Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
...
We talk about settings with descriptions of gardens, rivers, and forests that the traveler sees as he journeys in a story, but there are so many kinds of homes where the main characters live that are fascinating. Many authors take a lot of time describing kitchens, sitting rooms, the interiors of churches and these are fascinating to me. A Hobbit Hole is one of my favorites.
https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/The_Shire
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Also in The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien is Rivendell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivendell
Rivendell (Sindarin: Imladris) is a valley in the fictional world of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was established in the Second Age by Elrond Half-elven, who protected it with the powers of his elven ring Vilya and ruled it until the events of The Lord of the Rings four or five thousand years later.
Rivendell was located in eastern Eriador at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Bruinen (one of the main approaches to Rivendell comes from the nearby Ford of Bruinen), but well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the Hithaeglir or Misty Mountains.
… In Rivendell the culture, wisdom, and lore of the Elves of the Elder Days was preserved. Through the power of his ring, Vilya, Elrond could stave off the weariness of time that affected the outside world, allowing the immortal Elves to live in a somewhat timeless realm in their hidden valley. On high feast days the household of Elrond told the tales and sang the songs chronicling the deeds of their history and of the Blessed Realm of Valinor.
Despite its semi-isolation and seeming fixation on the past, Rivendell was worldly and never fully cut off from nature was remarked on by Sam Gamgee who said that there was something of everything in Rivendell, to which Frodo agreed, but added that there was nothing of the sea represented. For outsiders it proved to be a "refuge for the weary and the oppressed, and a treasury of good counsel and wise lore", and was visited by peoples of all races seeking sanctuary, healing, and the wisdom of Elrond.
Then there is Hogwarts:
Hogwarts Castle is a large, seven-story high building supported by magic, with a hundred and forty two staircases throughout its many towers and turrets and very deep dungeons. ... The castle is the main building of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, regarded as the finest wizarding school in the world.
J. K. Rowling says she visualizes Hogwarts, in its entirety, to be:
A huge, rambling, quite scary-looking castle, with a jumble of towers and battlements. Like the Weasleys' house, it isn't a building that Muggles could build, because it is supported by magic.
Lord Valentine’s Castle by Robert Silverberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majipoor_series
Castle Mount
Alhanroel is home to Castle Mount, a huge peak taller than Earth's Mount Everest. Using force fields and atmosphere generators this mountain has bucolic climate and many beautiful and wonderful cities. At the top is the Coronal's Castle, which is referred to as "Lord (current Coronal's) Castle". Since each Coronal is expected to add a room or structure to the Castle, it is huge indeed.
I always liked the inn in the tree in the Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis and Hickman:
The Inn of the Castosome was built high in the branches of a mighty vallenwoods tree, as was every other building in Solace.
https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Margaret-Weis-and-Tracy-Hickman/Dragonlance-Chronicles.html
He stood in the center of the Inn, peering around as though confirming the location and position of each table and chair in the room. The common room was large and bean-shaped, wrapping around the trunk of the valenwood. The tree’s smaller limbs supported the floor and ceiling. He looked with particular interest at the fireplace, which stood about three-quarters of the way back into the room. The only stonework in the Inn, it was obviously crafted by dwarven hands to appear to be part of the tree, winding naturally through the branches above.
A bin next to the side of the firepit was stacked high with cordwood a pine logs brought down from the high mountains. No resident of Solace would consider burning the wood of their own great trees. There was a back route out of the kitchen; it was a forty-foot drop, but a few of Otik’s customers found this setup very convenient. So did the old man.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle
Howl's castle is a tall, black building with four thin black turrets. It seems to be made of blocks of coal (a suitable habitat for a fire demon) and is "bespelled to hold together". It seems to have four doors on the outside, although three are made inaccessible by an invisible wall.
The inside of the castle is made of the house where Calcifer is based, which is Howl's house in Porthaven at first, then the house by the hat shop in Market Chipping after the move in Chapter Seventeen. A "square wooden knob above the door, set into the lintel, with a dab of paint on each of its four sides" allows one to open the door into four different locations. Initially these locations are: the moving castle in the hills above Market Chipping (green); in Porthaven (blue); in Kingsbury (red); and in Wales (black). However, after Howl is forced into hiding he changes the door's destinations to: in Market Chipping (yellow); in Vale End (orange); a garden in the waste (purple); and in Wales (black).
