3 Great Reasons for Book Lovers to Visit to Cape Cod this Summer.

Location, Location, Location

Has reading a book with a particular setting ever made you want to visit that place? For me the setting can be so significant sometimes that it’s like another character. Cape Cod became that character and that place I wanted to visit after I read several books set in the beachy sixty-five-mile-long peninsula. With a population of only 228,996, I found it intriguing and fascinating that so many of the books I just happened to choose were set on the Cape. I wanted to know what made the place so special, so memorable that so many writers like Jennifer Weiner, Karen Dukess, Miranda Cowley Heller, Gabrielle Zevins, Elin Hilderbrand, Judy Blume and Adrienne Brodeur have set their novels there? It must be more than just the rolling sandy beaches and impromptu lobster bakes, right?

While visiting my daughter in Boston last month, I had the chance to go to Cape Cod and we drove nearly the whole peninsula, marveling at the sand dunes in Truro (although I’m still struggling with pronunciation), loving the love in Provincetown, devouring a buttery lobster roll in Wellfleet, and strolling through shops in Chatham. It was windy and quite chilly for June, so we didn’t get to see the beach or the bay at its full author inspiring beach setting potential, but we did wander in and out of the little towns and there was something else (other than beach life) that I noticed connecting these places and these people: it was book love!

Twenty-two Bookstores!

In the short time we were there we happened upon four bookstores. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe that I wasn’t seeking them out, but I wasn’t (this time) and we just happened to see (and of course walk through) four!! I thought that was a lot until I learned that there are twenty-two independent bookstores on Cape Cod that participate in something called the Book Store Trail. (Okay, that information took me a moment to digest. I may have even needed to catch my breath, hold on to something steady.) “There are twenty-two independent bookstores on Cape Cod?”  “Yup, at least twenty-two” was the answer. “And then there is a Cape and Islands Bookstore Trail program that encourages visiting all these bookstores while exploring Cape Cod?” “Yup, here’s a map!” I couldn’t believe it. Had I just been handed a map of the twenty-two bookstores on Cape Cod? To visit? To peruse? (I’m getting goosebumps even now just thinking about it) How had I never visited this bookstore mecca before?

But it wasn’t just the bookstores that told me Cape Cod was special. Something else I noticed while we were driving around were the libraries, so many libraries holding events, advertising upcoming author talks and book discussions. I lost count of the number of libraries we passed and when I looked it up online, I counted thirty-eight libraries on Cape Cod. Is that possible? Thirty-eight libraries!! Remember Cape Cod is only 65 Miles long. That is astounding!

Abundant Literary Love!

Not to mention the abundance of little free libraries planted in the front or side yards of homeowners. Little wooden book boxes with slanted roofs set atop a wooden stake on a manicured lawn. Inside, books from a beach bag or a basement sit on a center shelf waiting for someone to befriend. It’s a little box full of hope and possibility.

Books and book love was everywhere. Paperbacks tucked under the arms of morning walkers and in the baskets of baby strollers. At a favorite breakfast counter, I saw a man reading a faded hardback while enjoying his eggs. (I did try to see what he was reading and couldn’t) However, it was a delightful sight to see someone reading in public, to see people loving their books.

The Perfect Book Lover Vacation!

Although I realize it’s probably the personal Cape Cod experiences of these Cape Cod authors that motivates so many to choose the Cape as a setting, I can’t help but think that being in a place that exudes book love and creativity can only be a good thing for the artistic and imaginative mind. If this is true, then Cape Cod is fertile ground for creatives, and sure to be in the background of many of our future best sellers. I know I can’t wait to return. For me Cape Cod is as perfect in person as on paper- bookish and beachy.