In Which Book Would You Choose to Live?

[Piscivore]

In the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde (which I recommend), a "real world" character, by means of fantastic devices, goes into hiding in a literary text for several months, and another retires permanently within the text of "Jane Eyre"- so long as they stay out of the main narrative, no one notices.

In which book would you choose to retire? Not surprising to most, I'm sure, mine is "Cannery Row"- fish, booze, hookers, and a general good feeling mixed with just enough misery, pain, and ennui to be interesting.

[applecorped]

Kama Sutra. I like to watch.

[Denver]

It's an interesting question.

First I thought, something intriguing and exciting, with mysteries to explore.
Something by Lovecraft! But that would likely be a short retirement, lasting until something comes along to eat my face off.

Then maybe something set in the English countryside, where nothing really bad happens. Like, the Pickwick Papers, or Pride and Prejudice, or even Wind in the Willows.

But there's no internet there. And maybe something with really good medical care would be a good idea for a retiree. So that might mean something futuristic.

But I can't think of any Scifi where there's both amazing medical advances, and no equally exotic futuristic ways people are dying.

Maybe I'll just retire to a nice travel book.

[Mark Felt]

There were a few harlequin romances that I wouldn't have minded being a cast member in.

[Horatius]

But I can't think of any Scifi where there's both amazing medical advances, and no equally exotic futuristic ways people are dying.

Maybe I'll just retire to a nice travel book.



Time Enough For Love. Everybody is both effectively immortal, and getting laid all the time.

[Marquis de Carabas]

The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault, obviously.

Failing that, Gaiman's Neverwhere.

[LibraryLady]

Mansfield Park. A nice ordered world.

[Arthur Denton]

Oh, man, that oughta be RAMA.

This series of books, by Arthur C Clarke (he sits in the lap of the gods now) has always fascinated me. It's magical. It's scientific. It's a never ending amount of possibilities. My vote is Rama, for the win.

If I'm allowed, the second choice will, despite all the bloodshed and suffering for the quests, the Lord of the Rings (or The Silmarilion), no need to explain why: many people who read the book has this desire, and since you can feel the book very well, it is only natural to want to be there.

Also, in the Foulcault Pendulum. Working with books, reading, processing material, researching in a couple of museums - in Europe, for crying out loud - would be really something interesting.

[borealys]

Honestly ... I'd retire to one of Fforde's books. Is that cheating? Something akin to wishing for more wishes?

It's a great alternate universe, full of things that are completely mundane to the characters involved, but would be delightfully surprising and absurd to me. I would get myself a pet dodo and attend services at the Church of the Global Standard Deity and score myself some hardcore illegal cheese and watch everyone's favourite political game show, Evade the Question Time. And if it all got too weird, I'd just bookjump into something a little more relaxing for a vacation. And if it stopped being weird enough, I dunno, I'd take a vacation in a Terry Pratchett or something.

As a second choice, I agree with Arthur, some sort of well-thought-out first-contact tale would be a cool book to retire to. (Though I didn't care at all for the Rama sequels; only the first one ranks among my favourite books.)

[HistoryGal]

I thought this is such a great question, that I e-mailed to my father, thinking we'd chat about it this week when I go to visit. He reads but doesn't write back because of his benign essential tremor.

However, he did reply! He said he'd live in an encyclopedia because of all the choices.

:D

I'm still thinking about it, but I think I'd start with living in the short story, "Where the Cluetts Are" by Jack Finney.

HG

[gumboot]

I wouldn't mind living in my own book. It wouldn't all be smiles, but my inside knowledge would make me something like a super-God. I'd probably be burned at the stake. :(

On second thoughts I'd retire into Where's Spot.

