A Book for Every Kind of Summer Vacation

Ah, summertime. The weather is fine and hours of unfettered summer reading await you. Right? We certainly hope you’ve all got plans to relax in a deck chair at the lake, take off on a cycling or camping trip, or head out to do some city sightseeing. Or perhaps you’re just planning on being stranded due to a flash flood. Whatever you spend your summer doing, you’re going to want just the right thing to read, and we’ve picked a few titles from independent Canadian literary publishers to suit your summer vacation style (or to help distract you from natural disasters).

Perhaps a quiet wilderness retreat by the lake is your ideal destination, and perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a cottage to go to. If getting back to nature is in the plans this summer, pick up Bog Tender: Coming Home to Nature and Memory by George Szanto (Brindle & Glass, 2013). This is both a meditation on the cyclical laws of the natural world and a memoir about finding a home away from your home. Szanto is a writer who lives on Gabriola Island, BC, and in this book he shares his reflections on the seasonal changes that take place on the bog on his property. This is a backdrop for sharing his memories of his own travels, his birthplace, and the lives of his parents. Oh, and fishing. If you like fishing, you’ll also enjoy this book.

For the intrepid adventurers and die-hard athletes out there who prefer to pack light for their summer cycling or camping or hiking trip, try poetry. You get a lot of bang for your buck, and it won’t take up too much room in your pack. Summer Sport: Poems by Priscilla Uppal (Mansfield Press, 2013) is a great place to start. A refreshing look at a topic that has too long been relegated to the sports broadcasting field of communication. Uppal wrote these poems while at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and you can read more about her project here.

British Columbia’s capital city is truly stunning. Its fair weather, historical attractions, and beautiful seaside backdrop draw thousands of tourists every summer. If you’re headed to Victoria, make sure to buy Sensational Victoria: Bright Lights, Red Lights, Murders, Ghosts, Gardens by Eve Lazarus (Anvil Press, 2012). This is an extremely well reasearched book that divulges some of Victoria’s best-kept secrets. You’ll find rare archival photos and many, many stories about the city’s more sensational characters. 

And for those of us who just really can’t get away this summer, here’s something fun that will take you to the lake regardless. Called a "vacation in your pocket" by one of its reviewers, Pleasantly Dead (Signature Editions) is a surefire hit, especially if you like British-style mysteries with a touch of sarcasm. All the books in the Rudley mystery series by Judith Alguire are set in Ontario cottage country at a little establishment called the Pleasant Inn. If you enjoy it, there’s two more Rudley mysteries available now—The Pumpkin Murders and A Most Unpleasant Wedding—and another one due out this fall, Peril at the Pleasant.

_______Edited from the original post, published on the LPG blog