04. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

The year 2020 marks the 200th anniversary of the date that Antarctica was discovered. On January 27th, 1820, Russian Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen became the first person to see the Antarctic continent. In honor of this discovery, your goal this week is to read a book set in a time or place that you wouldn't want to live. This can include historical fiction set during wartime, novels set in the wilderness or space, or, to really honor Antarctica, books set in the ice cold of the Arctic.

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Suggestions:

ATY Group Listopia
Books Set in the Arctic and Antarctica
Esquire's 14 Best Books Set During War
BookBub's Sad Historical Fiction List
Backpacker's Outdoor Books Everyone Should Read
Survival Novels about the Wilderness
Book Riot's Best Books Set in Space
Abe Book's Best Dystopian Novels
Book Riot's Best Psychological Thrillers of 2019

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Optional Questions
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. What is the setting?
3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you?

[ladymurmur]

For this prompt, I'm planning to read The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. An historical fantasy about a military nurse serving in the Vietnam War. This was the first book that popped to mind when the prompt was originally suggested. She's an author that I've enjoyed for a long time, so I have every reason to believe that this will be a good read. It has been on my shelf for quite a while, but I've always hesitated to start it - never quite found the reason to pick it over whatever other title I'd narrowed my choice down to. This prompt may just be that reason!

[Entropia]

It's one of those prompts I really have a lot of options for. It would be far more difficult to find a book set in setting I would like to live in. ;)

[Pam]

I plan to read Heretics of Dune, the 5th book in the series, by Frank Herbert.

[Dana]

I plan to read Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.

[Nadine in NY]

This is going to be all about the ZOMBIES for me - I love reading zombie books, but I would never want to live in that situation. There are a lot I haven't read yet. I'll probably read Patient Zero, Raising Stony Mayhall, The Gospel of Z, or Last Ones Left Alive (although I'll probably use that one for "rural setting" ... if I don't read it this year, that is)

[Angie]

The first thing that came of my mind was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (the forthcoming Panem book). Since I'll probably be using that for the 2020 release prompt, I'm thinking of something else dystopian or perhaps Jurassic Park. I wouldn't want to live on an island with dinosaurs.

[Serendipity]

Pretty sure I’ll read My Last Continent. It’s set in Antarctica so cold and isolated. Birding is a big part of my life so this story appeals because it involves penguin research.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Am I the only one who thinks it might be cool to live on Antarctica? Not permanently of course, but I could spend a year or two at the research station.

[Nadine in NY]

Jackie wrote: "Am I the only one who thinks it might be cool to live on Antarctica? Not permanently of course, but I could spend a year or two at the research station."


you're probably not the only one, but I can't say I am with you! I get enough cold and snow in the winter here in northern NY. I can't imagine it being even colder. I mean, I guess it would be cool to just BE there, just to know that yes I was there, but I wouldn't want to live there!!

[Johanne]

I would go insane after the first winter. The winter darkness here in Denmark where I live really bothers me. And three months of constant darkness would drive me mad.
I would probably end up in prison like this guy:

https://www.thenational.ae/world/russ...

I know it´s an old story, but I can absolutely empathise with this guys actions of utter desperation.

[Nadine in NY]

Anyone who repeatedly spoils the ending deserves whatever beat down comes at them. The wrong person was arrested if you ask me.

[Ellie]

I can't even begin to imagine the kind of cold that means your fingers will fall off if you don't wear suitable clothing! My fingers hurt enough rummaging around in my freezer. And no daylight in winter! I'd love to be able to see Antarctica, but definitely wouldn't want to live there.

[Johanne]

There must be a special place in hell for people who deliberately and repeatedly spoil others' books.

[SadieReadsAgain]

From my physical/Kindle TBR, my places mainly fall into conflict/disaster zones and dystopias:

Noughts & Crosses
The Road
A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal
With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia
The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan
Night
Chernobyl Strawberries: A Memoir

[Teri]

Entropia wrote: "It's one of those prompts I really have a lot of options for. It would be far more difficult to find a book set in setting I would like to live in. ;)"

This is what I was thinking.

