What is a good, eery book to camp with?

August 15, 2015 9:59 AM

I'm looking for a book to read at night while I'm camping tonight that feels like the video game, Alan Wake. Looking for something with a spooky feel, dark, more psychological than horror.
posted by Marinara to Writing & Language (21 answers total)

I have not read it, but I've heard that "House of Leaves" is pretty dang good. I'll leave it to others to second this as appropriate or shoot it down as not even close to appropriate.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 10:43 AM on August 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

"We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson. Seriously dark and creepy, and underrated, imo.
posted by holborne at 11:06 AM on August 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Something that takes place largely in the woods is definitely given bonus points.
posted by Marinara at 11:13 AM on August 15, 2015

Strange Piece of Paradise is a memoir about a woman who returns to the Pacific Northwest 30 years after the fact to find the man who tried to kill her and a friend while they were on a bicycle camping trip in the 1970s.
posted by Brittanie at 11:35 AM on August 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Road is the only book I have ever read as an adult that gave me the creeps. Through the Woods is a comic book, but it could work well for camping.
posted by umwhat at 11:49 AM on August 15, 2015

The Kept by James Scott
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
posted by click at 11:50 AM on August 15, 2015

After reading the description of Alan Wake I think you might try the Wayward Pines Trilogy (which was recently made into a crappy TV show for FOX.) Wayward Pines also features more psychological thrills than horror as well as a small town, a sheriff who doesn't give a fuck, missing people, etc. along with a hook that will keep you turning the pages frantically.

Bentley Little writes some good horror and I am especially fond of The Association which is about a Home Owners Association that is a bit....controlling.

If you want a great adventure book with a side order of supernatural monster, then check out The Terror by Dan Simmons, one of my favorite books of 2009.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:00 PM on August 15, 2015

Best answer: I'm going to f&ck you up for life with this suggestion. It's non-fiction. Sorry in advance (not really, though!!)

You want the Missing 411 books by David Paulides. It's true accounts of people who go missing while camping. Apparently this is a mysterious epidemic and the parks department doesn't keep accurate records about the phenomenon.
posted by jbenben at 12:01 PM on August 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I haven't read it yet, but I am hearing (reading) great things about In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:12 PM on August 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Troop - Nick Cutter.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:31 PM on August 15, 2015

The Wendigo. Can't beat the classics.
posted by thetortoise at 2:08 PM on August 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Algernon Blackwood's novella "The Willows" is probably the spookiest woods-set thing I've read.
posted by doctornecessiter at 3:03 PM on August 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

The Road is so, so good. I also recommend Let The Right One In.
posted by Brittanie at 3:08 PM on August 15, 2015

Hahahahahaha I have something so perfect I feel evilly guilty for suggesting it to you.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill.

It's all about a camping trip gone wrong.

Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn't possibly get any worse. But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest...

I have mixed feelings about Adam Nevill in general - this is actually the only book of his I've ever finished, and even it is a bit uneven. But the parts about how fucking scary it is to go camping are spotttttttt on.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 3:59 PM on August 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Outer Dark or Child of God by Cormac McCarthy, personally read by me on camping trips. Bonus points if you can do like me and read them in Appalachia.
posted by hollyholly at 4:28 PM on August 15, 2015

Nobody has mentioned Deliverance, yet?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:37 PM on August 15, 2015

Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy.
posted by augustimagination at 6:12 PM on August 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Penpal, by Dathan Auerbach.
posted by daisyk at 8:18 AM on August 16, 2015

Response by poster: Back from the camping trip. Halfway though Ware's 'in a dark, dark wood' and it definitely has the "Alan Wake" feel. Very spooky. No idea what's going to happen, more chills then in 'Gone Girl". So many good answers. Thank you for all of your recommendations. I'll be making my way through all of them, and revisiting Cormac McCarthy's classics. I've marked the two I've been reading first.
posted by Marinara at 10:27 PM on August 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Have you been able to find any of the Missing 411 books for less than $85? That's the cheapest any of them are from third-party sellers on Amazon, I presume they're out of print.
posted by doctornecessiter at 5:02 AM on August 17, 2015

doctornecessiter, they're not out of print. You just have to buy them direct from Paulides's convoluted website.
posted by kidbritish at 9:06 PM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]