,

Looking for a book straight out of the wild? Vote for your favorite works with rural settings here.

To get you started, trek into the wilderness with these five recs from Charles Frazier, the Appalachian native behind Nightwoods, a novel set at an abandoned mountain lodge. See his picks here!
1

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,094,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,277,225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,286,005 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,990,665 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.21 avg rating — 2,015,932 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,419,071 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.36 avg rating — 156,755 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,326,837 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,785,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.40 avg rating — 3,092,156 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.02 avg rating — 981,277 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,250,141 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,392,385 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.04 avg rating — 209,974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.01 avg rating — 4,436,336 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.84 avg rating — 146,082 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.84 avg rating — 299,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,279,557 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,006,327 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,721,120 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.28 avg rating — 700,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.23 avg rating — 256,718 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.23 avg rating — 221,877 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.02 avg rating — 237,679 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.09 avg rating — 502,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.21 avg rating — 283,547 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.43 avg rating — 617,885 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.35 avg rating — 156,650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.11 avg rating — 786,228 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.91 avg rating — 465,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.94 avg rating — 572,684 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.77 avg rating — 202,403 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.97 avg rating — 164,450 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,437,643 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.44 avg rating — 908,551 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.21 avg rating — 300,484 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.28 avg rating — 323,949 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 504,013 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.38 avg rating — 391,955 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.91 avg rating — 292,309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.01 avg rating — 259,095 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.14 avg rating — 381,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.07 avg rating — 440,427 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.25 avg rating — 710,813 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.06 avg rating — 602,714 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,706,179 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.88 avg rating — 347,634 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.89 avg rating — 248,950 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.03 avg rating — 159,039 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.25 avg rating — 362,826 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.77 avg rating — 101,254 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.99 avg rating — 114,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.88 avg rating — 54,414 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.25 avg rating — 56,733 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.12 avg rating — 436,457 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.05 avg rating — 126,010 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,085,213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.23 avg rating — 828,998 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.31 avg rating — 54,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.03 avg rating — 53,697 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.22 avg rating — 73,930 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.46 avg rating — 136,111 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.12 avg rating — 53,904 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.02 avg rating — 105,155 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.13 avg rating — 212,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.03 avg rating — 128,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.90 avg rating — 57,905 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.79 avg rating — 444,132 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.18 avg rating — 82,060 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,016,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.09 avg rating — 718,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.88 avg rating — 7,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,705,807 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.35 avg rating — 3,440,279 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.95 avg rating — 557,421 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,392 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.84 avg rating — 89,955 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.02 avg rating — 50,935 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.88 avg rating — 151,637 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.78 avg rating — 224,435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.69 avg rating — 92,697 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.10 avg rating — 72,105 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.24 avg rating — 55,828 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.74 avg rating — 407,116 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.06 avg rating — 282,583 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.86 avg rating — 38,633 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
4.23 avg rating — 106,424 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.05 avg rating — 82,604 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.18 avg rating — 25,596 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,417 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.72 avg rating — 184,473 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.10 avg rating — 73,714 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.88 avg rating — 40,158 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.30 avg rating — 56 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.83 avg rating — 4,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.45 avg rating — 55 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.86 avg rating — 61,112 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,129 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.03 avg rating — 176,938 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.83 avg rating — 58,524 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
1,134 books · 1,015 voters · list created October 5th, 2011 by Jessica (votes) .
126 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jessica 1358 books
352 friends
Carla 12770 books
976 friends
Patti 529 books
140 friends
Michaela 895 books
16 friends
Mona 2511 books
59 friends
Katie 1464 books
844 friends
Ginny 35 books
4 friends
Rachel 1645 books
145 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't have a rural setting. It takes place in a small town.


message 2: by Jan C (new)

Jan C I think that is true with a lot of these. Certainly The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also takes place in a small town.


message 3: by Ian (new)

Ian To kill a mockingbird is in a town, but it has sort of a rural setting around it.


message 4: by Molly (new)

Molly Lovelady Alice in wonderland isn't a rural setting...

Also Into the Wild would be a good add :)


message 5: by Laurel (new)

Laurel Wicke Gone with the Wind? Atlanta? C'mon...


message 6: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl A lot of Gone with the Wind takes place at Tara, though.


message 7: by Laurel (new)

Laurel Wicke Yeah, I'll give you that, but I still don't think of it as a rural kind of book.


message 8: by Chaminda (new)

Chaminda dff


message 9: by Judy (new)

Judy Some of these are definitely not my idea of rural. For those of you looking for a great book, I think "Ordinary Wolves" is a much under-acknowledged book. I found it fascinating, takes place in a remote part of Alaska.


message 10: by Rebekah (new)

Rebekah What about The Help? I don't think the citizens of Mississippi would consider their capitol city "a rural setting"!


message 11: by Melanie (new)

Melanie David Copperfield? Rural setting? Not quite.


message 12: by Bettie (new)

Bettie There is a discrepancy in the list description which throws voters off. Rural denotes farmed or grazed land i.e. tamed by man in some way. Wild is the opposite. *shrugs*


message 13: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl ☯Bettie☯ wrote: "There is a discrepancy in the list description which throws voters off. Rural denotes farmed or grazed land i.e. tamed by man in some way. Wild is the opposite. *shrugs*"

Agreed, that has bugged me for donkey's years.


message 14: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Rebekah wrote: "What about The Help? I don't think the citizens of Mississippi would consider their capitol city "a rural setting"!"

Deleted.


message 15: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Jessica, since you started the list, do you want books that have rural settings (e.g. pastures, meadows, farms, grassy fields surrounded by mountains, etc.) or truly wild - wilderness, jungle, savannah, tundra, taiga, boreal forest?

I've been voting as if you meant "rural."

Which I do not consider small town, by the way. Small towns are not the same as rural.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Debra
It is a sorry state when you are forced to promote your own book this way, at least three times....


back to top



Related News

Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we sort through a lot of books each month. Our monthly Readers' Most Anticipated Books feature is exactly...

Anyone can add books to this list.