Atmospheric Books for Halloween Reading

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is about atmospheric books. A lot of times atmospheric books are dark and eerie, making it a perfect Halloween topic. But a book can be atmospheric without being scary as well. I think of an atmospheric book as one that really immerses you in the setting of the book, or one where the setting is almost a character in the book. So a book that really focuses on the natural environment, like Foster or Flight Behavior, could also be atmospheric.

Thomas Hardy, one of my favorite authors, is a particularly atmospheric writer. In his novels, like The Return of the Native, the land very much reflects the mood of the book and influences the fates of the characters. Wuthering Heights, though not a favorite of mine, is a perfect example of an atmospheric book. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is another classic example.

Here are ten books that came to mind when I think about a book with a really powerful setting, where as a reader you feel like you’re there. I tried to pick books you might not already have thought of.