Top 10: Literary Characters to Pack on Your Behalf

Welcome to All Lit Up’s Top 10 – a literary list of ten things we’re thinking about right now.Vacations are great, right? But, oh, the packing. Either you forget a critical item (Sunscreen, perhaps? Pants, for the truly free-spirited?) or manage to haul a small caravan’s worth of stuff for a weekend out of town. Don’t fret: we’ve rounded up the ten best literary characters to pack for you. Be inspired by their organized ways, and have a great trip!* * *The Watchmaker in this novel – based on the Rush album of the same name – may try to impose quartz-like precision upon every move you make, but imagine what your socks and undies would look like in your suitcase with that level of detail.

Rich Evans, a big city transplant to the small town of Waterton, AB, proves his resourcefulness not only in moving to a place seriously lacking in infrastructure, but also his continued resilience in the face of potential surveillance by his not-so-welcoming neighbours. Set during the Great Depression, The Time We All Went Marching’s Edie MacDonald packs up not only her own life every time her lover Slim moves from mine to mine, but that of their son, Belly’s, as well. Bean E. Falwell is a collector, toting an assemblage of personally-loved items that become a solace to her in the wake of familial unrest. And, she carries them in a Samsonite, so you’d best believe she’ll know how to make important things fit. 

In the dystopian world of Swarm, Sandy survives by fishing, farming, and beekeeping on a remote island. She makes our list for her live-off-the-land tips and cool head under fire.Tracy, the beleaguered copyeditor and secret glue of Simon Fraser University’s student newspaper The Peak, finds her life – both academic and romantic – in shambles. Why would we pick her to pack for you? Because her style guide is perfection. 

 Grizzled and tireless, we always count on Detective Lane (from Garry Ryan’s acclaimed mystery series) to save the day. We think he’d be pretty good at saving our clothes from exploding shampoo bottles, too. The meticulous archivist at the heart of Martha Baillie’s time travel/Arctic exploration novel, with her ability to source almost impossible fragments of the titular Schlogel’s journey, would know exactly what you needed on a trip (bonus points if it’s a trip to the Arctic). Numbers whiz and debt counsellor Meriel-Claire lives life cautiously (as you’d imagine any debt counsellor to do). Stingy with her dollars and her emotions, MC is the person to turn to in the event that you’re packing for a budget vacay. 

 Suzanne, second sister of five in Jennifer Quist’s darkly humorous family drama, is the model of wife, mother, and career perfection. At least until she comes up against catastrophe, and proves that when it goes down, she (perhaps terrifyingly) more than compensates.* * * Don’t miss our first, related top 10: the worst places to go on vacation.