Besides one of the later Harry Potter books when I was like 13 I don't think I've ever read a book in the year it was released.
Also I choose to believe Bill Krozby literally found a book called mien kamp: a book about a small pudgy german child who set up a campsite in the woods and spent a summer swimming in the Rhine and petting deer in ecstatic natural wonder. As summer drew to a close he bade nature fare well, broke up his little camp, and headed home. As years go by he goes through all the normal trials of growing up, first love and heartbreak, trying to find a place in the world but through every challenging episode he draws strength from the memory of his time in the forest, fondly recalling what it was to be truly alone and unafraid, fulfilled. He graduates and becomes a lawyer, a criminal defendant, he works hard to see the best in his clients and wins many of them a second chance. Whenever things seem bleak, a case isn't going his way or he makes a mistake in the courtroom, when he feels the pressure of the world bearing down on him he remembers lying on a hill just before dawn, the blackness of the sky and the trees just before the pre dawn explosion of colors, the deep purple to vibrant orange and red, and he remembers that it's going to be OK. He ends up marrying one of his clients, they have a daughter together and he takes pleasure in watching her grow up, in growing old with his wife. He spends many intimate moments with his family, they spend almost every weekend together, sometimes traveling to see far away things, sometimes simply playing board games on chilly winter days, but as close as he is with them he never tells them about his summer in the woods, his little camp. The only corner of his soul he holds back, that is his alone. In the solitude of nature all those years ago he learned the value of privacy. Time carries on, his daughter enters law school, dead set on becoming a lawyer like her father. The man starts to find himself a little more tired each day, eventually he hands the firm over to his younger ambitious partner and retires with his wife to a small but comfortable home outside the city, he spends his days reading or occasionally helping his former partner with legal research. Now that he's older he likes to wake early and watch the dawn, careful every morning not to wake his wife as he gets out of bed to stand in front of his living room window. Things continue this way for several more years. One day, climbing the steps at the local library he finds himself shorter of breath than usual. He mentions this to his doctor at his annual checkup a few weeks later, the usual tests are run but the results are bad. The doctor speaks in circles, polite as he has to be, but the man understands, he is old and was expecting as much. He goes home and says nothing to his wife, they enjoy their usual simple dinner and he embraces her tightly before they go to bed at the same early hour they always do. The man awakes earlier than even he is accustomed to, quietly dresses as he always does but instead of standing in front of his window with a cup of tea he gets in his car and drives, it's a few hours in the dark before he pulls to the side of the road. He parks the car, leaves the keys on the seat and heads into the dense forest, the same forest he walked through over 70 years ago. He had not returned since but he still knew the way, even in the dark. Although his body was not as strong as it had been before he walked with conviction, though his lungs burned the defiant heat of his labor drove the predawn chill from his limbs. After walking for a long time, with frequent stops, he arrived where he knew his campsite had been. It looked little like it did when he was a child, trees had fallen and grown and he knew the place only by the position of the river and the grade of the land and yet he knew he was here again. He sat down beneath a tree, felt the moss of the forest floor and looked up at the sky, it was brilliant orange and yet to the man it seemed to be getting darker rather than lighter. As he drew his final, shallow breath the man knew he had finally returned to... mine kamp.
