Before We Leave Camp Tearoom

The campfire in the woods continues burning merrily, though some guests at Camp Tearoom have already wandered off, holding new books to read.

It has been a week full of friendship, recommendations, and literature. When I invited readers to share the two books they would bring with them on a camping trip, I didn’t expect so many people to answer. But I must remember that this is Substack: it will always be full of surprises, kept alive by authors and readers who are generous with their time, their words, and their recommendations.

Readers and guests, I hope you’ve found something new to read in these two link-up posts. Everyone who contributed to Camp Tearoom is incredibly talented and has wonderful taste. If you’d like to invite more people to this little event—which I plan to repeat next year—please consider restacking this post or last week’s.

My own second recommendation for a camping trip is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. In it, the main character lives alone in a vast, abandoned building, with no notion of how he came to be there. He has learned to befriend the wildlife and even the statues inside the House. There is something about the way he moves through that strange world that often felt, to me, rather like a great camping trip: solitude, discovery, beauty, and the occasional mystery.

If you have your own titles to recommend, leave them in the comments. The fire is still burning, and there is always room for another book.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore actually takes place at an Adirondack summer camp, where the teenage daughter of the wealthy owners disappears in 1975, fourteen years after her brother similarly disappeared. I could not put this book down and read its nearly 500 pages in about two days. It’s fast-paced, immersive, and oh-so-twisty. The characters are nuanced, and the mysteries keep you guessing. At the same time, the narrative has a lot to say on several themes, from class to gender, survival, and so much more.

The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey is a light read that has all those nostalgic summer camp vibes we’re craving right now. Three decades ago, June developed Camp Holly Springs into a summer retreat for girls, including her beloved niece, Daphne, but its future is at stake. Meanwhile, Daphne and her old camp friends Lanier and Mary Stuart are still in touch, navigating all of life’s “hard things” together as adults. The characters and their bond feel both real and mature. It’s a story of lasting friendship forged in a unique camp setting, remaining through life’s ups and downs.

Tress of the Emerald Sea would be my first pick. It’s the right amount of adventure, whimsy, cosy, high stakes and I love reading fantasy! Tress goes on a large adventure exploring the unknown so it feels fitting to read something like that when out in the nature. It’s easy to read and the story is self contained - the perfect type of story to pick up and read for a few minutes.

Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil would be my second pick. I absolutely love the narrative voice - it’s witty and entertaining. I’ve only just picked the book up but it caught my attention pretty instantly. I like how the magic of the world is introduced quite organically rather than with info dumps and the character I’ve met so far in the first chapter has a distinct personality. I generally don’t mind info dumps but it can get a bit tiring tracking so much information. I enjoy reading those when I’ve specifically sat down to read for a while.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King

A nine-year-old girl wanders off and gets lost in the woods of New Hampshire while hiking with her family. As she tries to find her way to safety, she listens to baseball games on her walkman, and draws inspiration from Boston Red Sox pitcher Tom Gordon. But there is an evil force lurking nearby…

The North Woods - Daniel Mason

This novel tells the 400-year history of a house and its plot of wilderness in Western Massachusetts through a kaleidoscope of styles and perspectives, from gothic horror to narrative poetry to nature writing. Whether or not you believe that there are still mountain lions roaming the Northeast, this book will haunt you.

For fiction, I’d pack Margaret of Thibodeaux by Jo Taylor. I’ve been meaning to read it for ages and I’m genuinely thrilled by the success Jo has had with it, the kind of indie win that makes the whole Substack Bookstore community feel like it’s working. There’s something fitting about finally getting to a book you’ve watched succeed from the sidelines while relaxing with nothing else to do but read it properly.

For non-fiction, I’d bring The Self-Publisher’s Amazon Playbook by Jane Tabachnick. I help authors get discovered on Amazon for a living, so it’s part professional interest and part genuine curiosity, and camping is exactly the kind of no-distractions setting where a practical, step-by-step book like this actually gets read cover to cover instead of skimmed.

The two books that I would take camping with me is an absolutely INSANE question and I’m obsessed. The first book would 100% be Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. That’s my favorite YA fantasy trilogy of all time and I’m genuinely so obsessed. Will Herondale is my fictional FAVORITE so I couldn’t embark on my own adventure without him. The other book that I would bring would 100% be my current read which is Ruinous Ends by I.V. Marie. I am loving these characters. They are so vibrant and ALIVE. They really just jump off the page.

I am a very happy homebody, so if I went camping, I would probably bring books that make me feel all the comforts of home while also encouraging me to temporarily lean into the experience of nature and forest and sleeping under the night sky.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: This book was a favorite of mine as a teen. The novel is written as the intimate journals of a teen girl who lives in a crumbling castle in 1930s England with her eccentric family. It captures her first foray into romance and the domestic struggles/adventures of living in a drafty castle that has seen much better days. There is such a special coziness to this book that I think I’d appreciate while camping. And while a decaying old castle is a different vibe than camping in the woods, I think the cozy-but-slightly-exposed-to-the-elements feel might be the perfect fit.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna: This is another cozy, homey book. It’s about a witch who becomes the secret tutor of three child witches in a hidden-away estate. It has a delightful romance and humorous, huggable side characters that form a found family. It’s the ultimate cozy comfort book. But also, because of all the witchcraft going on, there are plenty of nature scenes, too—collecting plants on a moonlit night for a spell, etc.—which makes it the perfect balance of homey comfort and outdoor appreciation.

