by George Giannakos and Robyn Yager | Slowing down a little and breaking out a good book is never a bad idea. But what to read? You could walk into any bookstore and roll the dice on a recent release, but here’s another option: pick up a book that you last put down 5, 10, or 20 years ago. For the next book in Scout’s Read It (Again) series, we’ve picked John Steinbeck’s 1937 classic, Of Mice And Men.

Why You Should Read It Again: Though it’s heavy in content and theme, this 75 year old story is still only a novella no thicker than an iPhone 4S. It traces the fates of George Milton and Lennie Small, two opposites both physically and mentally, who are out looking for work in California during the Great Depression with the shared hope of having a place of their own someday. It’s still required reading for most English classes in North America (and for anyone wanting to understand American aspirationalism), and justly so.

Pair It With: A stiff, classic drink composed of Whiskey, Dry Vermouth and Campari called an Old Pal. It should provide a (false?) sense of security with which you can brace against Fall. The drink was invented in the ’20s and would have been well known during Steinbeck’s long reign of fiction, its popularity contemporary with the misadventures of “old pals” George and Lennie. Any of Vancouver’s better cocktail joints should be able to take care of you with one of these.

OTHER CLASSIC PAIRINGS