atmospheric books – Zezee with Books

Autumn is here! The scent of pumpkin spice and cinnamon is in the air, the days and nights are much cooler and shorter and even rainy, leaves are starting to change, my boots and blazers are popping up in my daily wardrobe, and there’s a strong urge in me to snuggle down under the covers with a book and a hot drink.

Although I’m an island girl from the Caribbean, I love the autumn season — for the things I associate with it (comfort, reading, pleasing scents, and colors), not for the cold — and look forward to its coming every year. I also enjoy reading spooky and atmospheric books around this time, so I’d like to share with you a few such books I’ve read.

I’ve divided my recommendations into three sections based on my reading moods for the autumn season. The first section lists books that give me a strong sense of the autumn season. The second section consists of lighter, fun reads that I associate with the season, and the last section lists dark, thrilling reads.

Continue reading “Book Recs: Fall 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.