Top Ten Tuesday #25 - Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where I will be picking from their top tens and attempting to reveal what my thinking is behind these choices.

Places books have made me want to visit:

1. Oslo/ Norway
The Witches, by Roald Dahl was one of my favourite books to read growing up. I loved this strange country where witches lurked around every corner and the funny, fierce old woman who lived there. I have always wanted to visit it. Also, Northern Lights  was another favourite, and it made me want to go there to experience the Aurora Borealis, so I'm twice as hungry for it.

2. Rural France
Lansquenet Sous-Tannes. I'm not even sure if it's a real place, but it feels real to me. First mentioned in Chocolat by Joanne Harris, it then features throughout a few more of her books, including my favourite, Five Quarters of the Orange. Although I have been to France before, I want to have the incredible experience of eating in patisseries and chocolateries and meld it all with a market village life along the banks of a beautiful river with gypsies living along the banks and irritable old ladies settling in shops for a mug of chocolat chaud.

3. New Orleans
The Casquette Girls is something I read quite recently, and I really enjoyed it! I want to put a city to a name now and stroll around in the historic french quarter. I want to see voodoo shops and street celebrations and really take in the history and the eerieness of the place. Oh, and did I mention it's the setting for Disney's The Princess and the Frog?

4. Narnia
It's quite not as dangerous as the likes of Westeros and you don't get stuck there, unlike Neverland. No time passes when you're there, so you can go off an have an adventure, see some mermaids and a giant friendly lion and come back to your boring life again. Plus, there are so many magical entities that I would love to spend time with! Hell, once I wished I was a Dryad.

5. Madrid
It's not often I get funny notions of going to big cities, but Carlos Ruiz Zafon's novels truly take me to Madrid, and I would love to see it and experience life there. It sounds like a great holiday destination with a lot of history and it can get a bit creepy at times I am sure.

6. Ancient Europe, Greece and Rome
Any Ben Kane novel can take me to this point in time, as well as the excellent David Gemmel series, Troy. I'm not really one for danger, and this is rife with it, so perhaps I would lay low. I think it would be incredible to go back to this time and see how people did things then. I love the mythology of these times and I think we could learn a lot from the way these people lived.

7. Ingo
I wish I was away in Ingo... I really do. This beautiful but treacherous undersea world, thought up by Helen Dunmore,  is filled with merpeople, and I love the idea that you can become one, and that people are actually able to breathe underwater if Ingo wants you to.

8. The Bayou
Ok, this is not dissimilar to New Orleans, but instead of going to the city, I would want to see the Bayou in all its glory. This was inspired by Teardrop, which focuses much more on the power of water and the Bayou feels like an extension of this power, as it floats in the background only to become part of a main event later on.

9. Italy, Rome and Venice
This is derived from Dan Browns novels, Angels and Demons, and Inferno. I am pretty obsessed over history, and it really liked the way the mystery fits in with the actual stuff in real life. I have been to Rome and seen a few of the landmarks in the book. Let me say they are stunning and well worth going to see.

10. Neverwhere
Who wouldn't want to travel to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, an alternate version of our London, where nothing is as it seems and some things have been taken pretty literally. Black Friars really does have Black Friars in it while The Angel, Islington is an angel named Islington. I need to read this book again.

Kyra_x

Top Ten Tuesday #19 - Most Awesome Made-up Words

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where I will be picking from their top tens and attempting to reveal what my thinking is behind these choices.

This week I'm giving my Top Ten Most Awesome Made-up Words.

1. Vermicious - Roald Dahl
From the legendary Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Roald Dahl was a childhood hero for me, and he made up so many mad words and things. Wizzbanger, Snozzberry, Oompa Loompas, Scrumdiddlyumptious... the list goes on.

2. Muggle - J.K. Rowling
The most famous word of all J.K. Rowling's words, but lest we forget, we also had Squib, Horcrux, Animagus and so on. Rowling is extremely clever in the way that she invented words, using many languages to invent words for beings as well as spells. She even invented her own sport, so I give her full kudos for her creativity.

