Homemade Reading Retreat

Books Sold Separately

Recently, I learned about the concept of reading retreats. This isn’t really a new idea (spend all day reading), but honestly given our current technologically enhanced society, every little bit of our lives must be optimized, so it was only a matter of time before reading fell victim to this trend, too.

I can’t pinpoint where I read about Ladies Who Lit first, but perusing their website was magical. Look at all these retreats!! They are all a few days in fabulous locations, include fantastic lodgings, and a number of fun activities and add ons. Whenever one of their retreats goes live, it sells out very quickly.¹

I’m not against this idea. Far be it. I LOVE this idea. Vacation? With books? That someone else plans?!?! Swoon. But, I can’t argue with the logic that it doesn’t make sense to spend a whole lot of money to go on a planned retreat when you can whip one up yourself. Truly no better example than the ‘we have X at home’ meme.

Also, and I think this is more important: if I were sailing around Mallorca on a yacht, I’d want to be fully present for sailing around Mallorca on a yacht. I wouldn’t be able to read or even focus on reading because I’d be too concerned with fully enjoying and exploring a new to me place. The nice thing about going to a location I have (some) familiarity with is because I did not feel pressured to do every single thing there. Unlike Mallorca or any of the other exotic Ladies Who Lit locations, I know I will visit Maine again,² so I felt no need to optimize everything I did. I knew that I could explore the town and then do lots of reading and writing and come away feeling satisfied that I enjoyed myself without regret.

Let me be clear: if I had the money to go on one of these retreats I absolutely would. But there is a really easy way to make your own homegrown reading retreat. And that’s by staying local (ish) and not spending thousands of dollars to fly across the Atlantic. But you do you.³ My friend Sam and I just came back from our own little reading retreat, and much like my adventures in the UK last fall, I am here to tell you all about it.

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The Details

The Location: Camden, ME

A nice little coastal town by the sea that’s 3 hours north of Boston. Pros: there’s not a lot of people driving up there so you can go fast on the highway.⁴ Cons: you have to drive up there and summer traffic is real.

Maine is known as Vacationland, and for good reason. I’m normally more of a Southern Maine girlie, and have been coming up here since I was a kid. I had extended relatives that lived in York that we’d visit for a week. Upon my return to school in the fall, I’d always write one of those elementary school books that were bound by a 3 ring binder about my trip to Maine.⁵ Needless to say, I’ve been to Maine many times before,⁶ but had never been to Camden. So it was nice to go to a familiar place, but discover somewhere new.

The Digs: The Norumbega Hotel aka a castle

Boy is this hotel pretty. It truly does look like a castle. I’m not sure if it was a castle in a previous life,⁷ but it was more than good enough for our purposes. I’m not going to tell you which room we stayed in for privacy purposes, but it’s one of those inns where you have to pick a specific room. More importantly, we were NOT staying in the Library Suite, so clearly we have to come back and investigate that another time. It was close to downtown (a walkable distance) and included parking and complimentary breakfast. And cookies in the afternoon, which despite not being gluten free, I ate anyways.

Camden overlooking the water

The books I brought with me:

Behold, all eight books I brought with me⁸:

• Pathways by Leyla Kazim. A new release from the Pound Project about how Kazim is going to build a house and homestead on farmland in Portugal.

• Revenir à toi par Léonor de Récondo. No idea what this is about, but I’m one book away from being on track for my French book goal for the year, and it’s short and had a pretty cover so it came with me.

• A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang. A science fantasy novella with a beautiful cover. My current novel in progress is science fantasy, and I am always on the hunt for comps. Involving arranged marriages, magical creatures, rebellions and trees, it has all the things I like. Will report back.

• Queer Devotion by Charlie Clair Burgess. I read about this in Jeanna Kadlec’s newsletter and found the premise fascinating: an exploration into the queer saints, divinities, gods and figures from major world religions. A perfect read for Pride Month.

• Slip by

  Mallary Tenore Tarpley
  . This is an ARC, and Tenore Tarpley is represented by
  Kathleen Schmidt
  (who are both here on Substack.) Given that I was recently rediagnosed with depression after thinking I was done with it,⁹ I thought this examination into what recovery means was timely. A big thanks to both for the ARC and you’ll see more on this coming soon.

• Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynn Jones. Continuing my exploration of Miyazaki adaptations that I have neither seen nor read yet. This is a special edition from Fairyloot.

• The Glittering Edge by Alyssa Villaire. Another special edition from Fairyloot that I really should have finished before going on this little vacation, but I didn’t so you know what it came with us. I love the three teenagers in this book your honor and they are idiots¹⁰ and I will protect them with my life. The first part of a duology, part 2 comes out next year. Will need to get the special edition to match, obviously.

• Voyage of the Damned by Frances White. Billed as a queer murder mystery on a boat. As the tagline says, “There will be magic. There will be murder.” What else could you want? Also a special edition, this time from Illumicrate.

Did I realistically think I’d read all of these in 2.5 days? No, of course not. The point was to bring books I thought I could finish AND ALSO have enough books on hand to satisfy whatever reading cravings I might have. My logic was to have a few short books I know I could finish, and therefore feel a sense of accomplishment, while also having a large enough selection on hand to determine my next read.

