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The Vancouver Public Library’s reading accompaniment to your excellent Vancouver weekend

With the clocks ‘springing ahead’ earlier this week, that gives us Vancouverites even more time (technically) to get outdoors and experience all the fun and vibrant activities taking place in our fair city. 1.

With the clocks ‘springing ahead’ earlier this week, that gives us Vancouverites even more time (technically) to get outdoors and experience all the fun and vibrant activities taking place in our fair city.

1. Begin with a brisk walk around your town...

Get the weekend started with an architectural tour of Vancouver. This is best done with a gaggle of friends that you can impress with zippy anecdotes about the development of our city’s various building styles. Allow your inner critic to come to the fore as you quote from Kalman and Ward’s lament on the loss of Gastown’s characteristic brick and mortar in favour of colossal glass and concrete condos.

VPLexploringvancouverExploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide by Harold Kalman

2. Then head east for a trip to a winter farmer’s market at Ontario and East 31st...

Farmers’ markets are bustling throughout the winter. A particular favourite is conveniently located next to Nat Bailey Stadium and our very own Terry Salman branch. While you sample locally grown produce you should have a freshly borrowed copy of Alisa Dawn Smith’s seminal 100 Mile Diet. This is one of the books that started it all, emphasising the importance of locally grown produce and supporting our own communities of farmers. With this in hand, you can speak as a near knowledge equal with the vendors themselves about the importance sustainable local agriculture.

VPL100milediet100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Dawn Smith

3. Back downtown for a trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery’s exhibition Cezanne and the Modern...

The impressionists are bigger than ever and Cezanne exhibition (running to May 17) at the Vancouver Art Gallery is a must-attend event. To be at the peak of your cultural game, we recommend spending some quality time with French impressionistic poet Stephane Mallarme. A contemporary of the great Cezanne, Mallarme’s verse had as big an impact on modern poetry as Cezanne’s characteristic brushstrokes had on painters such as Picasso and Matisse. Don’t fret about your shaky French! This English translation is the best there is. Feel free to drop choice verses to your friends as you browse the collection.

VPLmallarmeCollected Poems and Other Verse by Stephane Mallarme

4. Then a pint or three at one of Vancouver’s burgeoning craft beer breweries...

It’s a beer revolution and after burnishing your cultural credentials it’s time for a solid glass of craft brewed goodness. Since your friends have already been wowed with your sophistication and cultured repartee, it’s time to seal the deal with your intimate knowledge of beers, great and small, gleaned from Mike Karnowski’s 2014 home brewing bible.

VPLhomebrewHome Brew Beyond the Basics: All-grain Brewing and Other Next Steps by Mike Karnowski

vpl-logo VPL and V.I.A. have teamed up to help you discover new reads, hidden book gems and surprising literary finds. Check back every couple of weeks for the latest reading recommendations from the experts at Vancouver’s library.