Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat.
This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week. As we are a faith-based group the questions refer mainly to Christian fiction or non-fiction.
Today’s question is:
Do you recognise places in books you read?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Remember to comment today on Tuesday Book Chat to enter the giveaway.
Let’s chat!
Yes. When I read Robin Jones Gunn’s Under the Maui Moon set in Maui I have been there not that long before. I had only done a one day tour but I did recognise some of the places. As I read I was saying I remember where that is or that’s just how I remember it. Also in a read about parts of Vancouver and a trip to Seattle I remembered places they visited. I did however differ on the drive as they arrived on the outskirts of Seattle. I remember the grey dull dirty looking buildings and walls whereas the author had it as a normal scenic drive to the CBD. My first thought was you haven’t driven this stretch of the freeway. There are others too I recognise.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group.
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Reading is how I travel, so I don’t really recognize anyplace, but enjoy traveling through books.
I do that too. There are places I would love to see thanks to books but probably never will
Oh, yes, especially in historical fiction. A few months ago, I read Jackie French’s Becoming Mrs Mulberry, recognising several places where I had either lived or worked in and around Sydney. The main one, for me, was the mention of Callan Park, in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle. (It’s now a NSW Writing Centre Retreat). Callan Park was one of those notorious mental health institutions. I grew up in Leichhardt, two suburbs away, and, in the 70s, my stepfather used to play casual tennis with some of the male nurses from Callan Park. They had a tennis court within the huge grounds. I remember one day in particular, Mum, my little brother and I went with him to watch him play. The surrounding atmosphere was just awful, with a girl even locked in a cage outside, naked. I’ve never forgotten that, and reading the book triggered the memory. The last time I visited Callan Park was in 1994, when a young lady who was a member of the congregation of the church we attended was admitted for treatment. At that time, it was a private hospital. Jackie has some background passages at the beginning of the book, and she explains that her grandfather was the superintendent at Callan Park and spearheaded much-needed mental care reforms.
wow having a place you know well I am sure could trigger memories not always good. It is good when the books are true to the location.
I will never forget an American author putting a navel base in Cairns in far north Qld during WW2 but the heroine then drove 2 hours to sydney. It’s not something that could happen and back then it was even longer than now. I found through other friends this author tended to not let facts get in the way of a good story especially if it referred to out of the USA. (her ones in England were historically inaccurate and some in Europe were also completely wrong. (I did enjoy the story but it bugged me she didn’t even check. An atlas would tell her what she did was impossible. this was pre-internet).
There was a book series set mostly in Perth, but there were also a few places further north that I recognised from my time living there.
Most of the books I read aren’t set in Australia, and since I have never left this country there aren’t many places that resonate with me.
Not sure I have read any books set in WA. Meredith Resce has some set in Adelaide and I could picture different places she mentioned. If you read CoraVilla by her you will recognise Corio House.