Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Atmosphere in books is one of those things that isn’t always the easiest to pin down – and it’s incredibly hard, as a writer, to really, truly nail it. Not to mention when we think “atmospheric” I think some of us tend to lean towards the horror aspect, remote locations, a single setting, a creeping sense of dread. But ‘atmospheric’ can mean something totally different, too. As explained in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday –
The Novelry explains this concept as: “A novel feels atmospheric when the setting and the narrative are deeply involved with one another; when characters and plot are physically embedded in their surroundings, and a near-tangible mood lifts from the pages and wraps itself around the reader.” Study.com explains that, “The atmosphere is how a writer constructs their piece to convey feelings, emotions, and mood to the reader. The atmosphere in literature might be tense, fast-paced, mysterious, spooky, whimsical, or joyful and can be found in poetry, stories, novels, and series.”
With it being spooky season, and the books I tend to read regularly, most of these lean maybe a little towards the more spooky or mysterious side, but not all…
Blogtober 2023: Day 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23
Top Ten Atmospheric Books
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
Genre: Sci-Fi – Space Opera
Format: ebook
Published: October 17th, 2023
I’d describe the atmosphere in this as mysterious, and with a lot of pressure. It’s a vast, open space but each character feels so confined by their circumstances and the little information they have, it feels at parts almost claustrophobic.
The Foxglove King by Hannah F. Whitten
Genre: Fantasy
Format: ebook
Published: March 7th, 2023
Review
The atmosphere here is another ‘mysterious’ one, but can also be described as ‘court intrigue’. There’s a lot of suspicion, uncertainty, and like These Burning Stars it’s underlined with religion, though in a different way. Lore as a character is kind of isolated, unable to trust many, and it really builds up the tension throughout.
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
Genre: Fantasy
Format: ebook
Published: October 1st, 2019
Review
There’s a kind of dystopian-western atmosphere to this, and it’s really heightened up the writing itself. You can almost feel the dust in the air as the girls move through this world, and it works really well to underline the tension throughout, as well as the distrust the MC has towards literally everyone else. Great writing.
Genre: Horror
Format: ebook
Published: July 18th, 2023
Review
There’s a really creepy underlying atmosphere to this that Tingle does a brilliant job at conveying to the reader before the MC picks up on it. I loved Rose, and I loved how her faith played into the way she saw her community. It’s handled really well. In a single word, I think the atmosphere here can be summed up as “toxic”.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Genre: Horror
Format: ebook
Published: March 28th, 2023
Review
Three words: Modern Southern Gothic. The sense of unease is throughout this book, and Kingfisher has an excellent way with words that really conveys that so well.
Santa Maybe by Mary Jayne Baker
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: ebook
Published: December 1st, 2022
Review
Is ‘Christmas’ an atmosphere? It feels like it should be, or maybe festive cheer? Anyway, this book is full of Christmas spirit. I absolutely love the kind of books where one character isn’t totally into the ‘festive season’, but they learn to see it through another’s eyes and embrace it, and this one had me totally hooked. And yes I am so excited to dig back into Christmas books for this year!
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Genre: Gothic Horror
Format: ebook
Published: October 5th, 2021
Review
This is definitely a spooky, isolated, impending sense of dread kind of atmosphere and I absolutely loved it. The story is crafted together in such an intriguing way, you’re totally drawn in, and the house Jane finds herself in has so many secrets it’s hard not to get sucked in trying to work out what, exactly, is going on.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Genre: Horror
Format: ebook
Published: October 19th, 2021
Review
More spooky isolated creepy goodness! Khaw has an absolute talent with language and the atmosphere oozes off the pages in this one.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Genre: Horror -Gothic
Format: Audiobook
Published: June 30th, 2020
Review
The absolute dread underlying every single sentence of this book is so expertly crafted. It’s one of those books where the sensations linger long after you’ve finished, and I’ve found myself thinking of this quite often.
The Man With No Shadow by Bonnie Quinn
Genre: Horror
Format: ebook
Published: January 1st, 2019
Review
Folkloric atmosphere. Honestly, this book, from a series of posts on r/nosleep, is so good, and it really captures that kind of out in nature with creepy things everywhere vibe. I’ve mentioned it on the blog before, but I will say it again – The NoSleep Podcast did an adaption that was freaking amazing, and really drilled down on the creepy forest folklore atmosphere.
Let me know your favourite atmospheric reads as I’m always looking out for new books (and yes, any kind of atmosphere!).
Unwrapping Words 