[elipse]

I had to think for a bit, because so many of my favourite books would turn out to be entirely unsuitable to retire into. Jane Austen, for example- ah, how lovely, all those muslins and manners...except that it would be a really bad place to be an atheist or a feminist. Mansfield Park was mentioned-- but remember that the heroine is a namby-pamby submissive who gets her religious panties in a bunch at the mere mention of acting and who honestly believes that those who have servants have a moral obligation to make those servants attend church so that their souls are saved whether or not they want them saved. Don't get me wrong- I'm very fond of Fanny, but let's face it-my opinions are far more like Mary's, and she's not good enough for a happy ending. The same can be said for almost anything written before the 20th century... but most great 20th century books have really nasty plots/characters/situations. Who wants to retire into the Grapes of Wrath?

So I've decided on a collection of poems by e.e. cummings, because I'd get all that wonderful imagery, and I could skip to and fro between poems, so I'd never get bored. If I could take a yearly trip into The Importance of Being Ernest, so much the better- I'd get to have a taste of Muslin and Manners without all the Jesus. (Except maybe by the 1890's we're into Silks and Satire instead...or maybe Silks and Sarcasm....)

[Mashuna]

I've just been re-reading some Iain M Banks books. I'll head over to The Culture to live. On an Orbital, I think.

[PixyMisa]

I've just been re-reading some Iain M Banks books. I'll head over to The Culture to live. On an Orbital, I think.
You are me and I claim my five pounds!

[Mashuna]

You are me and I claim my five pounds!

Fair enough. It's in our left jacket pocket.

[RobRoy]

But I can't think of any Scifi where there's both amazing medical advances, and no equally exotic futuristic ways people are dying.

Maybe I'll just retire to a nice travel book.

Frerick Pohl's Heechee series comes to mind. So long as you can afford full medical, you're pretty much guarenteed an almost immortal life. There is also Terry Pratchett's Strata, which runs along the same lines, but you'll lose your hair. Elizabeth Lynn's A Different Light has pretty much taken care of disease as well. Does Star Trek novels count? They have pretty good medical, and so long as you out of the main storyline, I assume you could live quite comfortably.

So long as I kept out of the main narratives, I wouldn't mind a Jane Austin setting, the Montana setting from the short story Legends of the Fall, or Lloyd Alexander's Westmark.

[Furi]

I've just been re-reading some Iain M Banks books. I'll head over to The Culture to live. On an Orbital, I think.

Yup, absolutely, or maybe kick back and somewhere in revalation Space, the glitter band could be groovy, cant recall the name of the habitat with all the anthros in though, although it would have destroyed by the weevils bugger,

[Dunstan]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Oh sure, there's the small matter of the Earth having been destroyed, but that still leaves plenty of other planets on which to sip Pan Galatic Gargle Blasters and cavort with Eccentrica Gallumbits.

[Ocelot]

My one year old has some very comfy looking books. All soft, padded and most importantly washable.

[Madalch]

I'd enjoy being a tourist in the Discworld books, but I think Star Trek might be more fascinating.

[Dunstan]

I'd enjoy being a tourist in the Discworld books, but I think Star Trek might be more fascinating.

Especially in the more utopian Roddenberry era. There's that early TNG episode where three 20th-century folks are thawed out and have to figure out how to fit in to the "modern" world. Picard, Troi, et al make a lot of pompous statements about how poverty has been abolished, we don't use money any more, people work only so that they can better themselves, etc. I would have said, "great! I'd like to better myself by being a professional wine, scotch, and beer taster. I'm not going to actually bother writing any books or reviews, though -- I can better myself just by tasting alone."

[alfaniner]

The NeverEnding Story.

[Madalch]

Especially in the more utopian Roddenberry era.
Well, of course. I said "Star Trek", didn't I?

There's that early TNG episode where three 20th-century folks are thawed out and have to figure out how to fit in to the "modern" world.
Yeah- that one was irritating. Particularly when the woman is shown a picture of her great^5 grandson and says, "He looks just like my husband!" I can see a resemblance between my father and my grandfather, and between my grandfather and his cousin, but it is very rare for a person to look like one (and only one) of their grandparents. What are the chances that a particular person will look exactly like one particular great^5 grandparent (out of 256 of them to choose from). I think it would have been better if the descendant had been black, and Deanna would have been confused as to why the Caucasian woman would be surprised by this.

[Piggy]

In which book would you choose to retire?