[[deleted user]]

I'll be reading Competence for this prompt. It's set in a steampunk alternative London, in the 1890s, and it's bad enough that vampires and werewolves are a part of society. But worse than that, woman are required to wear corsets. NO Thank You, LOL

[Marie]

I have a pretty intense hatred for modern day London, so I'll be reading The Furthest Station for this one - the thought of commuting on the Underground every day is so depressing, and I definitely find London inhospitable and dangerous.

I'd actually be quite happy to spend a year living in Antarctica, I bet the people are friendlier, and there's a lot less chance of getting stabbed, mugged or harassed. Plus, there's penguins :)

[Leanne]

I'm going to read either The Man in the High Castle, Station Eleven, or Fahrenheit 451

[Ellie]

Marie wrote: "I'd actually be quite happy to spend a year living in Antarctica, I bet the people are friendlier, and there's a lot less chance of getting stabbed, mugged or harassed. Plus, there's penguins :).."

Likelihood of stabbings depends on if you spoil book endings or not!

[Nadine in NY]

Ellie wrote: "Likelihood of stabbings depends on if you spoil book endings or not! "


LOL that's exactly what I thought of!!!

[Marie]

I would never spoil an ending! So I'm totally safe in Antarctica :)

[Johanne]

But what you do to those who spoiled your books repeatedly and on purpose? The risk is real. :)

[Marie]

I've survived years of TV watchers spoiling Game of Thrones for me, when I don't watch the show, but I've been reading the books since the first one was published. My tolerance limits are very high :)

I might just keep hiding their special biscuits or teabags as revenge. Something subtle but annoying, that can't be traced back to me. Is this the start of a story where the whole Antarctic base gets murdered?!

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Marie wrote: "I've survived years of TV watchers spoiling Game of Thrones for me, when I don't watch the show, but I've been reading the books since the first one was published. My tolerance limits are very high..."

It definitely sounds like an awesome new version of And Then There Were None. "You have all been gathered in this research lab to atone for your crimes against humanity..."

[Johanne]

hahaha lol!

[Marie (UK)]

I quite like the sound of The Healer's War but cannot find it in my library and i try not to buy too many books nut it is an option

maybe The Midwife of Hope River I am not built for poverty

[Joanne]

I might finally push myself to get to A Clash of Kings. I can't say I really enjoyed the first book, but I want to give the series one more chance. I certainly wouldn't want to live in this world.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

The NY Times just covered this book and thought I would share it here- cause def don't want to live here An Underground Guide to Sewers: Or: Down, Through and Out in Paris, London, New York, &c.

[LindaLH]

Night by Elie Wiesel has been on my shelf for a while, and this may be my prompt to read it. It's his memoir about living in Nazi concentration camps during WWII.

Another possibility is Educated by Tara Westover. I'll be leading a discussion on Tara's memoir about her weird fundamentalist Mormon family in Idaho. Technically this will be a re-read for me, but I gotta do it.

Not sure I need to explain why I wouldn't want to live in either situation?

[Erika]

As of right now my plan is to read The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. I'm honestly not even sure what it's about but every book I've read by her has hurt so if she's writing it I assume I wouldn't want to live there. If it doesn't end up working I won't be too bothered since I want to read it anyway but I don't have any back ups yet.

Some I would recommend are:
All the Light We Cannot See
Between Shades of Gray
Salt to the Sea

All three take place during WW2 but I thought they were all great

[Sandra]

I am reading Bitter Grounds which is set on a coffee plantation in El Salvador. I don’t think I would want to be either a worker or an owner, nor would I want to live in 1930’s-70’s El Salvador. I expect I would have had a short and miserable life. But I’ll see after I complete the book. I am also reading this for GR’s Around the World in 80 books - the TBR subchallenge. This is another great GR Challenge and, like Around the Year, has greatly expanded my reading experience.

[Amy]

I'm reading The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron. It has two storylines in two very different times, one of which being some 37,000 years ago as my best guess. Safe to say I wouldn't ever want to live during that time.

[Ashley]

I read The Son. It takes place in the future, but not one I would want to live in. I don't like the faction system that exists and I would not want to live like they do.

[Sandra]

sssnoo wrote: "I am reading Bitter Grounds which is set on a coffee plantation in El Salvador. I don’t think I would want to be either a worker or an owner, nor would I want to live in 1930’s-70’s E..."

