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 Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Why You Should Read It Again: Two words. Atticus Finch. Also, it serves as one of the most beloved novels ever written, and one of the first to ever tackle the theme of tolerance. The story is told through the eyes of a young, appropriately named girl called Scout who – together with brother Jem and friend Dill – finds herself for the first time witnessing social injustice as her father, the great Atticus Finch, defends a man wrongly accused of rape. It’s a solid, uplifting reminder that there are still some pretty rad people in the world who fight for what’s right, and a welcome change from all the novels that leave us drained and heartbroken.

Pair it With: The main characters in this book are either too younger to drink or they type to happily pass. So we’ll give you a couple of options here. First, the perfect drink to sip on while stalking Boo Radley from the front porch in the sticky heat of Southern summer is a Spanish Fly from Chambar (orange-infused vermouth, Campari, sherry, house made cherry syrup, and whiskey bitters). Second, Atticus Finch seems like the kind of man to never let a day go by without a good cup of coffee. We therefore suggest a visit to the beautiful Matchstick Coffee Roasters over on Fraser Street. Grab one of their delicious coffees, a croissant, and a chair and get to reading.

OTHER CLASSIC PAIRINGS