A House at Pooh Corner

[RobRoy]

Especially in the more utopian Roddenberry era. There's that early TNG episode where three 20th-century folks are thawed out and have to figure out how to fit in to the "modern" world. Picard, Troi, et al make a lot of pompous statements about how poverty has been abolished, we don't use money any more, people work only so that they can better themselves, etc. I would have said, "great! I'd like to better myself by being a professional wine, scotch, and beer taster. I'm not going to actually bother writing any books or reviews, though -- I can better myself just by tasting alone."

If two of the major peices of Trek-tech worked the way they were supposed to, the matter/anti-matter energy generation and the replicators, then yeah, poverty, for anyone who didn't want to be, would be abolished. TNG took a too-optimistic view, without considering mental illness, child abuse, cycles of violence, or other social issues.

Still, you could sit around and drink yourself silly if that's what you were interested in.

[Fiona]

I am going to share my retirement with Mashuna, Pixymisa and Furi.

Wait......that is suddenly a less clear cut decision than it seemed......:D

[Nogbad]

Bank's Culture novels - preferably not during a turbulent period.

[gumboot]

I don't actually want to retire. I love my job and hope to die doing it. If I ever retired I think I'd very soon afterwards die of boredom. Sitting around doing nothing is great for about five minutes.

[Hokulele]

Silverlock by John Myers Myers.

[theprestige]

Bank's Culture novels - preferably not during a turbulent period.
For me, absolutely during a turbulent period. And if there wasn't one, I'd find a similarly-inclined Mind and go find one.

[Jarom]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would be a pleasant place to live, I think.

[Piscivore]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would be a pleasant place to live, I think.


That's an... unusual choice. Care to explicate?

[FledgelingSkeptic]

How about a nice gourmet cookbook? Or perhaps a world travel guide that also reviews five star restaurants. Retiring to fiction is just too iffy for my tastes :-)

[HistoryGal]

How about a nice gourmet cookbook? Or perhaps a world travel guide that also reviews five star restaurants. Retiring to fiction is just too iffy for my tastes :-)

Well, you could retire to "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe," and, as long as you're on the periphery, nothing bad will happen to you. :D

HG

[Verde]

Lots of choices..

If I didn't have to stay there forever, some time in Ankh-Morpork would be interesting. I'd need to be hob-nobbing at the Vetinari level, of course.
Pretty much any of the Pratchett locations would be fun, but I'd probably need a brain transplant at some point.

I could probably go quite some time with Maurice Sendak's, "Where the Wild Things Are". When I wake up, I could do worse than being Toad from Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows".

V.

[autumn1971]

Is there a leather-bound anthology of Penthouse Letters?

[KDLarsen]

If I could assume an observant form, a fly on the wall if you will, I would love to live inside 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor. If anything, then just to experience the vast scale and brutality of that battle.

If I had to actually play a part in it, would I be on my way to the gallows if I mentioned the Harry Potter series? :boxedin: A modern world combined with witchcraft and wizardry wouldn't seem too bad.

[Piscivore]

If I had to actually play a part in it, would I be on my way to the gallows if I mentioned the Harry Potter series? :boxedin: A modern world combined with witchcraft and wizardry wouldn't seem too bad.

Not at all, there are a number of Potter fans around here. I'd love to meet the Weasleys.

[Foolmewunz]

Sexus by Henry Miller. I often thought he was writing about my own life (years in advance), anyway. I think I'd have fit in nicely in Post WWII Greenwich Village, and I think I knew some of his acquaintances, or at least my generations variations on those people.

Yep... Miller for me.


Alternately, if I could live in a book and could be guaranteed not to suffer any of the consequences (epidemics, sociological, STDs, wars etc...) of the particular era, then I'd love to live in a few interesting eras. And with some great characters for conversation... from any of the following books.....

Ragtime. Three Men and a Dog. Les Miserables. Ancient Evenings. Man's Fate(La Condition Humaine).

And I think Sherlock Holmes and I would've gotten along real nicely.

[Pardalis]

The NeverEnding Story.

