Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Locations are integral to the books we read. The truly amazing books bring us into the world their describing. This week, we're discovering books with those place directly in the title.
-----------------------------------
Suggestions:
Goodreads - Books With Place Names in the Title
Goodreads - A Place In The Title
Ranker - The Best Books With City in the Title
Ranker - The Best Books With Town in the Title
Goodreads - Popular Title Has City Name Books
Tony's Book World - City or Town Names in Excellent Fiction Titles

ATY Group Listopia
-----------------------------------
Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. Is the location real or fictional?
3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?

I’m leaning toward From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet because I’ve always liked travel narratives but want to get beyond the white gaze. I’ve got a couple other possibilities from other genres too: Last Train to Istanbul, The Widows of Malabar Hill, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West...

I'm thinking I will get to The Widows of Malabar Hill for this one.

A few options on my TBR - It Would Be Night in Caracas, Lager Queen of Minnesota, Paragon Hotel, Dear Haiti, Montana 1848, Halsey Street, and - a bit of a stretch since it is a place more than the name of a place - Meet Me at the Museum.

Serendipity wrote: "A few options on my TBR - It Would Be Night in Caracas, Lager Queen of Minnesota, Paragon Hotel, Dear Haiti, Montana 1848, Halsey Street, and - a bit of a stretch since it is a place more than the ..."

Love Montana 1948! It hits a few categories this coming year including the book in a day and rural setting.

Serendipity - A big YES for Montana 1948! It’s really good and short (novella). I’m planning on reading Middlemarch and making it my first read of the year because I’ve been procrastinating for so many years to read it. If I fail again to read it this year, then my 2nd choice is Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene.

I have several options for this, but I am leaning toward The Fall of Gondolin, which would fit well with my ongoing quest to read through Tolkien's bibliography.

Right now I'm leaning toward reading The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers because Bar Harbor/Acadia is my favorite place in the whole world.

Karissa wrote: "Right now I'm leaning toward reading The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers because Bar Harbor/Acadia is my favorite place in the whole world."

I love Bar Harbor/Acadia. I was just there in July.

It's finally time to read A Gentleman in Moscow.

I'm going to read Next Year in Havana

Karissa wrote: "Right now I'm leaning toward reading The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers because Bar Harbor/Acadia is my favorite place in the whole world."

I love Bar Harbor too and this is on my short list for this reading prompt. I love to eat at Two Cats!

As mentioned above, The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers is on my list as well as The House on Mango Street, and Next Year in Havana.

These are my favorites (as you can see, I like SFF) and I'll choose among them next year:

I think I am going to read The Lager Queen of Minnesota.

Johanna wrote: "Karissa wrote: "Right now I'm leaning toward reading The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers because Bar Harbor/Acadia is my favorite place in the whole world."

I love Ba..."

My husband and I honeymooned at Acadia/Bar Harbor! It was wonderful. I'll have to check out this book!

I’ve been meaning to read Welcome to Lagos but I just haven’t found the time. This will be the perfect reason!

Other possibles:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
FantasticLand
The Widows of Malabar Hill
Normandy Gold
Soldier of Arete
The Paris Wife
Rivers of London
New Yorked

It doesn't specify, so I assume fictional place names are also fine? I was thinking of Now Entering Addamsville

Oh I think fictional places are total fine. After all, all place names are sort of fictional. The mountain doesn't care what you call it.

Would something like The Downstairs Girl work for this one? Downstairs is a place, but I don't know if the prompt would require a specific city/town/country/proper noun Place.

(I know I can make the challenge whatever I want, but I'd rather follow this one more strictly.)

Downstairs is a place but it’s not really a “place name” - I think a place name is a proper noun. But of course, that flex is there for those who need it!!

I had proper noun place in mind when I nominated it, but left it open for flexibility since that's sometimes an issue in voting.

Haha Jackie I love your reasoning :)

Would The Haunting of Ashburn House count as a proper noun place?

On my shelves I have real places, made-up places, and universal places...which to choose?!

A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal
A Road Through Wonderland
Amsterdam
Beartown
Blackbird House
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Chernobyl Strawberries: A Memoir
Convenience Store Woman
Geisha of Gion
Graveyard Games
Home Truths
Kilbrack
The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan
The Lost for Words Bookshop
The Night Circus
With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia

Since I have to use a title with "20" in it for the Popsugar challenge - I thought that "Twenty Years at Hull House" would work for this too!? Hull House is the name of a settlement house for European immigrants in 1889.

