Team Bookends pick the best book settings

Spring has finally sprung in the UK (we think…) and as the Bookends team come out of hibernation we’re starting to plan our exotic escapes for 2016. As in all areas of our lives we’re using books to inspire our choices. Here are a few of our favourite settings in literature.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Narnia

I’m not big on sand and I burn easily so I prefer something a bit more wintery. Forget the fact that it’s never Christmas and it’s ruled a wicked ice queen, I would love to live in Narnia. The snow, the Turkish delight, the talking beavers – heaven!

Fleur

The Villa – Sicily

If I’m not in a hot country reclining (okay sweating) on a beach then I want to read a book that makes me feel that I am. Instead of my passport I’ll pick up a paperback and jet off via my imagination. Rosanna Ley’s books are set in beautiful, exotic locations that make me green with envy. From Sicily to Marrakech to Cuba, I love to travel the world with Rosanna.

Ella

NW – London

It doesn’t sound very exotic but one of the reasons I love Zadie Smith’s books are her vivid depictions of contemporary London. I love reading about characters walking the same streets and visiting the same places as I do. And Zadie does it all with so much authenticity. In her most recent novel NW, the dialect is so accurate, I felt like I was listening in on a conversation on my local bus. There’s something beautiful in her the urban, cultural melting pot that she paints.

Abbie

Shantaram – India

One of my all-time favourite books is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, and one of the reasons for that is because of his incredible descriptions of India. He paints such a vivid picture of Mumbai that when you’re reading the book you could almost be right there, sitting in the boiling hot Leopolds café or weaving your way down a busy, noisy market street with the exotic smells of Indian cooking filling your nostrils! If this book doesn’t want to make you travel to India and experience the craziness of Mumbai then nothing will!

Jeska