Peter Cameron on Daphne du Maurier, James Salter, and Where the Red Fern Grows

Welcome to the Book Marks Questionnaire, where we ask authors questions about the books that have shaped them.

This week, we spoke to the author of This week, we spoke to the author of What Happens at Night (out now in paperback), Peter Cameron.

Book Marks: Favorite re-read?

Peter Cameron: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

BM: What book do you think your book is most in conversation with?

PC: Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier.

BM: A book that blew your mind?

PC: Many Things Have Happened Since He Died (and here are the highlights) by Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn.

BM: Last book you read?

PC: Despised and Rejected by Rose Allatini.

BM: A book that made you cry?

PC: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.

BM: What book from the past year would you like to give a shout-out to?

PC: The Promise by Damon Galgut.

BM: A book that actually made you laugh out loud?

PC: Miss Undine’s Living Room by James Wilcox.

BM: What’s one book you wish you had read during your teenage years?

PC: Treasures on Earth by Carter Wilson.

BM: Favorite book to give as a gift?

PC: A Voice Through a Cloud by Denton Welch.

BM: Classic book you hate?

PC: A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor.

BM: Classic book on your To Be Read pile?

PC: Murphy by Samuel Beckett.

BM: What’s a book with a really great sex scene?

PC: Queer: The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Straight: A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter.

BM: Favorite book no one has heard of?

PC: The Outward Room by Millen Brand.

BM: Favorite books of the 21st century?

PC: The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard.

Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish.

BM: Favorite book you were assigned in high school?

PC: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

BM: Book(s) you’re reading right now?

PC: Noel Coward: A Biography by Philiip Hoare.

Peter Cameron is the author of eight novels (including Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You and Coral Glynn) and three collections of stories. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Rolling Stone, and many other literary journals. He lives in New York City and Sandgate, Vermont.

What Happens at Night Peter Cameron