Hello to my favorite subreddit.
I’m an avid reader that’s also highly interested in urban planning and cities. When a book is described as having a “strong sense of place”, I know I must at least check it out someday.
I’ve been reading some Virginia Woolf books that beautifully depict London in the first chapters – specifically, *Kew Gardens* and *Mrs. Dalloway*, however, I was immensely disappointed by the characters, who were uninteresting and their lives sadly felt impersonal.
I’m looking for books (novels, biographies, memoirs – I’ll take anything!) set anywhere in the world that have first and foremost great plot and/or characters, and then also evoke a strong sense of place. Along that line, here are some novels that I’ve enjoyed: *Snow Falling on Cedars*, *The Leopard* by Jo Nesbo, *NW* by Zadie Smith, *Tender is the Night*, *Pompeii*, *Where The Crawdads Sing*.
Thank you!
by Multilingual_Disney
37 Comments
Bleak House.
[Song of Solomon](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11334) by Toni Morrison (Morrison describes places with acute descriptions that are important to the plot)
[The Goldfinch](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18655998) by Donna Tartt (evokes NYC and Las Vegas really well)
May not be what you’re looking for, but it’s often said that Notre-Dame is the real main character of **The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo**. You could give that a try perhaps?
If you like fantasy/sci-fi or love NYC: The City We Became by NK Jemisin… The premise is every city has a soul and is represented by and avatar who can see/feel past our realm, NYC has one for each borough and the way she personifies the city is just gorgeous.
These are authors that I think could be for you: Arundhati Roy, Chinua Achebe, Yaa Gyasi, and Isabel Allende. I’d say you can land on any of their works and you’ll get a strong sense of place.
Also, if you enjoyed _NW_ (by Zadie Smith, right? Otherwise ignore lol) you could try _In Our Mad and Furious City_ by Guy Gunaratne. It’s also set in NW London but takes on a different POV, it’s also grittier and has a more tumultuous atmosphere.
James Joyce books and Dublin. You might want to just read *Dubliners* because *Ulysses* is too hardcore and *A Portrait* is just boring for most people. So I recommend *Dubliners*.
Very interesting evocations of early 20th century Dublin.
*The Geography of Genius* –Eric Weiner
A Gentleman in Moscow might fit?
Dennis Lehane – Mystic River. Boston becomes a 4th character here
James Ellroy – LA Confidential
Any John Steinbeck
Any Cormac McCarthy (especially Child of God, Blood Meridian, The Road and The Border Trilogy).
Dickens is certainly the template for this kind of book. Try to read something like David Copperfield without feeling like you’re immersed in 19thC London.
Any of the Wendell Berry Port Williams novels/stories. I’m partial to Hannah Coulter and Jayber Crow.
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. That whole book is basically place, plot taking a back seat to it. Beautiful depiction of Monterey and the surrounding area
Lonesome Dove
Properties of Thirst
most of Victoria Hislop’s books are set on Greek Islands and are amazing!
In A Sunburned Country – non-fic
All Creatures Great and Small – non-fic
Born a Crime – autobiography
Douglas Stuart and Glasgow – although his books are really pretty bleak.
Bright Lights Big City – New York in the 1980s
Fellow Travelers – DC. It fully captures what the city feels like and the geography
Rascal by Sterling North. Memoir set in a small town in Wisconsin.
Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives — it takes up that beast that is Mexico City
To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m from Alabama, so many parts in it evoke memories. The grocery store Jitney Jungle and Lane cake and Atticus going to UA for law school.
Paul Lynch’s books, including Grace , and Red Sky in Morning (Irish)
Fatherland. Although his (Robert Harris) prose is arguably quite economical, he still manages to conjure up a nightmarish, alternate-history version, of 1960’s Berlin.
The Jinny at Finmory series (set in Scotland) by Patricia Leitch had the strongest sense of place of any books I’ve ever read. They’re childrens books though, but they hold up just as well re-reading them as an adult.
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow. Obviously, lots about the namesake city. Great plot. Amazing characters. Loved it.
Kind of an odd suggestion because it’s a pile of old murder mysteries, but Tony Hillerman’s Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn novels have an absolutely spectacular sense of place – in this case, the Navajo Nation. You see and feel everything about it. I finally made it out to that area (specifically Monument Valley) and was able to talk to some local Navajos. We had one guide who I asked about the books and he said they are about 30% accurate but he does like them 😉
Just Kids by Patti Smith is a lovely insight into New York City, as is the poetry of Frank O’Hara (specifically Lunch Poems). If you’re a horror fan, Stephen King always masters a strong sense of New England-based Hell.
Personally I love JG Ballard (High-Rise and Cocaine Nights specifically, for sense of place). There’s a great memoir called Estates by Lynsey Hanley, which goes into detail about growing up on a council estate, which I thought was great. I’d say Irvine Welsh does a great job of depicting Scotland, too.
The City of Falling Angels
John Berendt
Takes you to Venice and the rebuilding of a historic opera house after a fire. In the process you’ll feel like you’ve been to Venice, learned so much about its cultural history and how it ties to its life today, just a beautifully done story. (Non fiction). Highly recommend for any theatre lovers out there too.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
any of Donna Leon’s books evoke Venice
i always felt like the outlander series really gave a great sense of place and time and its not just Scotland but France and the early Americas and Jamaica, but mostly current the dresden files at least the first few i have read are set in Chicago and give that nice you are in a city vibe.
Norah Lofts’ The House trilogy, esp if you’re interested in urban planning
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah.
The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa, set in Sicily
Claire Keegan’s novellas are so perfect in how they convey a specific time/place- a study in subtlety
Paterson by William Carlos Williams. A stream of consciousness poems about the city Paterson, N.J.
theres a website specifically about this topic [https://strongsenseofplace.com/](https://strongsenseofplace.com/)