It might not be an original thing to do, but when I’m away, I love to read books that reflect where I’m staying. For holidays in Greece, or at the beach, or in the mountains, this is pretty straightforward. For camping, however, the pickings are a little thinner. Campers in modern literature often seem to exist solely to be murdered, flooded out, or eaten by bears. Fortunately, as a connoisseur of vintage books, there are some vintage options that are far more palatable:

The Merryweathers by Laura E. Richards (1904)

Just the mention of camping, and this was the first book that came to mind; the culmination of Richards’ Hildegarde and Three Margarets series for girls (though still enjoyable to read without knowing the prequels), this novel follows Peggy and Margaret Montfort as they spend the summer at the Merryweather family’s summer camp. All the summer pursuits you could wish for are here; swimming, canoeing, sailing, cooking fish on an outdoor fire, reciting poetry, and singing opera in the middle of the lake. And could anything be more tempting than their semi-detached tents complete with beds, chests of drawers, and birch bark blotters? Being the last book in the series there is, naturally, a certain amount of coupling off, adding a touch of romance to proceedings. This is the perfect book to read in the outdoors - find yourself a comfy spot under a tree and get stuck in!

Strawberry Acres by Grace S. Richmond (1911)

If you love a sweet old-fashioned romance then this is the book for you! When the impoverished Lane siblings are bequeathed a rickety old mansion in the countryside, eldest brother Max is eager to sell. But after his sister Sally falls ill, their stuffy city flat is no place to recuperate; cue surprise plans from their friends Javis and Josephine Burnside to spend the summer under canvas in the grounds of the Lane’s newly inherited white elephant.

With the addition of handsome young preacher Donald Ferry as a close neighbour, the stage is set for a summer of romance - and some audacious strawberry-based plans for the future which come to fruition (quite literally) in the second part of the novel.

I love camping! The last camping trip I went on was to Big Pine Lake, CA in the Sierras. We did a 15 mile hike around beautiful glacial lakes and it’s one of the most stunning places I’ve ever been! So when it comes to camping, I need a light read. I’m not a fan or horror or purposefully subjecting myself to scary movies (still traumatized from watching Blair Witch Project in high school!). If I hear a stick break, my heart is going to go racing! So I need to bring books that have ZERO jump scares of intensity..something lighthearted and totally fun!

Here’s why I’m bringing The Road by Cormac McCarthy....just kidding! (but obviously amazing book)

I’m probably bringing Love is an Algorithm by Laura Brooke Robson. It’s about Eve and Danny - a modern couple who begin dating. Danny co-creates an AI dating app that assigns an algorithm to couples based on their compatibility and daily relationship updates. Danny has to figure out if he if he will let an app decide his compatibility with Eve. This is such a great book - it has relevancy, it has depth, and it has humor, all while being fun and easy to read. I loved Laura’s sense of humor (the dialogue almost felt like a Seinfeld episode) and I had such a blast reading it. That book would definitely keep my nerves at bay. I’m also probably bringing Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman. It’s about 15 year old Mina and her two best friends - Margaret and Eleanor. But Mina has feelings for Eleanor, and after the two share a kiss, Mina navigates dealing with the shift of dynamics in the relationships in the most dramatic, classic teenage way. This book was so spot-on with its depiction of teenage woes, and so humorous. I’ll be giggling in my tent with both of these books!

I try to always read into wherever I am to help set the scene. So both books have to actually belong outdoors. Normally I read a lot of thrillers, but I have an overactive imagination, and letting my brain loose on a crime plot whilst sleeping in a tent feels like a terrible idea. So instead, i would choose something cosier: Van Life with Benefits by Sarah Harris. A road-trip rom-com about a woman whose solo campervan escape gets hijacked when the rental company double-books her van with a stranger. All sunshine, banter and forced proximity, nothing that’ll keep me awake listening to every single noise.

For my second book it would have to be: Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life by Gabrielle Cerberville. A memoir with recipes from “the Internet’s Mushroom Auntie,” following her through the seasons of foraging . I chose this because I’m curious about things I don’t know much about and nature is endlessly fascinating. To save googling everything I come upon i’d rather have my nose in that than my phone. Plus any opportunity to go completely offline is a win for me!

I haven’t been camping in about 15 years, but I love spending time outside, connecting with nature, and unplugging. When Mariella asked me what books I’d bring on a camping trip, I immediately thought of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett. This is the first book in a series that follows a Cambridge professor and her rival as she researches the Hidden Ones, an elusive group of faeries. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is delightful and whimsical, yet has some dark elements. The writing is sharp and witty, and I loved Emily and Wendell’s characters. It’s written in the format of Emily’s field notes, which I think is a fun touch and makes it feel like you’re reading her journal as she discovers something new - perfect for camping and discovering new things of your own!

I’d also want to bring a book that could be shared - either passed from person to person, or read in community around the campfire. I think a short story collection would be perfect for this, so I’d also bring my current read, Brawler by Lauren Groff. The stories span decades and take place across the country, and in their own ways explore the universal theme of darkness and light within each of us. I’ve loved the stories in Brawler that I’ve read so far, and think it would be fun to be able to read and discuss in real time on a camping trip.

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