Kara, I think that would work!

I just finished Miracle Creek for this prompt, and I loved it! It was set in a small (fictional) rural town named Miracle Creek, and the setting did play a bit of a role in the plot of the story.

Overall, I really loved this new courtroom drama/murder mystery. I totally didn't guess who had done it, which is the mark of any good mystery novel!

Emily wrote: "Kara, I think that would work!

I just finished Miracle Creek for this prompt, and I loved it! It was set in a small (fictional) rural town named Miracle Creek, and the setting did ..."

Emily, I really liked Miracle Creek also. I generally like mysteries with a medical element.

1. What are you reading for this category?

I finished China Rich Girlfriend!

2. Is the location real or fictional?

Real

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
Yes, The plot revolves around the settings where the characters live and play! China, Singapore, LA, Paris, New York, Hong Kong

Would Darktown by Thomas Mullen count for this prompt?

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Tattooist of Auschwitz

2. Is the location real or fictional?
Real

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
Yes most definitely.

I really enjoyed this one!

1. What are you reading for this category?
Artemis
2. Is the location real or fictional?
Fictional
3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
It does in the sense of having a small community and the manufacture of products that can only be produced on the moon. Some parts just involve the difference in gravity.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
2. Is the location real or fictional?
Definitely real
3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
I don't think so. But it may certainly have had for the author. This book was translated from the Japanese.

1. What are you reading for this category? The Gods of Newport by John Jakes
2. Is the location real or fictional? Real
3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book? Yes, Newport represented high society at the end of the 19th century, and the book was about a man's struggle to gain entry into that society.

A Corpse in the Koryo is a crime novel set in North Korea. The Koryo is a hotel in which the body is found.

This was a little difficult to follow. The intent may have been to be hard to follow though.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven.

2. Is the location real or fictional?
It's a fictional Disney-esque theme park in Florida.

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
The entire book takes place here in the aftermath of a hurricane, as told to a reporter.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Bone House

2. Is the location real or fictional?
Fictional.

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
It is VERY important! You have to read to find out why :)

I'm reading Malice in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope, the Cotswolds is a real location, and the majority of the book is set there

1. What are you reading for this category?


2. Is the location real or fictional? Real

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
Yes is where the book takes place.

The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia, which takes place in and around the Vatican because the MC is the daughter of Pope Alexander VI. It's a real place, but this is historical fiction and plays fast and loose with some of the history.

I’m reading Middle England by Jonathan Coe. The location of England is key to the book, especially with all of its British politics.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.
2. Is the location real or fictional?
The location is fictional, a fantasy world.
3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
The name Earthsea refers to the entire world, limited by the knolwedge of the inhabitants. We see nothing outside of Earthsea (and the maps we have are also limited) though there is references to lands beyond knowledge.

What are you reading for this category?
I read Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

Is the location real or fictional?
It is real. Havana Cuba

Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
Yes it is about man living there who is recruited to spy for the British Government

1. What are you reading for this category?
Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman

2. Is the location real or fictional?
It’s a real location

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?
Yes, it’s where the story takes place

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Orient is a real area of the world and the train is a famous line that goes between the orient and istanbul

https://titlesurfingwithtraci.blogspo...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For this challenge, I read Philly Stakes by Gillian Roberts. Philly is the local nickname for the city of Philadelphia, which serves as the setting for this whodunnit, and Stakes is a play on a popular local dish, steak sandwiches. The tale primarily takes place in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood, but also visits other widely known districts.

I read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 4 stars!

I kind of did a Keep it Simple (KIS) version where the word "America" itself isn't there but it's still within the title somehow.

I originally put this book in the prompt with a global city setting, since part of the book is set in London, but after reading it I realized that it was just a very small part and tried to look for another prompt that this book can fit in. It's not a perfect fit here but I think it's better than where I originally put it.

Yes, America has a lot of importance in this book.

1. What are you reading for this category?

Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

2. Is the location real or fictional?

It's real. Hiddensee "is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the German coast" per Wikipedia.

3. Does the location have importance in the content of the book?

Sort of? To be honest, I'm not sure why it's called Hiddensee--the characters do visit there, but they also go several other places too. I think it's meant to be a metaphor since there is a lot of discussions about dreams/visions in the course of the book.

I finished Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon.
Fiction
Set in Venice Italy.
Yes Venice played a big part in the book.

I read Brooklyn for this prompt.

The location is real, and it is central to the story. It is where most of the action of the story takes place.