by Michelle Sproule | Slowing down a little and breaking out a good book is never a bad idea. But what to read? Sure, you could walk into Chapters and take a chance on a recent release. You might even score. But here’s another option: pick up a book that you last put down 5, 10, or 20 years ago. Why not re-read a classic? It’s a classic for good reason and in re-visiting old favourites we can find memories of ourselves in its pages from when we first read picked it up years ago. With that in mind we’ve joined with a couple of friends of ours (George and Robyn of Sons & Lovers) to come up with a range of reliably awesome books, and we’ll be pairing each title with an appropriate place and a suitable drink. To start, we’re going back to 1925 with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Why you should read it again: What’s not to love about the unrestrained decadence of New York during the Roaring Twenties? Not only is The Great Gatsby an evocatively boozy summer read, it’s also a means to refresh your memory in advance of the much anticipated Leonardo DiCaprio/Carey Mulligan film adaptation due this Christmas. The trailer looks good, but can DiCaprio really best Redford’s turn as Gatsby in 1974? It hardly matters, as the book will always be better than both.

Pair with: Five hours on a sunny day off, a deck chair and either a bottle of Champagne or a Gin Rickey (gin was Fitzgerald’s spirit of choice as he believed it was undetectable on his breath). Also consider a well-made Boulevardier, a bourbon/campari cocktail that gained in popularity at the same time as Fitzgerald’s writing. A Negroni would also be a nice fit, as it’s the same as a Boulevardier except with gin instead of bourbon (it only gained in popularity a couple decades later). If you don’t feel like making the drinks yourself, sneak in a chapter between sips at The Diamond well before the rush starts.