Most of the readers and writers we know, far from being the sort to only haunt the recesses of their town’s library or curl up on the couch when the sun’s shining, like to get out and visit the places they’ve read about. Or the places that inspire them.
We polled our staff—in a most informal but serious way—about the places in Texas that fueled their bookish imaginations. What literary destinations called to them to get out the map, get in the car, and go? Was it a whim to attend a festival, a desire to follow in a favorite author’s footsteps, an urge to browse the shelves of an unusual bookshop, a hunt for a novel’s real-life inspiration?
It didn’t take long for our list to grow. In fact, things got a bit heated as we tried to decide which destination might trump another — especially as we applied our own growing knowledge of attractions new and old to updating our 2016 list. You’ll see a few new entries this year, as new events, updated libraries, and big new books play a huge part in our determinations. We visited alluring locales from the pineywoods to the prairies, in big cities and small, from the coast to the mountains. We ranked and researched and ranked some more.
Our writeups and rankings are highly subjective, we grant you. The book scene is ever-changing, and we have to own up to not always being able to mention every recent development, or to acknowledge every worthy author, publisher, or bookstore in our pages. Though we concentrated primarily on those aspects of literary life that make a place “visitable,” we strive to capture the bookish flavor and fabric of each place that depend on the ongoing products of its writers behind closed doors, or the experiences shared by locals that visitors can only occasionally tap into.
All we can hope is that Lone Star Literary Life readers will find something here they didn’t know before—and even if they have to just toss all ten names in a hat and take turns choosing the next goal for a road trip, they’ll enjoy what they find when they get there.
Read on, share this issue with a friend, and send us your own thoughts when you’re done: info@LoneStarLiterary.com.