In the same vein:

Replay (http://www.amazon.com/Replay-Ken-Grimwood/dp/068816112X)

[hipparchia]

I would like to live in the Dune universe, preferably planet Kaladan. I'll spend my retirement drinking, gossiping and doing Pilates with the Lady Jessica, get hooked on spice and live for 300 years.

I'll pop out about 15 babies for the breeding program of the Bene Gesserit and send them to wreak havoc on the universe.

Alternatively, I would like to live in the periphery of Moby-Dick, a rich, rosy-cheeked whaleman's daughter in a fancy house in New Bedford, paid for with the bloody slaughter of the Leviathan.

[Moi.Frenchie]

Crazy Jazz Age parties, fabulous 20's clothing... The Great Gatsby

Failing that, Naked Lunch :p

I wouldn't mind being in On The Road either, but I'd have to be one of the guys. It's not a very female-friendly book...

[Bikewer]

One of the more compelling bits of world building I recall is that of Julian May's Pleistocene Exile books.
6 million years in the past, with a flourishing civilization built up around an alien race with metapsychic powers and a bizarre battle religion...
A dangerous place, but vastly interesting.

[Piscivore]

...a rich, rosy-cheeked whaleman's daughter in a fancy house in New Bedford, paid for with the bloody slaughter of the Leviathan.

That's either Moby Dick or a Decemberists' lyric. Either way- Giggedy.

[Almo]

This is a very interesting question. But I haven't yet thought of a book I'd like to go live in. :(

[Piscivore]

This is a very interesting question. But I haven't yet thought of a book I'd like to go live in. :(

"Waiting for Godot" it is, then. :)

[Blackadder]

A House at Pooh Corner

I was thinking the exact same! That or a nice little hole at Bag End

[Lanzy]

Xanth - They have a youth spring.

[whatthebutlersaw]

Easily any Jane Austen, including the unfinished one. If I get to pick, I would go for Sense and Sensibility.

[Cainkane1]

If I could make myself super strong and good with a sword I'd retire into Karl Edward Wagners novels. I'd avoid Kane though.

[kittynh]

a good Phoebe Atwood Taylor mystery book. Cape Cod or Boston area? It would be hard. Probably on the cape with Asey. though Leonidas has WAY more zany adventures.

Lots of fun and I can think of Cannae whenever it's needed.

[Piscivore]

If I could make myself super strong and good with a sword I'd retire into Karl Edward Wagners novels. I'd avoid Kane though.

How about if it was just you?

[gumboot]

One of the more compelling bits of world building I recall is that of Julian May's Pleistocene Exile books.
6 million years in the past, with a flourishing civilization built up around an alien race with metapsychic powers and a bizarre battle religion...
A dangerous place, but vastly interesting.


Just keep away from those Firvulag females if your male and you prize your family jewels.

[Moi.Frenchie]

Can I change mine to Scènes de la Vie de Bohème? That kind of bohemian lifestyle greatly appeals to me.

[Formerly]

Elizabeth Lynn's A Different Light has pretty much taken care of disease as well.

I highly recommend this world, as you could be an actual psi with tested and *trained* abilities, and the world doesn't have any restrictive morals as far as who you choose to sleep with or marry. Downside is there's still a lot of competing religions and some strife, but that would just serve to make it all the more exciting ;) As far as a book where you'd have some cool stuff to do and not as many restrictions regarding how to live your life, this one would get my vote.

I really like the Heinlein novels - but I think there'd be some problems with slipping into the Heinlein World-as-Myth stories - for one you wouldn't be a Howard, more than likely, unless your grandparents all lived to over 80+ years each - and I think the true sexytime fun only happened if you were a Howard. The Long family probably wouldn't marry in an ephemeral. =(

[Hawthorne]

the Montana setting from the short story Legends of the Fall


I heartily agree with this one. I used to live in Montana and miss it mightily, I was searching through my inner library catalogue for a Montana setting when I saw this post. A River Runs Through It, by Norman McLean, would be nice too...flyfishing, Missoula, Lolo Hot Springs, and the Big Blackfoot River.

