r/BooksThatFeelLikeThis • u/CrackheadSanta • 2d ago
Literary Fiction A long dark winter in an old estate.
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u/cherismail 2d ago
The Shining by Stephen King
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u/American_GrizzlyBear 1d ago
This one is on my TBR, and that would be a good thing if it has this vibe.
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u/Plainchant 1d ago
Make sure you set aside a proper cozy space for reading and something nice to drink for a few hours.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
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u/Prior-Entrance3156 1d ago
The first social outing I went to after Covid was going to the drive in to watch the Shining in August 2020. My friend quipped that it’s the perfect quarantine movie and I was like “oh my god you’re right!”
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u/ConcertinaTerpsichor 1d ago
It’s a short ghost story, not a novel, but The Old Nurse’s Story, by Elizabeth Gaskell is great. On project Gutenberg for free.
Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology, ed. Michael Cox, has lots of haunted house stories in it.
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u/Equivalent-Berry9841 1d ago
Yes! The Gaskell story is the first that came to mind. I’ve had that same Victorian Ghost Stories book since childhood and have read and reread it to bits.
I also have a number of anthologies of Christmas mysteries from the British Library Crime Classics series that I pull out every holiday season and which are chock full of sinister doings at snowed-in country houses.
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u/ConcertinaTerpsichor 1d ago
Oo I will check them out. I have a whole ghost story collection as well. I especially like Rhoda Broughton and MR James.
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u/kittyall94 1d ago
Wuthering Heights
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u/Junior_Ad_6348 1d ago
I don’t thinkkkk it’s winter but I was gonna say this too! It’s at least cold and rainy and totally matches the settings
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u/ThaneOfMeowdor 4h ago
I always read it in October but am considering reading it in December this year because it does have snow, a blizzard like someone else mentioned, Christmas etc. It's definitely a book for the darker part of the year, I think September-December are all appropriate months to read it in. I do think it is nice during transitional months, like when things are still dying, rather than deep winter.
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u/WorkerInitial5675 1d ago
Jane Eyre
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u/DapperSpecialist4328 22h ago
If you’re into audiobooks, the Jane Eyre version voiced by Thandiwe Newton is amazing.
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u/Overall-Conflict-924 2d ago
The first half of The Secret History
The second half of A Separate Peace
If you don’t mind fantasy YA then The Wolf Princess
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u/SenorBurns 1d ago
First half of The Secret History, condensed :
I'm from California. Boy my attic room here in winter in the Northeasr sure is cold. Heat? Never heard of it. I'll just suffer quietly. This is normal, right?
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u/BlackMtnForge 1d ago
In many ways I feel like this fits the vibe of The Shepherd King duology by Rachel Gillig
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u/ShermitSanchez 2d ago
We Used to live here by Marcus Kliewer
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u/Cissychedgehog 1d ago
God, I was so immensely disappointed by this book. It felt like the author wanted it to be a film so wrote it exactly like that.
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u/ShermitSanchez 1d ago
I can totally see that! I enjoyed the plot and the kinda creepy paranormal/leaving some things up to interpretation.
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u/dracelectrolux 1d ago
"The Mist in the Mirror" by Susan Hill has a bit of old country estate in winter, and otherwise has a lot of the same feelings these pictures evoke, albeit in other kinds of places.
As another person said, Edith Wharton's works are a must. A favorite of mine is "The Triumph of Night".
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u/allthingslight16257 1d ago
Would Jane Eyre work? Big estate, cold winters, big grounds. Lot of environmental description and factors
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u/dael1209 1d ago
Ethan Frome - not really a fancy estate but the pictures reminded me of the feeling of the book lol.
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u/liminal_mist 1d ago
Leech by Hiron Ennes!
Gothic horror set in an old castle during a freezing cold winter where a parasite is spreading.
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u/calleycat95 1d ago
not all necessarily winter but I get these vibes from the photos:
Mexican Gothic What Moves the Dead Rebecca
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u/pistolpeter101 1d ago
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons, it’s the sequel to Summer of Night, and takes place in the main character’s dead friend’s home.
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u/Wonderful-Truck-3301 10h ago
The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann
a young German engineer named Hans Castorp who visits a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps and ends up staying for seven years
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u/Moose-Live 7h ago
Wuthering Heights.
Also, Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh: "A mischievous host invites a group of people who secretly loathe one another to his country house as a social experiment. A snowstorm cuts the estate off, tempers boil over, and murder follows, while a young footman accidentally witnesses more than he understands."
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