Which book do you want to step into?

Alright - We all know the old "If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only have one book, what would it be?" scenario.

So, my question is this - Imagine you had some cool 'Star Trek'-type friends, and got stuck in their holodeck. Which book would you most life to step in and live through?

Is it becase of the characters, the events, or is it the world itself that you would like to explore?

ToanZhou, I would love to step back a little in time and into Standing In The Rainbow By Fannie Flagg. The town in I think it was Kansas area sounded so quaint, friendly and everyone knew everybody else. It was such a heartwarming story I remember telling a friend that I wished I could live in a cute little town like this one.

I would love to be able to meet the charcters in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy. The characterization in these books is superb.

Also, there are talking tigers.
Bonus!

Having a holodeck to play with sounds cool enough to me!

I wouldn't actually want to live in the universes of most of the books that I read, they're dangerous, no matter how great the characters may be. However, if it were a game and I couldn't actually get hurt, then plenty of them are worlds I might like to play in.

Well, I guess the obvious answer is The Eyre Affair and Lost in a good book (come on-the Cheshire cat as a librarian-what could be better?). But since most of the fiction I read is dystopian, I think I'd want to stay clear of those. I'll stick with The Eyre Affair-there's something appealing about living in a world that is so influenced by books, despite Goliath and Crimea.

I would love "to boldly go" - in any of the various permutations.

For the purposes of this board, let us assume that any where you go, you would be like a foreign dignitary with diplomatic immunity. As long as you are reasonably careful, you can not get hurt.

OMG

so many to choose from.. I have to come back later....

The Golden Compass! I want a daemon!!! ;)

I want to go to Ireland and Scotland. They sound beautiful and the pictures are gorgeous. There are so many books that have taken place there. And the most important reason is I want the locals to talk to me, for hours!!!!!!

The Joy of Cooking; it is the world itself that I would like to explore.

Robert

Two places come to mind actually, hazardous as they may be:

Perdido Street Station - because I'm dying to see cactus people, amongst the other weird inhabitants of that world.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - I'm not sure why but I keep wanting to visit "england in the time of magic"

I came here to say IMPOSSIBLE to choose!

Instead, can I steal cal's answer?

I think I'd opt for the Harry Potter series. I'd LOVE to do real magic! But the daemon idea sounds pretty good too.

OOOHHH a friend to explore with... excellent!

I'd love to live in some of the nicer bits of the Glitter Band in Revelation Space pre-collapse, neuroally and physically modded as whim takes.

But a somewhere with dragons would be pretty cool too, maybe between passes in Pern

But life sounds fairly hand to mouth there so pehaps Downbelow would be better, though I'm not sure I could cope with the perennial rain.

hmm tricky.

What about organising a trip to Borges's Biblioteca de Babel? We could take all the Combiners along, and watch what happens to them in a universe where no two books are the same...

Looking forward to some adventures, Cal.... do you like Guinness?

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Also, The Name of the Rose. I've always been fascinated by the dark ages. Maybe Ivanhoe, too, while I'm in the time traveling mode. Of course, you're at the mercy of the author to have gotten things right.

I would certainly try it!!!

Oooohhh, HHGG! Good one! Can I come? *grabs pink fluffy towel* ^^

Fantasia! Of The neverending story not Disney. Then I could create all the worlds I could possibly want to explore.

My first thought on seeing this question was that I want to go into The Time-Traveler's Wife. Mostly I just want a husband that will win the lottery for me. I also wanted to see the inside of Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I really never had any desire to visit Japan until I read Murakami. He describes it so vividly that I really want to go now.

I think I'd want to go live in the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers. Granted, there are murders all the time, but even so it all seems so civilized.

If not that, I think I'd go to Cornwall in Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home. She makes it sound like heaven. I'd live at Nancherrow and get very fat from all the rich teas they have.

It would have to be a journey to Hogwarts School of Magic.

One more for the Hogwarts Express!

Definitely The Eyre Affair, because I could jump into any other book I wanted through the Prose Portal.

But if that's too much like wishing for more wishes... well, I'm not sure I could pick just one.

There was only one book I've ever read that I knew from page one I'd needed to enter. That was The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. I think that Piya was a most wonderful protagonist - one whom I'd want as a fellow traveller. She was interesting, intelligent, strong, and curious. The land (the Sundarbans - the tidal coast of India) which Piya (a marine biologist) was visiting and studying was a most amazing place.