Well, Bitter Grounds would count, but I am using The Old Man Who Read Love Stories from Equador. After reading this book I think I will experience deep Amazonia from my armchair.

[Sherri]

I read The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker for this prompt. It is set during the Trojan War told from a female slave point of view.

[Maple]

I read Folsom Untold: The Strange True Story of Johnny Cash's Greatest Album, because I definitely would not want to live in prison.

This was so much more than I expected it to be. I've never been a fan of Johnny Cash (I was neutral about his music). This book drew me in and really made me care about him, the people in his life, and the history around his music. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

[Serendipity]

I’ve just finished The Beekeeper of Aleppo - war torn Syria plus the refugee trail are definitely places I wouldn’t want to live. I’ve got an Antarctic based book lined up but will slot it on elsewhere.

[Joanne]

Joanne wrote: "I might finally push myself to get to A Clash of Kings. I can't say I really enjoyed the first book, but I want to give the series one more chance. I certainly wouldn't want to live in..."

I ended up DNFing this book and feel so much relief giving up on this series that felt like a chore to read.

1. What are you reading for this category?

Alicia by Alicia Appleman-Jurman

2. What is the setting?

It's a memoir of Alicia growing up Jewish in WWII in Poland.

3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you?

Alicia is desperately trying to survive while most of her friends and family are betrayed by her Polish and Ukrainian neighbours and turned over to the Nazis to be murdered.

[Liz]

1. What are you reading for this category?
I'm reading Cilka's Journey
2. What is the setting? Holocaust and post WWII gulags
3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you? Not sure there is anything to explain about concentration camps and gulags.

I had several options for this, but this was next up on my library holds list.

[Laurel]

1. What are you reading for this category? Murder by Misrule
2. What is the setting? Elizabethan England
3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you? Disease, violence, and lack of rights for most women.

[Ruth]

What are you reading for this category? I've just read Bloody January by Alan Parks. I was going to use this one for the prompt for week 5 The first book in a series that you have not started but I found it fitted the brief for this week very well
What is the setting? It's set in Glasgow in January 1973.
3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you? The cold, raw weather with wet snow, the crumbling tenements and derelict factories inhabited by the desperate dregs of society, the squalid pubs and cafés, the sectarianism, sexism and homophobia and ever present violence. Not a place and time that has much to recommend it. Definitely not a Walter Scott type of setting. About the only thing that I might have enjoyed is the David Bowie concert!

[Bryony]

1. What are you reading for this category?
Room by Emma Donoghue

2. What is the setting?
A room in which the narrator and his mother are being held prisoner after she was kidnapped.

3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you?
Almost everything about it! I think the scariest part of it isn’t so much the space the characters live in, but the way they are completely at the mercy of the person keeping them prisoner.

[Alexx]

1. What are you reading for this category?
I am reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

2. What is the setting?
It's set during the Holocaust in "Out-With" (Auschwitz)

3. What about the setting seems inhospitable to you?
Well the Concentration Camps might have something to do with it... I'm not really sure what else I can explain about it lol

[Errlee]

I am considering sticking to the Arctic aspect of the prompt and going with The Terror by Dan Simmons (just finished the first season of the show based on the book and it was so good), or Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier (my husband recommended it). But they are both SO long ... so I will see how I'm feeling and might end up going with a zombie/dystopian theme book instead. We'll see what next week brings.

[Aine]

What are you reading?
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Where is it set?
Gilead

[Sue]

I read Dustfall by Michelle Johnston, which is set in Wittenoom in Western Australia, which was an asbestos mining town, now deserted but still dangerous.

[Marie (UK)]

I read The Spy Who Came In from the Cold I would have hated living in a divided country with such leanings to terror

[Deborah]

I went with Blackout by Mira grant because I don't think living in a world with zombies would be a ton of fun!

[Stacey]

For this prompt I am going to read A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's been sitting on my shelf forever and I've been meaning to read it ever since. After reading a review from a fellow reader I realised the setting is a war-zone Afghanistan and touches on the history of this country and the rise of the Taliban. Any type of war-zone does not sound ideal for living to me.
I'm really looking forward to reading this one!