Book Recs: Atmospheric Reads

Well, this is a bit out of character. Here I am with a book recommendation post that’s not based on a meme or book tag. I’d like to congratulate myself for stepping out of my comfort zone, but this is all because I haven’t seen a meme or book tag that focuses on only atmospheric stories.

I’ve been working on this post for weeks because I keep overthinking it. I feel weird recommending books sometimes because I start thinking that I haven’t read enough and I don’t know much, but I’ve gotten over myself for the moment and will share in this post a few books I’ve read that I’d describe as atmospheric.

The term “atmospheric” sometimes baffles me. I’ve only ever seen it applied to stories that are dark and gloomy and eerie, which makes me wonder if it’s only such books that can be described as atmospheric. But I’m sure that’s not right. I call a story atmospheric if it convinces me of a particular feeling… Okay, that probably didn’t make much sense, but I now realize that this is hard to explain. For me, an atmospheric novel is one that convinces me of a particular “feeling” about the setting, which doesn’t necessarily has to be dark and eerie.

So, here are a few novels that have a strong sense of atmosphere:

Book Haul #47: I Forgot About Book Hauls

A month has passed since I last posted one, which isn’t a big deal, but…I’m just surprised at myself that haven’t thought of posting a haul in a while. Also I needed a topic for this post. Anyway, here’s what I got!

Purchases

Physical

I Heart Characters! #10: A Crazy Stephen King Character

I Heart Characters! is a weekly meme hosted by Dani at Perspective of a Writer to share our love of great characters. Each week, Dani will assign a topic/type of character that we must find examples of in the various media we consume (books, TV shows, movies, comics, podcasts, etc.).

September 21 topic:

A Mental Case 

A totally crazy character

Davos from Iron Fist

I recently binged on the two seasons of Netflix’s Iron Fist — a TV show about a White dude who disappears for a couple years following a fateful plane crash and returns looking like a sexy hobo but with badass Kung Fu fighting skills AND a hand that lights up when he makes a fist — so the story and characters are still fresh in my mind.

Top Ten Tuesday #36: Books for My TBR by Authors I Like

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish but is now managed by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic:

Books By My Favorite Authors That I Still Haven’t Read

I’ve decided to switch up the topic a bit and will instead list books I want to read by authors whose work I’ve read and liked. (So not necessarily my favorite authors.)

“Mother of the Sea” by Zetta Elliott

Mother of the Sea is another one-sitting read I completed a couple weeks ago. I forgot why I decided to read it then, probably because I wanted something quick, but I bought the book after seeing it featured in this booktube video.

Genre:

YA fantasy; Historical fiction

Pubbed:

2017

Goodreads summary:

When her village is raided, a teenage girl finds herself on a brutal journey to the coast of Africa and across the Atlantic. Her only comfort is a small child who clings to her for protection. But once they board the slave ship, the child reveals her rebellious nature and warns that her mother — a fierce warrior — is coming to claim them all. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:

“When the skinless men leave, the taste of salt lingers on her lips.”

’90s Movies Book Tag

Since I did the ’90s Cartoon Book Tag a week or so ago, I thought it was only right that the next tag I do is the ’90s Movies Book Tag. I discovered this over on Kristin Kraves Books. It was created by A Book Lovers Playlist.

I grew up in the ’90s, so many of these movies were my favorites back then and I still enjoy watching some of them now. Some make me a little nostalgic for when I first watched them.

She’s All That

Name a book couple that are an odd pairing but they still fit perfectly

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

The couples in Garden Spells are all odd pairings because they are all opposites of each other, but it’s their differences that draws them together and makes them perfect for each other. Garden Spells is about the estranged Waverley sisters who reunite after 10 years. The Waverleys are considered an odd bunch and their town believes that they grow magical flowers and have an apple tree that bears prophetic fruit.

“Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops” by Jen Campbell

I read Jen Campbell’s Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops a couple weeks ago because I’d completed Shaun Bythell’s The Diary of a Bookseller and wasn’t ready to stop reading about hilarious experiences in bookshops.

Genre:

Nonfiction, humor

Pubbed:

2012

Goodreads summary:

This Sunday Times bestseller is a miscellany of hilarious and peculiar bookshop moments: ‘Can books conduct electricity?’

‘My children are just climbing your bookshelves: that’s ok… isn’t it?’

A John Cleese Twitter question [‘What is your pet peeve?’], first sparked the ‘Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’ blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller’s collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor.

Weekend Reads #90: I’m Just Procrastinating

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend, but I don’t have a topic this weekend. Just my random thoughts:

Staying committed to a thing from beginning to end is not something I’m good at. I always get distracted somewhere in between and go off on a tangent, never able to find my way back to what I was working on before. That’s why I’m surprised I’ve stuck with this blogging thing for so long. I thought I’d have gotten distracted by something else by now and given it up. But no. I’m still here posting away about whatever catches my fancy.

Why am I writing about this? I don’t know. I just wanted to do a Weekend Reads post. I wanted to share my thoughts on a thing and write something insightful, but nothing was coming so I just wrote whatever popped up in my mind. This is what came out — my lack of commitment to my projects.

I Heart Characters! #9: A Biker….of the Opposite Sex

I Heart Characters! is a weekly meme hosted by Dani at Perspective of a Writer to share our love of great characters. Each week, Dani will assign a topic/type of character that we must find examples of in the various media we consume (books, TV shows, movies, comics, podcasts, etc.).

September 7th topic:

A Biker

Literally any character who rides a bike, a motorcycle, or a scooter…

Firefly from G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Reread Double Up: “The Battle of the Labyrinth” and “Wild Magic”

The best thing for me to do when stressed is return to a favorite novel, preferably one that’s a quick, fun read that’s sure to make me momentarily forget my troubles. That need led me to reread these two novels a couple days ago. It’s been years since I’d read them, but I still enjoy them.

These two seem an unlikely pair, but they share several similarities. They are both YA novels that target readers on the cusp of adolescence. I usually think of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympian novels as middle-grade reads, but I think The Battle of the Labyrinth is where the books start to lean more heavily toward YA because Percy Jackson is now a 14-year-old but still trying to protect his friends and survive until his supposedly fateful 16^th birthday. Tamora Pierce’s Wild Magic, the first of her Immortals novels, is YA fantasy and has content that is more mature than what’s presented in The Battle of the Labyrinth, but the protagonist is a 13-year-old girl who has lost her family and is seeking a new home while learning to accept who she is.

I immensely enjoyed reading both books and while reading them, both filled me with nostalgia for when I first encountered them. I first read The Battle of the Labyrinth when I was in college. That’s when I learned of the Percy Jackson series, got hooked, and marathon-read them. I did the same when I discovered Tamora Pierce’s books in middle school. Until I reread Wild Magic, I was convinced that the Song of the Lioness books were my introduction to Tamora Pierce. But now I believe I first encountered Pierce through the Immortals books, with the third book, Emperor Mage, to be exact, before I hopped to the Song of the Lioness series.

But no matter how I discovered them or who their target audience is, I’m glad that I’m able to return to them now and still be entertained by them.