10 Places That Inspired Your Favorite Books

Ah, Paris, the City of Lights and Love! This is where Ernest Hemingway drafted The Sun Also Rises, a story about expats in the city of lights who get entangled in love triangles. What better place is there than Paris for a story dedicated to finding yourself through others?

Do you think you could live alone in a cabin for two years, two months, and two days? Well, Henry David Thoreau could — and did! On July 4, 1845 (his own personal Independence Day, as he put it), Thoreau went to live on the idyllic shores of Walden Pond in a cabin he built himself. He would stay until September 6, 1847, eventually writing a book about his experience named after the placid pond, Walden, which continues to ripple and shimmer for all to see  — not bad for the son of a pencil maker.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is the ultimate story of disaffected youth and Holden Caulfield is the OG of adolescent angst. In the novel, Holden famously — and poignantly — wonders what happens to the ducks that float on the “Conservatory Water” lagoon in Central Park when winter rolls around (Holden has a “sensitive side”). One of the book’s most crucial scenes takes place near the Central Park Carousel, which still delights visitors today.

Everyone’s seen the pictures of the brave — or merely traditional — men in all-white clothes with blood-red bandanas being pursued through the streets of Pamplona by an angry bull, but Ernest Hemingway lived it. This author and book is worth another mention as The Sun Also Rises may have begun in Paris, France but its restless characters moved found their way to Spain to see the bull fights. Hemingway definitely knew how to travel — and how to take us with him.

Some of the Greek destinations include the Peloponnese in southern Greece, which include Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games and the Ionian Islands that to this day include popular travel destinations such as Corfu and Paxos. So without knowing it, you may have already followed in the steps of Homer, or at least part of his 20 year journey.

Though the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry doesn’t exist on any actual map, the original inspiration for the imaginative world of Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron can be found simply by strolling through the streets of London. Feel like a real wizard as you wander past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament or visit Platform Nine and Three-Quarters (9 3/4) at King’s Cross Station.