Before the move, the window over the workbench and the one in Michael's front room overlook Porthaven. Afterwards, the downstairs window looks out on a street in Market Chipping. The one in Howl's bedroom overlooks his sister's garden in Wales.
Camelot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot
The Lancelot-Grail Cycle and the texts it influenced depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream from Astolat. It is surrounded by plains and forests, and its magnificent cathedral, St. Stephen's, originally established by Josephus, the son of Joseph of Arimathea, is the religious centre for Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. There, Arthur and Guinevere are married and there are the tombs of many kings and knights. In a mighty castle stands the Round Table, created by Merlin and Uther Pendragon; it is here that Galahad conquers the Siege Perilous, and where the knights see a vision of the Holy Grail and swear to find it. Jousts are often held in a meadow outside the city.
Discworld…Terry Pratchett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld_(world)
The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin (similar to Chukwa or Akupara from Hindu mythology) as it slowly swims through space.
Rebecca by du Maurier
https://www.thebookseller.com/feature/rebecca-extract-338986
There was Manderley, our Manderley, secretive and silent as it had always been, the grey stone shining in the moonlight of my dream, the mullioned windows reflecting the green lawns and the terrace. Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls, nor the site itself, a jewel in the hollow of a hand. The terrace sloped to the lawns, and the lawns stretched to the sea, and turning I could see the sheet of silver placid under the moon, like a lake undisturbed by wind or storm. No waves would come to ruffle this dream water, and no bulk of cloud, wind-driven from the west, obscure the clarity of this pale sky.
221B Baker Street
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/221B_Baker_Street
221B Baker Street is the London address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the United Kingdom, postal addresses with a number followed by a letter may indicate a separate address within a larger, often residential building. Baker Street in the late 19th century was a high-class residential district, and Holmes' apartment would probably have been part of a Georgian terrace.
We met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows.
— Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, 1887
Dorothy Sayers
Lord Peter’s library was one of the most delightful bachelor rooms in London. Its scheme was black and primrose; its walls were lined with rare editions, and its chairs and Chesterfield sofa suggested the embraces of the houris. In one corner stood a black baby grand, a wood fire leaped on a wide old-fashioned hearth, and the Sèvres vases on the chimney piece were filled with ruddy and gold chrysanthemums. To the eyes of the young man who was ushered in from the raw November fog it seemed not only rare and unattainable, but friendly and familiar, like a colorful and gilded paradise in a medieval painting.
...
What are some of your favorite places?
Take Me Home -
……………..
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
Kos Katalogue - For Your Guilt Free Shopping Needs
Avilyn
www.dailykos.com/…
……………….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_castles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mythological_places
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fantasy_worlds
10 Magnificent Fairy Tale Castles from Around the World! | Amazing Earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJCFXS2V4f4
34 Fictional Places We Wish We Could Visit
https://www.google.com/search?q=famous+fictional+castles&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=654&sxsrf=ALeKk00TppMU15D62ZF78A5cRjDi3frZWA:1586667334281&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=8taiL-udOGiCDM%253A%252CTnAANRAw3YaC8M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSEePKa9f6wwcu2qK-MCddOkmf2VQ&ved=2ahUKEwisl9i2jOLoAhXTAZ0JHfLTAXoQ9QEwFXoECAkQHQ#imgrc=8taiL-udOGiCDM:
The 25 Greatest Homes in Literature
www.flavorwire.com/...
……………..
Youffraita is thinking of getting some kind of tablet so she could go to a wifi place and be able to come back to Daily Kos. I know nothing about what kind might work for this...if you have any thoughts on this please share…thanks.
She is still working, but some of her customers are not being careful. She misses us as always and says “Hello!!” She has her two kitties for company. She can’t get her NYT newspaper, but she has been watching dvds on her computer.