3. Puddleglum - C.S. Lewis
I know it's a name and I don't care. I love Puddleglum and I love The Silver Chair. It is my favourite Narnia Chronicle, possibly because of this mopey character.

4. Jabberwocky - Lewis Caroll
I know, another name! But let's not forget that he also made up chortle and a whole host of other words in Through The Looking Glass.

5. Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
Well, this guy is making a comeback at the moment, and his Hobbits with him with the last movie in The Hobbit franchise, The Battle of the Five Armies, coming out in a couple of months. It was only fair to give him his dues. It might also be interesting to note that he is credited with making up 'tween' as well.

6. Tracker-Jacker and Jabberjay - Suzanne Collins
Yes, it's The Hunger Games. This world is full of awesome ideas and these genetically modified creatures are honestly really cool, and it gives a whole other meaning to the word, Mutts.

7. Swagger - Shakespeare
This guy coined so many words and popular phrases that it would take me forever to tell them all to you. Instead, here's a link to a page where someone else has done all the work for me.

8. Boredom - Charles Dickens
I know, it's such a widely used word, yet initially this was indeed something never heard of before Dickens. Also credited with the first record of the word 'Flummox', which is an awesome word too.

9. Pandemonium - John Milton
From the epic poem, Paradise Lost, this word is derived from the name of the capital of Hell. Where it did literally mean 'all demons', the meaning is now closer to 'chaos'.

10. Heffalump - A.A.Milne
From Winnie the Pooh. Children's authors really seem to like mixing up lettering for animals and A.A. Milne is no exception. This is just a cute misunderstanding of the word 'elephant'.

Do you know any more awesome made-up words?

Kyra_x

Top Ten Tuesday #7 - Childhood Favourites

1. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
This has been a part of my life ever since I can remember, and it also was a great way to introduce kids to fantasy reading, which I obviously approve of.

2. The Witches - Roald Dahl
Anything by Roald Dahl was practically absorbed by me; I lived to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Georges Marvellous Medicine, or The Twits, but somehow The Witches always won hands down. I loved the idea that witches could be lurking anywhere, and that they could be outwitted by a grandmother and a little boy.

3. The Narnia Series - C.S. Lewis
I got this series as a present when I was young; a box-set with each book beautifully illustrated, and I read them all. But throughout I was always drawn to The Silver Chair, and I'm fairly peeved that there hasn't been any announcements for it to be made into a film. One day, someone will make every one of them into a good live action film, and on that day I will be very happy.

4. His Dark Material Series - Philip Pullman
Still one of my favourite triologies in the universe. It's fantasy, it's reality, it's sci-fi, and it's complicated, with hints of religion, life and death, love... everything I love. These books raised the bar for me in terms of reading, and I don't think I've ever looked back.

5. Dr Xargle - Jeanne Willis
I have very fond memories of flicking through a couple of these books with my sister and my mum, giggling away at their ridiculousness. Even now, I want to open it up and see what the aliens think about our planet.

6. Goosebumps (not to mention the TV show) - R.L Stine
We had a couple of these books, and they scared the hell out of me, but I read it anyway. What really got me was the TV show, which I watched religiously with my sister.

7. Famous Five - Enid Blyton
Honestly, I can remember reading these books and loving them, but for some reason now I can't remember them very well. I think this calls for a re-read at some stage.

8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
This book is so classic. I remember reading it cover to cover, anticipating when it would turn into a beautiful butterfly. The book is still such a vivid memory.

9. Where's Wally? (That may be Where's Waldo for you) - Martin Handford
I never owned a Where's Wally book, but I always wanted one. Every time someone would get it out, or I would spot it at a friend's house, I would pretty much force them to do it with me. I think I still need a copy or two.

10. Elmer - David McKee
About a patchwork elephant who wants to fit in, but always sticks out thanks to his colourful exterior. It taught me that it's OK to be different, and I did love that elephant.