But I'm still thinking...

[Wolfman]

I'd write my own book, that featured scantily clad and buxom nymphomaniacs in a world without men, and who considered middle-aged men with protruding stomachs as a combination of god and sex symbol.

Oh, and really cool virtual reality video games.

[Bikewer]

Hehe- the "vagina dentada"...Best to keep the wee ones happy....

[bruto]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would be a pleasant place to live, I think.Doesn't that depend a little on the assumption of which class you'd belong to?

[HistoryGal]

Tonight, If I could, I would live in a non-fiction book. I'd inhabit a happy place at the Algonquin Round Table in Harpo Marx's autobiography, "Harpo Speaks."

HG

[Madalch]

Hehe- the "vagina dentada"...Best to keep the wee ones happy....
Will you stop referring to your genitals that way?

[SmartyPants]

This looks like a good topic for a first post ::waves::

"2001: A Space Odyssey" - Beginning to end, but mostly for that crazy Jupiter mission so well portrayed by the film.

What I wouldn't want to be in? Probably "Blood Meridian".

[Elizabeth I]

Mansfield Park. A nice ordered world.

But wasn't Mansfield Park the one with that drip Fanny? I think Jane must have been a little depressed when she wrote that book.

I would take Pride and Prejudice, but only if I could be Elizabeth (of course!) And only if Mr. Darcy really were Colin Firth.

Anybody know the Lucia series by E.F. Benson? That one would be entertaining.

Then there is a really fun S-F story by James Schmitz called The Witches of Karres. Or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, though I think I would like to be just an observer at that one. It gets a little dangerous at times. And Terry Pratchett's books, of course.

It's no use. There are just too many choices.

(Interestingly, I love any book by Jack Vance but can't think of one I'd actually like to live in. Maybe a topic for a new thread?)

[moopet]

David Palmer - Emergence

[Bob Blaylock]

I would not choose to live in any book. I require considerably more space in which to live, than the volume which I personally displace, and so far as I know, there is not any book that is nearly as large as I am. Further, books are fairly solid things, so even if a book were larger than I am, it would not contain any significant amount of hollow space in which I could fit.

[asmodean]

Hmm,. Asimovs pre-empire worlds I think. Before the decline of the spacer worlds I bet Aurora would be a nice place to hang your coat. 400+ year life length. No diseases. Robots doing all the menial work. Can you all ones time to persue whatever strikes your fancy, more or less.

[Fitter]

Eco's "The Name of the Rose". The hygiene may suck but you'd never get bored with access to the library.

[Elizabeth I]

Eco's "The Name of the Rose". The hygiene may suck but you'd never get bored with access to the library.

Yeah, but the pages are all poisoned. :p

[Damien Evans]

I'd be one of the Noldor.

[RobRoy]

I'd be one of the Noldor.

Wouldn't you rather be a Maiar?

[Piscivore]

Wouldn't you rather be a Maiar?

I call "Watcher in the Water".

[RobRoy]

I call "Watcher in the Water".

You would! ;)

[Damien Evans]

Wouldn't you rather be a Maiar?

No, I'd rather be involved on a more day to day level.

[Damien Evans]

I call "Watcher in the Water".

The Silmarillion.

[bruto]

I find there are very few books I'd like to enter at the beginning, but many I wouldn't mind being the protagonist of after they're over.

It depends on whether one gets to choose not only the book but the character. I could enjoy being in, say, Pride and Prejudice, if I got to be Mr. Bingley or Darcy, but if you were simply dropped into that world randomly, you'd be more likely to end up as one of Lady Catherine de Bourgh's footmen or something. Ugh.

[Bee]

Any book in the Star Wars Universe just so I can have a real lightsaber.

[Roboramma]

Possibly The Jungle Books depending on where I fit in that world (don't think I'd want to be an Indian villager).

The Thousand and One Nights. Traipsing through those stories would be awesome. Adventure, sex, riches, magic, humour... a lifetime worth of fun. I would know that even if things worked out poorly for me, they'd at least be worth a laugh.

