and things that were there in RL weren’t there in the story, it drove me crazy to the point where I ended up not really liking the book.
I like it when an author is at least relatively accurate about geographical locations but if I’m not really familiar with a location at least I can still enjoy the story if they’re not.
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