Can you share a book, or a series of books set in a place you have visited that you read and really enjoyed?

chmesler@earthlink.net
One of my favorite reading experiences was actually reading Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga on Grand Cayman Island, where the book takes place. It's a poetic, hypnotic book anyway, but reading it in its setting only doubled my wonder.

msimon@nj.rr.com
Three Junes by Julia Glass

Pat76273@aol.com
A book that I read about a time and a place where I had been wasThe Last Girls by Lee Smith (2002). The girls in this story were one year younger than me and the setting is along the Mississippi River. They were suitemates in college and became soulmates for life. As girls, they were inspired by Huck Finn and rafted down the Mississippi River, which throughout their lives was the most memorable part of their college years. Thirty-five years later, after no contact for years, they go down the river again but on a paddlewheel boat in honor of one of them who has died and wants her ashes thrown into the river. They renew their friendships and look at their lives from a new perspective.

StevesKat@comcast.net
Yes, I am really enjoying Van Reid's Moosepath League series, which is set in Maine.

lanistrom@hotmail.com
Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia by Louisa Waugh.
This unique and unsentimental account of life in a world where the act of survival is in itself a triumph of the human spirit was incredibly important on our first trip to Mongolia this June. I came armed with information that truly assisted me and helped me to enjoy this stark and beautiful landscape in a way I could never have imagined.

Padredon@aol.com
I grew up in the Midwest and love those settings: Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, Plainsong by Kent Haruf, and all of Wallace Stegner.

DFazio6994@aol.com
Place: London.
Book: King Henry VIII

maestraw@msn.com
When I read The Da Vinci Code, I could visualize the rooms they were talking about within the Louvre. I was amazed, too, when I saw how small the actual painting of the Mona Lisa really is. The book fascinated me, but the locations made me miss Paris.

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart is set in Ireland. I visited there last summer and fell in love with the country and the people. I felt like maybe I had lived an Irish past in another life. As I read the novel, I wanted to return to the country I loved to visit.

Annabelle973@aol.com
As a child, I read all of the Anne books, beginning with Anne of Green Gables. For as far back as I can recall, I wanted very much to visit Prince Edward Island, the setting for those books. In 1984 I fulfilled my wish and went on a lovely vacation to PEI, and it was such fun to see the places, some fictitious of course, that were mentioned in the books.

Fee4366@aol.com
I have read the whole Dragon series by Anne McCaffrey. This series is set on a planet named Pern, which was settled by Earthlings looking to establish a new colony. They end up getting stranded there and end up having to establish and further their new planet from the very beginning. This was so interesting to me because it could actually happen; who knows, maybe it already has and we just don't know it!!

I have also read the whole Diana Gabaldon series beginning withOutlander. it deals with time travel, ancient Scottish myths and, of course, Scotland's history. Since I am Irish, Scottish and English, these subjects interest me greatly.

EStone2618@aol.com
I love reading Virginia authors. I live in Virginia and love the way many of these authors set a book in a locale I am familiar with. I can dream being there.

KATHLAU@aol.com
Dorothea Benton Frank's Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms come to mind. I love that area of South Carolina. I'm also a big fan of Margaret Truman's books since Washington is my most favorite city of all.

DStegmanCrawford@aol.com
Bitter Sugar: A Lupe Solano Mystery by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera.
This series is set in Miami and features a Cuban private investigator named Lupe Solano. There are six titles in the series, the latest is Bitter Sugar. I enjoyed them while spending 3 weeks in Florida earlier this summer!

MaryAllred@aol.com
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.
I lived in Argentia, Newfoundland for two years and enjoyed it tremendously. I found The Shipping News very typical of Newfoundland and consider it one of my all-time favorite books.

LLehman500@aol.com
We have owned and used a time share on Sanibel Island for 22 years, so we especially enjoy the books by Randy Wayne White.

GAPCH3301@aol.com
I read the Savannah series by Eugenia Price. I also read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a true story that took place in Savannah. When I went to Savannah, I really enjoyed seeing the different places that were in the books I read.

SBoyle6827@aol.com
I enjoy Tony Hillerman and his settings. I hope someday to go out west and see them for myself. He paints beautiful pictures of the country out there.