I *still* do not want to believe that Piya is only a fictitious character. I know that the Sundarbans is a real place and have been delighted to learn about it.

After thinking about it for a few days I keep coming back to Merchanter's Luck by C. J. Cherryh. I read it in the early 90’s when I was lead mechanic at an Acura dealership. I kept thinking, “this guy needs a good mechanic”. Cherryh created an interesting world, I see someone else has already picked Downbelow Station.

There are several different place I wouldn't actually mind trying to live in for awhile. The Doctor's Galifrey, Tolkien's Middle-Earth, maybe Pern, or even Mr. Spock's Home Planet of Vulcan. But wherever it might be I would hope they would have their own Libraries because as Thomas Jefferson said, "I can not live without books". Or maybe it would even be some place else totally different. I might have to give it a little bit more deeper thought on the subject. But these are just the ones that come to mind right away.

beatles1964

I am sooo with you on the Black Jewels Triology. I don't know how many times I can read those books and just want to be there. To be able to speak with Kindred and visit the different realms... *sigh* Many, MANY kudos to Anne Bishop for giving me such reading pleasure!

Another good one is The Witches of Eileanan Series. Kate Forsyth is a wonderful writer.

I thought of another one (having just seen "Prince Caspian" last night): Narnia.

You all have picked some good ones--Hogwarts would be great fun, and I've visited Narnia so many times it already feels like home. But, I think I'd choose either The Awakening for a much needed vacation (I'd leave the whole suicide out of course) or Enchanted Inc. just for fun. If I'm going to escape to another reality, I want calm or fluff--nothing heavy or thrilling at this time.

This game is like Magic Tree House for adults. How to choose? I'd want unlimited visits. I read so many historicals that I would most likely choose one of them but to live in pre toliet and pre shower England or Scotland? EW!

I started thinking of the 80 of real classics I've read over the past few years. I couldn't really come up with a better answer that than these several previous messages. Let it be Griffendor!

Talking tigers are always a bonus!!

Hogwarts does sound pretty good....

My adult kids and I play this mental game all the time. In terms of books, my personal favorite would be the Barrayar universe of Lois McMaster Bujold, or the world of Ivory in Doris Egan's series about that world -- and I highly recommend both authors to the s/f and fantasy fans out there. I would also love to visit Tolkien's Middle Earth, particularly before the departure of the Elves. And I've often wished I could take on animal form and be one of Ratty and Badger's friends in The Wind in the Willows.

If we could be granted magical powers, we'd all love to live in the Harry Potter universe -- but as wizards and witches, not as muggles. I'd LOVE to teach at Hogwarts!

While I love historical fiction, I really wouldn't want to live there -- the dangers of dying from ordinary things are enormous, and I'm rather fond of my daily shower. I don't know if I could really stand the smells. A very temporary visit would be fun, though.

Speaking of Star Trek, my kids and I are fans of the original, STNG, DS-Nine, Babylon 5, and the new Battlestar Galactica (as well as our eternal favorite, the Firefly series). We often play this game by asking which captain we'd best love to serve under -- so far we're split between Mal Reynolds on Serenity (the Firefly series), and Captain Janeway of Voyager.

The world Melanie Rawn created in Exiles is pretty amazing; it makes my short list. So does going to Hogwarts, and also Valdemar but only if I could be a Herald and have my own Companion.

You know what's really strange? If I was at Hogwarts I'd go straight to the library!

Being in Garth Nixs' keys to the kingdom series would be so cool, meeting all of the crazy denizens and the keys....all that power at your fingertips that would be awesome.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I would love to meet the main characters in person.

Weirdly, I dreamed of being at Hogwarts last night. Harry himself was there....

>41 Sandydog1:...What's strange about that? Heck, I'd want to go just to teach that mean old librarian a thing or two about what librarians SHOULD be like. Hmmm...maybe she'd be close to retiring (let's see, at least in her 60s when the first book took place in '98-she's got to be close)-maybe they'd need a replacement.

I always wanted to visit Middle-Earth and see the Elves and The Shire. But once Sauron was defeated in the end there wouldn't be any reason for me to visit Middle-Earth because the Elves left Middle-Earth, along with Gandalf and Bilbo. So now I would have to say I most likely choseto visit Hogwarts. Maybe even take a job there working in the library. Pern might be a nice place to visit too. I would like to visit Galifrey before the Daleks and TimeLords killed each other off.

beatles1964