If comic books are allowed: Neil Gaiman's Sandman. A little dangerous, sure, but again, worth it: at least I'd know that if I found myself in Hell, I could just walk out.
And to beware of the corinthian.

[Hawthorne]

I find there are very few books I'd like to enter at the beginning, but many I wouldn't mind being the protagonist of after they're over.

It depends on whether one gets to choose not only the book but the character. I could enjoy being in, say, Pride and Prejudice, if I got to be Mr. Bingley or Darcy, but if you were simply dropped into that world randomly, you'd be more likely to end up as one of Lady Catherine de Bourgh's footmen or something. Ugh.

Hahaha - ugh is right!

I'd choose any book where 1) I have powers, 2) get to wear long skirts/capes/leather boots, 3) you have to get around on horseback, 4) indoor plumbing has been invented.

[RobRoy]

No, I'd rather be involved on a more day to day level.

So you don't consider Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron to be involved on a day-to-day level? I'd even say that Radaghast and the two missing blue wizards were likely involved in things on a day-to-day level. <shrug>

Any book in the Star Wars Universe just so I can have a real lightsaber.

Cool accessory, and fun conversation peice at parties, but seems to me that anyone weilding a lightsaber has a life expectancy roughly equivelent to that of a German machine gunner in WWI: about 90 seconds longer than the fools he was gunning down. Light sabers attract attention. Not the good kind, either.

I'd prefer a good blaster at my side and the Millenium Falcon.

Scratch that, I'd take a Moses Brothers Frontier Model B, a Mare's Leg and Serenity so long as Inarra Serra comes along for the ride!

[Skeptic Guy]

On a houseboat next door to Travis McGee, as long as he invited me to his parties.

[Timble]

I think someone's already said a Jasper Fforde book if that's not too referential, otherwise any of the Discworld novels, or The City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarkes

[Skeptic Guy]

Hello, Timble. LTNH!

[HistoryGal]

I'm feeling non-fictiony adventurous today, so I'd like to be in Clive Cussler's "The Sea Hunters."

HG

[Damien Evans]

So you don't consider Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron to be involved on a day-to-day level? I'd even say that Radaghast and the two missing blue wizards were likely involved in things on a day-to-day level. <shrug>



Cool accessory, and fun conversation peice at parties, but seems to me that anyone weilding a lightsaber has a life expectancy roughly equivelent to that of a German machine gunner in WWI: about 90 seconds longer than the fools he was gunning down. Light sabers attract attention. Not the good kind, either.

I'd prefer a good blaster at my side and the Millenium Falcon.

Scratch that, I'd take a Moses Brothers Frontier Model B, a Mare's Leg and Serenity so long as Inarra Serra comes along for the ride!

No, I don't consider any of those, except Sauron, who I wouldn't want to be anyway, to have been active at the same time as the Noldor. Remember, by the time the Istari came to Middle-Earth, the resident elves were no longer known as Noldor. Of course, that excludes any Elves who never left Middle-Earth as well, even though they were involved.

[Hokulele]

On a houseboat next door to Travis McGee, as long as he invited me to his parties.


I would want to be invited to browse Meyers' library.

[RobRoy]

No, I don't consider any of those, except Sauron, who I wouldn't want to be anyway, to have been active at the same time as the Noldor. Remember, by the time the Istari came to Middle-Earth, the resident elves were no longer known as Noldor. Of course, that excludes any Elves who never left Middle-Earth as well, even though they were involved.

<shrug> Since there were plenty of Noldor, as you pointed out, who didn't leave, I wasn't making the distinction between when they were called, or calling themselves, what. That's getting a touch too pedantic, even for me. :D

[Skeptic Guy]

I would want to be invited to browse Meyers' library.

With a nice Boodles' gin and tonic. Yes, that would work nicely. Just wipe your feet off so as to not track the sand in on his recently purchased Persian rugs.

[G-K-4]

I am going to share my retirement with Mashuna, Pixymisa and Furi.