Dgeadgmd@aol.com
Sarah Graves writes a wonderful "cozy" series set in Eastport, Maine. I picked up the first two books at Raye's Mustard Factory in Eastport. My husband and I were entranced with this delightful town and these "home-improvement" murder books continue to refresh our memories. The first book in the series is titled The Dead Cat Bounce. With a title like that I could not help but snatch it up. Great fun reading with a terrific heroine set in a marvelous place not too many Americans get to visit.

MareSly@aol.com
Back Bay by William Martin, which is set in Boston. Fast paced and a good story.

sharoncerasoli@hotmail.com
I loved reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just before I visited Savannah, Georgia. Great book by the author, and gave me an appreciation for the depth of the city. Charming place to visit, by the way!

Rohde99@aol.com
Growing up in New Jersey I have to say that the Janet Evanovich and Harlan Coben series are so enjoyable for me to read. Besides having good mysteries among the content, it is fun to read about places you are familiar with. It brings back so many good memories.

Bshbsh@aol.com
I love the state of Alaska almost as much as I enjoy reading mysteries. Nothing satisfies my desire for both as much as a novel by either Dana Stabenow or Sue Henry. Both are native Alaskans who bring the landscape and people to life in well plotted, well written mysteries.

Buttercupmlm@aol.com
I recently read Jonathan Kellerman's The Murder Book. Little did I know that a large part of the book would be set in my hometown of Oak View, California: pop. 5,000! It was fun to read as I tried to picture where a horse ranch in the story could really be situated and wondered whether a shop in the story is really an existing one of another name. But no question about the plot ---The Murder Book is one of the best mysteries I've ever read!

GL3P@aol.com
Yes, I love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I have visited Scotland and loved it. I love her series because you know that she has done a lot of research and I recognize many pieces of history she recreates in her books. The Outlander books are the type that you can immerse yourself in for a long time, and forget that the 21st century even exists.

ragsk2743@aol.com
I truly enjoy the books that Dorothy Benton Frank writes with her Charleston, South Carolina settings. I have been there often and her descriptions of the area are right on the mark! If you haven't already done so you need to read her latest, Isle of Palms.

PhotoJaq@aol.com
I love Philip R. Craig's Martha's Vineyard mystery series. I toured the island last fall with his books in mind. It was great!

LEELEE114@aol.com
I loved A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Reading the book made me want to visit that part of France, and our whole family went 3 years ago. Provence was just as wonderful as the book!

LNELSON@bordersgroupinc.com
I read all of Steve Hamilton's series set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and also downstate not far from my home and thoroughly enjoyed them. It bends the line between fiction and reality and I like that.

LadyHawke1043@aol.com
I have a great love of the Southwest and of Native American culture, so for entertainment I have read all of Tony Hillerman's books. He always dispenses some interesting portrayals of Navajo culture.

SMSEIFR@aol.com
I live in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio and love the Milan Jacovichseries of books written by Les Roberts about a PI. What fun it is to read about the city you live in and the surrounding communities...familiar places and events. I'm collecting them all.

Hon2724@aol.com
In 1972 I was in Iran. I traveled a good deal over the country and loved being there. But good English written books were hard to come by. Someone gave me Caravan by James Michener. It takes place in Afghanistan, but that whole area is the same and I felt as if I was in the middle of the story. I have never been able to read this author and like him, but this book is different and I enjoyed each minute...looking up to find myself in the place where it was happening. Sort of a a surreal experience.

SnideSide@aol.com
I read Curses! by Aaron Elkins. This is set in Mexico, Chichen Itza to be exact. While in Cancun on vacation, we went to Chichen Itza and reenacted the murder on a trail that runs between the hotel (where the people in the book stayed) and the archeological ruins. It was really fun.

Alanh2062@aol.com
Years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Egypt --- Cairo, Luxor (present day Thebes) and the Valley of the Kings. French Egyptologist and author Christian Jacq's two series --- Ramses, a fictional account of the pharaoh's life and reign, and The Stone of Light, a saga of the artisans who created the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings --- vividly brought back the majestic vistas of the Nile, the heat of the Egyptian desert, and the wondrous artistry of the temples of Luxor and the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings.

The characters Jacq creates are full of humanity in all its greatness and frailty; the stories are at once historical fiction, biography, epic saga, love story, detective mystery, spy thriller, and coming-of-age story. They bring ancient Egypt to life. I have shared these books with many friends and acquaintances. Once begun, you will be enthralled --- and calling your travel agent.

evieross@comcast.net
The Book of Splendor by Frances Sherwood is set in Prague, where I visited twice last year. I loved reading about the city and recognizing places I'd been to see.

mikeparris@comcast.net
I attended college in Santa Barbara, living there for three years (1969-71). Many years later I have enjoyed reading all of Sue Grafton's mysteries, set in Santa Terista. I can recognize most of the streets and settings and it makes it all the more fun to read.

