Do-Lit-Yourself: Have a Summer Literary Adventure!
The weather is finally nice, so why not set out on a major – or minor – literary adventure? We’ve come up with three kinds of bookish adventures you could do in the next hour, day, or three weeks (there is no in-between).
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ALU Editor
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Take a look at some suggestions on how to have a literary outing, starting with easy-peasy and moving on down to EXPERT VACATIONER.Easy Adventure: Visit an indie bookstore near youMaybe you’re fortunate enough to have an indie bookstore around the corner from you, or maybe going to a bookstore means a bit of a drive – either way, saddle up and head to your local or neighbouring bookstore. This might seem like a no-brainer to some, but even if you’re a devout attendee of the Church of Bookstores, use this visit to meet with the bookstore staff and ask for a recommendation from them. Indie booksellers are book lovers, after all! Check out our Field Trip column for some of our own indie bookstore tours, or go to findabookstore.ca to locate a store close to you.Medium Adventure: Explore the real-life locations from a novel set in your townChallenge yourself to read a novel or short story collection set in a particular place, and make a point to visit some of the real-life places that act as settings in the book. As a Torontoite, I’ll be rereading Andre Alexis’ The Hidden Keys (Coach House Books) and scoping out protagonist thief Tancred Palmieri’s favourite watering hole in Parkdale, the labyrinthine condominiums on the Toronto waterfront, and the familial crypts of Mount Pleasant Cemetery.Need help finding a book set in your region? Try Project Bookmark Canada, a cool initiative that installs placards featuring literary moments where they’ve happened in the country. Or, engage that local bookseller we were talking about in the previous step.
Photo of Mount Pleasant Cemetery by Flickr user Renato Lorini.INTENSE Adventure: Take the All Lit Up Literary Libations Tour!Our resident Chappy Hour mixologist Tan came up with this cross-country tour of literary-inclined bars, restaurants, and sites in between. You can port the Google map destinations into your GPS and get going!* * *Where will you go this summer? Let us know on Twitter at @alllitupcanada.For more Do-Lit-Yourself, click here.
