Books that love the place you live

[edbro]

The Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. I grew up in Fla during the 60s/70s and for me those stories take me back to the old Florida that I grew up in. Great books even without the nostalgia element.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by plumboz

Hi FlorenceArt,

I just noticed your Pratchett quote. His Tiffany Aching books (well, all of his books) are terrific. I discovered his writing just a few years ago, but he quickly took his place alongside Twain, Wodehouse and Dickens in my very short list of Writers Essential to Living Without Going Mad.

Yup, Pratchett is an essential writer And his descriptions of Ankh-Morpork - you can see it comes strait from his loving memory. The smells, especially.

[FlorenceArt]

You know, the only book that ever reminded me of my childhood was The Fortress of Solitude. It's the story of a boy growing up in Brooklyn in the seventies, the only white boy in a black neighborhood. I grew up in the seventies too, in a loving upper-middle class family in the French province. Go figure

[Elfwreck]

Doctorow's Little Brother has a good view of life in San Francisco, enough that I kept thinking "yep, been there, done that" while I was reading it.

[Shayne Parkinson]

I come from a rather obscure part of New Zealand, and I've never read anything set there except my own work. Love of that place, or at least my memories of it, is part of what inspires me to write. To quote from an essay I wrote a few months ago:

My father-in-law died in November 2009, aged 89. Right till the end his mind was sharp, easily able to recall stories from his childhood. A few years ago he visited the valley for the last time, and came back to the city full of how much it had changed. The land has been carved into smaller blocks, and some of the remaining bush cleared. To top it off, there’s now a sealed road with (this was expressed in awed tones) “A white line painted up the middle!”

I can’t go back to the valley, because “my” valley no longer exists. But I can return in imagination whenever I want.

[namebrandon]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Doctorow's Little Brother has a good view of life in San Francisco, enough that I kept thinking "yep, been there, done that" while I was reading it.

Just finished reading that a few weeks back. Really enjoyable for a YA book.

[namebrandon]

Some decent books in/around/featuring Chicago (and available at least on the Kindle)


The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson
Then We Came to the End: A Novel - Joshua Ferris
The Wagon and Other Stories from the City - Martin Preib

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Mercury

I have never visited New York and I feel for the people who live there. They eat corn dogs (god only knows what they are) with 'everything'. They shout at people. No one works any later than 5pm unless they are a taxi driver. The taxi driver won't know where he (for it is always a he) is going. He will probably be shot. Some kind of big statue will inevitably be panned away from in a long shot. Welcome to New York.



Oh, and you NEVER take the subway.



but I quite like that song

I think you mean "hot dogs" (frankfurter sausages in a split oblong bun). "Corn dogs" are more of a midwestern thing: frankfurter sausages deep fried in a thick corn (maize) flour batter (instead of a bun), usually served on a stick.

A good book by a female New York cabbie: Hack by Melissa Plaut.