Andra1938@aol.com
Michael McGarrity's Kevin Kerney series on New Mexico covers the parts of the state outside Tony Hillerman's Navajo reservation. There is more to New Mexico than just the Northwest corner.

Sue Henry's Alaskan novels are set in areas frequented by tourists. I discovered her series in a shop in Anchorage before I took an inside passage cruise. Great reading while on the cruise.

Hon2724@aol.com
As a native Mississippian and an avid book reader, A Southern Sisters Mystery series by the late Anne George is a joy to me. I have spent lots of time in Birmingham Alabama, married a man from there and lived my life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast so the story lines, the southern phrases, the "southern" things they do all make me laugh out loud and I find myself right there with them. It was a sad day when I read of the death of Anne George. But she left a legacy where the "good ole south" comes alive in every word on every page.

smbilli@ra.rockwell.com
I have recently finished Extra Virgin: Among the Olive Groves of Liguria by Annie Hawes for the second time. From London, she and her sister buy an old rustico house on a terraced olive grove in the heart of the Ligurian mountains of Italy. This book is about how she deals with the culture barriers and becomes accepted by the peasant locals.

I first read the book about a year ago, and then had the opportunity to travel there. While I am not crazy about Hawes's writing style, I loved the area so much that I had to read the book again! The landscape is absolutely majestic, the food was fantastic, and the people were quite colorful --- and having the "inside" knowledge from Hawes's book make the trip so much more enjoyable.

She has a follow-up book, Ripe for the Picking, which was entertaining but not as magical as the first (because I already knew the story).

Smilamas@aol.com
I have really enjoyed books by Sue Henry and Dana Stabenow. They are set in Alaska. Sue Henry's books are about dog racing. They both really talk a lot about Alaska, which was a favorite vacation spot of mine.

joswood@adiis.net
After reading Pat Conroy's books The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides and Beach Music, I was very eager to see the South Carolina lowcountry. So a couple of years ago, my husband and I took a trip to Charleston, Beaufort, and some of the lowcountry places that he talked about in his books. I tried to remember as much as possible about the places he described.

We also visited Savannah, Georgia because we read the bookMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. That is a fantastic city and, having read the book twice, made it all the more special. The city has done a good job of incorporating this book into their tourist sites. I really recommend visiting both of these areas and, of course, reading these books.

bookldy@penn.com
My husband I go to Vermont every summer; it's like a second home to us. Because of my love for Vermont a few years ago, I picked up Midwives by Chris Bohjalian at a bookstore in Stowe. He was a new author to me. Chris's novels are all set in Vermont in places we have visited and love. Since then I've read every title by him, including Water Witches, The Law of Similars, Trans-Sister Radio, The Buffalo Soldier and other earlier titles currently out of print: Hangman, A Killing in the Real World and Past the Bleachers.

I highly recommend any works by Chris Bohjalian. He thoroughly researches the subject he's writing about, and his caring and concern for people come forth in the treatment of the characters in his books. If you love Vermont as much as we do, you'll love any of these titles.

Fialakt@aol.com
A few years ago, I started reading the Mitford series by Jan Karon. I loved them. Because it is a small town atmosphere, a person can feel like they're in Mitford every time they drive through a small, homey little American city. I grew up in a fairly small town myself and it's always nice to come home "where everybody knows your name" (Cheers).

craftymlc@attbi.com
I love all of Eugenia Price's books. I grew up in Savannah, spent part of my summers on St. Simon's Island and went to college in the north Georgia mountains. These areas cover most of the locales in her books. Even though her books were fiction, they were mostly about real people. To be able to find gravestones for the people made the books more real. Also to walk in the same locations as the characters in the books was also great. For a character to have a favorite location and consider that one of my favorite locations, again made the characters real.

I have read most of her books several times, especially when I was planning to visit the locales of a certain book. Her time frame was when these areas were young, just growing into communities. It is interesting to visit these areas and imagine what it really looked like way back when. It causes me to take a closer look, trying to find that building, tree or view described in the book.