Why I Love ... Wednesday!

Why I Love ... Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Alexis over at reflections of a bookaholic. Each Wednesday is an opportunity to explore a different aspect of literature and why I love it. Today's topic: Favorite Setting.

I am so happy for the topic today! I have just discovered a new favorite in this category. For the first time ever, I recently read a book set in Edmonton, Alberta. I live about 10 minutes from there and spend a lot of time in 'the city'. While I was reading this book , I discovered a couple of things: 1) a new author that I love and will read again! 2) that I love to read books that are set in places that are familiar to me.

Truly, before I had this epiphany, I would have said my favorite settings were places I had never been so that I could vicariously travel to them through the book. And I do like that. It is exciting to discover new places and cultures through reading. BUT it is so comforting to read about places I know well. It makes the action more alive for me when I can picture the places I am reading about.

I remember being quite young and reading 'Who Has Seen the Wind' by W O Mitchell. The story is set in Saskatchewan - where I grew up. It was amazing to me that the author knew the places I knew. When I read a book set in a place I know well (like this one) I feel like I am a part of the story; like I share a secret with the characters and author. I feel connected.

What setting are your favorite? Would you choose to pick up a book based solely on where it was set? Enquiring minds want to know. ;o)

Why I Love ... Wednesday!

Why I Love ... Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Alexis over at reflections of a bookaholic. Each Wednesday is an opportunity to explore a different aspect of literature and why I love it. Today's topic: Favorite Series.

The truth of the matter is, I usually try to avoid series. I always end up frustrated while I wait for the next book to come out. Plus, I really do like my books to end and so many series leave the reader with a cliffhanger rather than an ending. I see the logic, I'm just not fond of it.

If I have to pick one series that I really enjoyed, though, it would have to be Diana Gabaldon's 'Outlander' series. The first book of the series 'Outlander' is everything I do not look for in a book. It is really thick, for starters, and the story line takes place over two time periods. I'm not opposed to time travel, per se, I just haven't found many authors that do it well. I'm not sure what made me pick this book up at the library that fateful day or what state of boredom I was in when I actually started reading it, but I am so happy all those things worked together. Diana Gabaldon ended up being one of my favorite authors and her books some of my favorite books.

Haven't discovered this series, yet? Here's a bit about the first installment from goodreads:

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

I don't think the blurb does it justice. I loved this book and the series, both.