Top Ten Tuesday - Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

So here we are again with another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish,

Today's list, as you can see from the title, features places that books have made me want to visit, be they fictional or real. So without further ado, let's get on with the list!

1. Hogwarts

Yup, I'm starting with the big one... Basically, this place is pretty much my dream. A magic school in a castle with moving pictures and secret passageways and four-poster beds and fires and an awesome library and feasts and towers and a creepy forest and WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE???

2. Vienna

This is the first place I ever remember wanting to visit from a book. When I was in primary school, I was part of a group chosen to read the shortlisted books for the Smarties book prize (I think!) and say what we thought of them. One of the books was The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson, part of which is set in Vienna, and I was absolutely enchanted by the descriptions of the place. I remember there were some especially brilliant descriptions of cakes...

3. Yorkshire

This is another place inspired by a children's book! This time it's The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I actually love the descriptions of the Yorkshire moor in this book so so much!

4. Bath

The city of Bath features in a lot of Jane Austen's novels, and though the city itself is never described in much detail, I was still inspired to go there by her writing. I've now been to Bath many times, and it definitely lived up to my high expectations.

5. Macondo

This is the fictional* South American village/town in Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Despite the fact that a lot of pretty awful things happen in this place, it still has a certain magic about it that I found irresistible when reading the book. There is also something so intriguing about a newly founded place where all its inhabitants are making a completely fresh start.

6. Greenery Street

I think I've mentioned this book a couple of times before in other posts, but I love the book Greenery Street by Denis Mackail. It's basically the story of a young couple who buy their first home in the idyllic Greenery Street, and is just a humorous portrayal of their daily lives. But there is something so beautiful and charming about the setting in that book that I really wish it was real. (Who knows, maybe it is..!)

I think that's about all I can think of. Sorry that's not ten places! If I come up with any more I'll let you know! Until next time, friends!

What do you think of my top ten (well, top six)? What would your top ten bookish places be? Let me know in the comments!

*Wait... Is it actually fictional?

A Back-to-Bristol Book Haul

As I indicated in a recent post, autumn has well and truly arrived, which means I'm now back in beautiful Bristol! This is the city where I study (though not last year as I went abroad), and I have to say, I've really really missed it here!

I love this city so much; it's such a great mix of art, culture, student life, shopping, history, and so much more!

I've moved to a new area this year, so I'm still discovering new things every day. But of course I still go back to my favourite old haunts, and one of these is definitely the brilliant Oxfam bookshop at the top of Park Street. I love this place. It's such a gem! You can often find second-hand course books here too, since it's so near the uni. But of course I mostly just go there for fun!

Not only do they sell books (and music) very cheaply, but they also have a selection of DVDs and games, as well as some fairtrade products (chocolate, honey and coffee are my faves).

Of course, since the books are so cheap, you can buy twice as many! (Let's just not look too closely at my bank statements from now on...)

After popping into this Oxfam bookshop on my lunch break at uni, I then discovered ANOTHER ONE on my way home! Isn't this one so stylish?

So, of course, I had to pop in there too. (Don't judge me...)

Now I should probably seriously re-evaluate my spending habits, but in the meantime, let's look at the fabulous books I bought!

In the first bookshop, I went for old classics. 

These are:

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Lady Susan/The Watsons/Sanditon by Jane Austen (so excited to read this!!!)

and The Newcomes by William Makepeace Thackeray

This beautiful old copy of The Newcomes is probably the best looking of these books. I especially love the spine on this! And I'm definitely excited to read a lesser known book by the writer famous for Vanity Fair.

So pretty!

As you can see, I went a bit more modern in the next bookshop...

These are:

A Mere Interlude by Thomas Hardy

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe

A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Not gonna lie, I definitely chose some of these purely on the cover...

But I've heard great things about every one of these authors (though I've never read any of their work before, apart from Edgar Allen Poe).

This cover is probably my favourite:

Isn't it glorious???

But the other covers are great too!

So there you have it, my back-to-bristol book haul! And the money went to a good cause!

What do you think of my choice of books? Have you done a book haul recently? Do you have a book-buying problem? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!