What we did:

We ate and we drank and we read and we wrote and we lounged like the fancy ladies we are. Sam and I crashed in multiple cafes, the town green, and the Public library to do our reading and writing adventures.

Standouts included:

• Barren’s Distillery (the blueberry vodka was amazing)

• 40 Paper (had great gluten free options)

• River Ducks Ice Cream (tasty and lots of gluten free options)

• Camden Public Library (free, open, had AC and lots of beautiful spaces to write and read in)

• Elveneses (a LOTR themed cafe in Brunswick, ME that just opened. I’d check it out if you’re in the area but no need to make an extra stop)

Around and about

How many books did I read:

3, and I started another. So out of the 8 books I brought with me, I read or started reading half. Not half bad! (ha.) I read Pathways, A Palace Near the Wind, The Glittering Edge and started Revenir à toi. Sam read two full books, and said this is the most reading she’s been able to get done in a while, so I’d say this was a successful reading retreat.

But did I buy any books?:

Surprisingly, no! This was a reading vacation, not a book buying vacation. That was last November. We did go to one cute cafe and bookstore, Owl and Turtle Bookshop and Cafe, and sat and worked for a bit. Sadly, they messed up my chai order right before going on lunch break, so I was refunded and can’t report back on their beverage situation. I did, however, eventually get Chai at Zoot Coffee. All this to say no: I did not buy any books as this trip was about consuming them, not acquiring them.

Why did we do this?:

Because we wanted to. We wanted a nice weekend away, where there were activities available if we wanted them. Camden was a nice town, and there’s plenty of stores and restaurants to visit. We also had these really nice accommodations to take advantage of, with so many places to lounge and read like the ladies of luxury we are, and I’d say we did so appropriately. This mini staycation, where it was perfectly acceptable for us to ignore each other for an hour at a time to read or write, was just what both of us needed after a hectic spring.

So let’s revisit. What exactly do you need for your at home reading retreat?

• A fancy place to stay in a location that’s not one of your usual haunts

• Lots of books

• Fun activities

• Maybe a friend (or two)

I’d say that some of the magic and whimsy comes from removing yourself from your normal environs, but that’s just my opinion. You can absolutely make a reading retreat happen in the comfort of your own home. If you are interested in reading more about reading retreats and how to plan your own,

Alyssa Morris

of Romancing the Phone just had a post last week on how you too can plan one of these adventures.

How to Plan a Reading Vacation

She and I share many opinions on the best way to plan and enjoy a reading retreat, and Alyssa also has examples from TikTok should you want to see how other folks are planning these.

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No New Books™️ Challenge

Yay I did it!! I’ve made it at least 7 days without buying books! I’d say please clap but this is a very silly achievement and we all know it. Nevertheless, given my past run of failures, it is nice to start in on the self discipline again.

• Longest streak: 38 days (January 1st - February 6th)

• Last streak: 14 days (May 7th -20th)

• Current streak: 7 days (June 18th - Present) (ugh finally)

Mug Moment of the Week

I have waited specifically for this weekend’s festivities to use this mug. Behold, the ‘go away I’m reading’ mug from Rooted Ceramics. Yes, that is gold and yes, it is ceramic and shaped like a travel mug and yes, I love her.

Mug with books being gathered in the background.

While Instagram might be the worst,¹¹ I have discovered many different artisans while doomscrolling its annals. Rooted Ceramics is one of them. The first time I tried to buy a mug from her I got shut out. Everything from her drops sells in a matter of minutes.¹²

So, with this special drop back in April I had a plan. I had to drive up to Boston, and the drop was going live at 2pm ET, 12pm MT. So, I stopped at Dedham on the way up to Boston, went to Life Alive to get some ~healthy~ food, then sat in the parking lot of whole foods eating my falafel salad refreshing the webpage every 2 minutes. Did I look like a crazy person? Yes. Did I get a mug? Also yes.

Also, because New England, a special guest mug spotted in a store in Camden.

Never change, New England.

Until next time, when we’ll talk about how I’m doing on my yearly reading goals.

1. You can join their book club without doing any of the retreats. I tried, and had to drop (in a classic continuation of my book club dropout tendencies) because I wasn’t reading the books on time and could not handle the level of WhatsApp notifications I was getting.

2. In fact I’ll be there in two weeks for the Fourth.

3. If you go on one of these retreats please take me they look so lovely.

4. Me? Speed? Never.

5. Did anyone else do this? Just me? Fun fact: I also thought that this is what was meant by publishing a book and was real surprised when I was told as a 9 year old I couldn’t just publish a book through my elementary school.

6. I was also here two weeks ago and will probably visit at least 2 more times before summer is out.

7. Though I’m going to say no because Maine. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, though.

8. Sam, being a normal person, brought 3 books with her. I brought 8 because that’s normal for me. No one judge me.

9. When depression was clearly not done with me

10. Aka teenagers

11. And honestly no argument from me there.

12. I am absolutely, 100% still stalking one of her ‘absolutely the f not’ mugs. It will be mine. Someday. Eventually.