Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
Hi, I’m back and I have actually read the list of prompts correctly this week. The prompt is destination titles, book titles with the name of a place in them. This idea originally came from Rachel @ Sunny Side, and it’s a fun topic, even if it is proving a lot harder than I originally expected. Since I don’t read a lot of books set in our world, I had to stretch a bit to come up with what passes as a ‘place.’ I am looking forward to seeing what all of you come up with as well. Here are ten of my favorite books featuring the name of a destination in the title:
- New Nigeria County by Clare Brown. This one didn’t take me far, it’s actually about a group of privileged suburban families like the ones I live near, but the race dynamics have been changed around, and it is white people who are viewed with fear and suspicion. It was such a great read.
- The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel. China has always been another location that I’d like to visit, and Randel brought me to WW2 era Shanghai as Jews are trying to desperately escape Europe to anywhere they could, including Shanghai. Seeing these refugees come to a completely different world than the one they were used to and striving to assimilate was eye-opening and something I hadn’t learned much about until reading this book.
- American Wolf by Audrey Birnbaum. There’s not much I like more than a really good memoir, and in this one, we learn all about the incredible life Birnbaum’s father lived as a young boy in Berlin, his daring escape from the Holocaust, and his life as an American spy in Germany during the Cold War.
- My Tel Aviv Table by Limor Chen. Tel Aviv is one of my top favorite cities that I’ve ever been to. Being able to recreate some of the magic of Israeli dishes helped bring that vibe home to New York.
- The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi. India has been on my bucket list since my teen years, and this book transported me to the beautiful Pink City of Jaipur.
- Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls. Although I haven’t found myself wanting to travel to the moon, the story takes place in a pocket of Virginia during Prohibition, and is about a young woman who grows up and becomes a bootlegger.
- A Death in Jerusalem by Jonathan Dunsky. A historical mystery about crime in Jerusalem in the 1950s, the author has a wonderful way of weaving in factual information about the setting, and pairs it with a mystery I couldn’t read fast enough. That applies to all of the other books in this series, as well.
- Happy Place by Emily Henry. Who doesn’t want to be transported to their happy place? Luckily, it’s never too far away and it costs way less than actual travel.
- Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson. Thorn Manor is an endlessly fascinating place, but best of all, it’s populated with Elisabeth and Nathaniel, who I can’t get enough of!
- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I’ve always wanted to cross the pond, and if the real-life London is anything like the secretly magical one in this series starter, I probably would have already been living there.
Have you read any of these? What book titles did you think of?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
Emily’s books ALWAYS look so charming and cheerful which is why I’m always SO tempted to give another of hers a chance. But then I remember that I didn’t love the one I read by her and I seem to resist. 😉 Either way, I still love the titles and covers and Happy Place is indeed tempting. 🙂
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That makes sense – it isn’t as easy to resist books by an author I really enjoyed previous books by, which is why I always get suckered in by the title and the cute cover!
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A great list of titles. I have The Last Rose of Shangai on my TBR. It sounds like such an interesting read.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/traveling-through-the-usa-with-ten-book-titles/
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Thank you! The Last Rose of Shanghai was a great story, and it kept me fascinated.
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Great list! I added Mysteries of Thorn Manor to my list too, I love Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas so much. Rivers of London looks really interesting, I should add it to my TBR 🙂
If you’d like to visit, here’s my TTT: https://thebooklorefairy.blogspot.com/2024/11/top-ten-tuesday-destination-titles.html
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Thank you. Rivers of London is such a fantastic urban fantasy series, and it has that wonderful tongue-in-cheek British humor that you either love or hate. I hope you give it a read!
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Happy Place looks cute.
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I thought it was a cute read, but I’m already a big fan of Emily Henry’s.
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This is a great list! So many different destinations here!
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Thanks! My pockets can’t always keep up with my travel taste, so I have to rely on books lol.
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I’m in the camp that Happy Place was fun. Here is my post https://paigesofnovels.com/2024/11/12/top-ten-tuesday-ten-favorite-books-from-ten-favorite-series/
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I’m glad that we both really enjoyed Happy Place!
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Excellent list! I have Hang the Moon on my TBR.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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Thank you! I was impressed at how much more I liked Hang the Moon than The Glass Castle.
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I almost put THE LAST ROSE OF SHANGHAI on my list, but I already had a China destination. The book sounds excellent and Shanghai is a super interesting setting. I just read another book set there during World War II. I learned a lot from it.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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The Last Rose of Shanghai is such a good story. It’s always so enjoyable to learn from a great fiction book, especially when the plot is so engrossing. I always find myself looking up information after reading because I want to learn more.
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Great list of books. I’ve not read any of these titles, but they all look interesting! I laughed at your inclusion of Happy Place. That is a great destination to be!
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Thank you. I kind of ran short on actual destination names, but it worked out perfectly!
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The moon is one of the places featured on my list this week too…not from Hang The Moon although I do also own that book and it could have made the list, I just found a different moon title first. I hope you have a wonderful week.
Here’s my TTT if you wish to visit – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/top-ten-tuesday-destination-titles.html
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I haven’t seen the moon on a lot of lists, so I’m definitely curious about the rest of the destinations on your list!
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