Wait......that is suddenly a less clear cut decision than it seemed......:D

I'd go with the Culture, too. And not just because I happen to be in the middle of reading The Player of Games at the moment.

It's funny that all of these people (plus Nogbad and theprestige) gave this answer. The Culture is so large, there's enough room for all of us. And, if you want adventure you can find it; but if you want a quiet life on some orbital somewhere that's easy to find, too.

[MG1962]

Any Heinlien novel except Starship Trooper

[Mark6]

But there's no internet there. And maybe something with really good medical care would be a good idea for a retiree. So that might mean something futuristic.

But I can't think of any Scifi where there's both amazing medical advances, and no equally exotic futuristic ways people are dying.

There are many SciFi books in which "exotic futuristic ways of dying" are limited to explorers/soldiers/criminals. Most people live (very) long and safe lives. Basically, like all civilized societies -- you only live dangerously if you want to.

[marksman]

What are the chances that a particular person will look exactly like one particular great^5 grandparent (out of 256 of them to choose from).

I cant go back that far, but my father has some sepia-toned photos of my paternal great-great grandfather (five generations back) from the 1890's back in Mother Russia, and he and I would easily be mistaken for brothers.

Some genetic strains, apparently are pretty darn strong. (I have a picture of my older daughter at the age of two sitting on a stoop, and my cousins always think it's a picture of my dad as a kid -- and they grew up with my dad, so they actually remember what he looked like when he was two.)

Sorry for the thread derail.

I'd also want to live in Classic Star Trek world, in San Fransisco, 100 years after the Eugenics Wars and 100 years before the Borg invasion. :)

[Hutch]

Larry Niven's Future History, post-Man/Kzin wars, would be nice. Freedom, Sex, Space Travel, Autodocs, Boosterspice (for long life), and seaches for SLaver/Tnucipin technology.

Or a short visit as O'Mara's assistant to James White's Sector General Hospital, for all the imaginative and wonderful and downright weird aliens therein.

[Lensman]

Larry Niven's Future History, post-Man/Kzin wars, would be nice. Freedom, Sex, Space Travel, Autodocs, Boosterspice (for long life), and seaches for SLaver/Tnucipin technology.

Or a short visit as O'Mara's assistant to James White's Sector General Hospital, for all the imaginative and wonderful and downright weird aliens therein.

Both very cool choices, but I'd rather be Murchison's assistant in Sector 12 General Hospital. :D

I'd also like to live in Bob Asprins "Myth Inc" multiverse - but I'd want Tananda as my guide. :D

[Kittyclaws]

I'd write my own book, that featured scantily clad and buxom nymphomaniacs in a world without men, and who considered middle-aged men with protruding stomachs as a combination of god and sex symbol.

That's Heinlein-world! At least in the Lazarus Long stories. I'd join you there but only after I'd had myself rejuvenated into my 20-yr-old form.

[SusanB-M1]

There was a series - title and author forgotten - where there were time slips between present day and 17th(?) century via a standing stone in Scotland. I think the second book would be most interesting. There were five all together I think, but I relied on a friend to give me a synopsis as I think they had run outof surprising events by then. I like the idea of having the bst of both times.

[Madalch]

There was a series - title and author forgotten - where there were time slips between present day and 17th(?) century via a standing stone in Scotland. I think the second book would be most interesting. There were five all together I think, but I relied on a friend to give me a synopsis as I think they had run outof surprising events by then. I like the idea of having the bst of both times.

Outlander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_%28novel%29)? The one where the woman almost gets burned as a witch, tortured as a spy, and has to cut the throat of a man to prevent him from raping her?

Okay.....

[HistoryGal]

There was a series - title and author forgotten - where there were time slips between present day and 17th(?) century via a standing stone in Scotland. I think the second book would be most interesting. There were five all together I think, but I relied on a friend to give me a synopsis as I think they had run outof surprising events by then. I like the idea of having the bst of both times.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The second one's called Dragonfly in Amber.

Gerard Butler should play Jamie. ::drool::

[Kittyclaws]

I think it'd be fun to be coffin-bait in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. All the vamps, weres, and other supernatural creatures are really hot. And they have a lot of sex in the recent books.

