Stroll, revised edition

THE TORONTO STAR'S  "30 BOOKS WE CAN'T WAIT TO READ THIS SPRING"

The updated edition of a Toronto favourite meanders around some of the city’s unique neighborhoods and considers what makes a city walkable

What is the 'Toronto look'? Glass skyscrapers rise beside Victorian homes, and Brutalist apartment buildings often mark the edge of leafy ravines, creating a city of contrasts whose architectural look can only be defined by telling the story of how it came together and how it works, today, as an imperfect machine.

Shawn Micallef has been examining Toronto’s streetscapes for decades. His psychogeographic reportages situate Toronto's buildings and streets in living, breathing detail, and tell us about the people who use them; the ways, intended or otherwise, that they are being used; and how they are evolving.

Stroll celebrates Toronto's details – some subtle, others grand – at the speed of walking and, in so doing, helps us to better get to know its many neighbourhoods, taking us from well-known spots like the CN Tower and Pearson Airport to the overlooked corners of Scarborough and all the way to the end of the Leslie Street Spit in Lake Ontario.

"Shawn Micallef offers an alternative perspective on the shape of neighbourhoods with an updated edition of Stroll, which originally appeared fifteen years ago. His “psychogeographic walking tours” take us through what he calls the Middle, Westish, Northish, Eastish, and Eastest areas of Toronto, showing us the known and sometimes obscure buildings and features that define Canada’s largest city." – Pamela Divinsky, Literary Review of Canada

"When I moved to Toronto in 2011, Stroll was the first book I added to my library and course reading lists. My students and I get lost in the PATH, sneak into lobbies, and visit the archives with this book as our guide. Micallef’s friendly voice invites us to slow down and notice not just a few landmark buildings but the city’s built fabric as a whole. This updated version offers our collective memory a much-needed affectionate yet critical view of recent changes to the city." – Erica Allen-Kim, Author of Building Little Saigon

"Stroll is a delightful and eccentric guidebook, full of clever writing, amusing stories and charming maps that will make you want to strap on...read more...