Top Ten Tuesday #9

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish.  This week's topic is on settings we'd love to see in books or see more of in books.  I really struggled with this topic because unless the book is a travelogue or memoir, the setting doesn't usually influence my tastes.  Especially since most of what I read is fantasy, so the settings are rarely anywhere recognizable.  But occasionally, when picking up a new book, I might be intrigued by a setting if it's unique or interesting.

Top Ten Eight Settings I'd Like to See in Books

• Middle-Earth -  I love Lord of the Rings, and Middle-Earth is just beautiful.  But I wouldn't just want to see more of it in any book.  It could only be by Tolkien himself, or even his son.  I keep hoping that Christopher Tolkien is going to find some long-lost manuscript of his father's with even more stories about one of my favorite settings of all time.
• South Korea/Japan -  My sister is crazy-in-love with Kpop, and she's gotten me into it as well.  I'd love to read more books that take place there, or in Japan, and experience some of their culture and geography.
• English manors/castles -  Downton Abbey is so amazing and beautiful.  I'd love to read some more books set in elegant drawing rooms and English gardens.
• Rome/Greece -  I've read several books that take place in modern Rome, and maybe two that take place in ancient Rome.  I loved the descriptions of the Colosseum and the Roman markets.  But I've never (to my memory) read anything that fully takes place in ancient or modern Greece.
• New Zealand -  Thanks to Peter Jackson, the whole world now knows how beautiful New Zealand is.  And I so want to visit there, especially now that I actually know someone there.  But since that doesn't seem likely in the future, I'd love to read about it instead.
• Italy (Venice/Tuscany) -  Some of my favorite memoirs take place in Tuscany or Venice, so I'm always open to reading more about those places and the people there.
• Disney World -  Disney is a huge part of my childhood and life in general.  I have so many great family memories there, and it's probably my favorite place to be (I'm going back in May!).  I love the Kingdom Keepers series, and I hope more authors will use Disney as their setting too.
• New Jersey -  Don't roll your eyes.  I've lived in New Jersey my whole life, and people really don't know how awesome this state really is.  All anybody ever thinks about when they hear Jersey is Camden, Trenton, oil refineries, the Jersey Shore.  The New Jersey I know is Cape May with its stately Victorian homes, Sussex county with its farmland and hiking trails, my hometown with its mountains and lakes.  I'd love it if someone wrote a book with the real New Jersey as its setting, and not the Jersey you can see off the Turnpike.