[SusanB-M1]

Outlander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_%28novel%29)? The one where the woman almost gets burned as a witch, tortured as a spy, and has to cut the throat of a man to prevent him from raping her?

Okay.....
Ah! Well, I wouldn't be the main character; I'd have to be one that somehow or other travels with her!

[SusanB-M1]

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The second one's called Dragonfly in Amber.

Gerard Butler should play Jamie. ::drool::
I have no idea who he is, but I've just had a google ... and yes, he is certainly very good -looking!

[esquel]

It's a toss-up between universes where magic is viable, and universes where space travel is commonly available. Both have their attractions. OTOH, wherever I end up should have indoor plumbing/hot water, a good degree of medical care, and no need for me to do menial jobs or put myself in danger unless I choose to do so.

[HistoryGal]

I have no idea who he is, but I've just had a google ... and yes, he is certainly very good -looking!

Ah yes, he is. I'm going to go see his new movie tomorrow. :D

Staying on topic - tonight I think I'd like to live in a Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

[TexasJack]

I've never been to a mental institution, so I'll say "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" (although once there, I sure hope that let me out:))

[danava]

Living in Tao Te Ching would be my best choice, if I ever happen to have a choice. The book where everything is one, and one is everything. Or actually, where everything IS. While reading it you find that there's no beginning, no end, it's all NOW. You also understand that nobody knows all answers, there's no better place than your current one and that everything is already in order.

[TiaH]

A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge. We're exploring space after having perfected cold sleep. You don't live forever (who would want to). I'd be in it for the travel.

[Silly Green Monkey]

Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth. Sure, that galaxy is going to be eaten by evil darkness, but that's a long ways off--I'd be long dead by then. Besides, Flinx might avert it.

[Ove]

I would love to have a quiet home along the river next to Mole and Ratty and perhaps go sailing with those two loveable types.
A house close to "Wildcat Island" and a sailing Dinghy could be fun too.

On a grown up scale i would LOVE to live in one of the "Flossie" books :D

[gumboot]

I wouldn't mind living in the Discworld, particularly if I was an Anthropomorphic Personification. Or if I sold pies.

[Coffee]

I would like to live in the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony.

[tyr_13]

I would so love to be in the world of The Left Hand of Darkness. That or, One Bold Piece of Humanity.


Wow, I couldn't even keep a straight face typing that.



As a writer, I'd like to be in one of my (as yet unpublished) worlds. Damn my inability to finishing writing anything but poetry! Grrrr

[quixotecoyote]

I want to be a Prince in Amber.

[TheAnachronism]

I love how this popped back up to the top, because I wanted to reply to it way back when, and then forgot.

I'd want to visit Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Hey, fancy-dress parties, suicide, and all in one day! I think I'd get bored with anything that lasted more than one day.

[gumboot]

As a writer, I'd like to be in one of my (as yet unpublished) worlds.


I was going to put that too. Particularly as myself, I could be some sort of God, given the vast wealth of knowledge I would have about the cultures, history, and so forth.

[Darth Rotor]

The world of the Farseer books. (Assassin's Apprentice, etcetera)

[Mark6]

I would like to live in the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony.
Are you sure? Xanth is an extermely dangerous place if you do not have a Magician-class talent. Most humans live in what amounts to fortified villages (fortifications more magical than physical), and anyone travelling away from them basically holds up a sign "Something eat me!"

[Soapy Sam]

Utopian novels are boring. Bank's Culture tales are all about criminals, soldiers or spies on the fringes of the Culture. (Rarely about the day to day life in the Culture itself.) Life on one of the ships would be like an Eternal Sunday at the Mall.

If I picked an SF novel, perhaps Cherryh's Merchanter universe, sometime after the Company Wars, "Finity's End" perhaps... but on balance I think I'd go for the collected adventures of Sherlock Holmes...the fog, the railways, the murders...four mail deliveries a day and the Queen Empress on her throne ruling the waves.

[Dysphemist]

1984.