A reader’s stay in Indianapolis: Canal walks, Vonnegut, and a bookstore worth the drive

The best way to understand a city is to walk it—and on my first morning in Indianapolis, that’s exactly what I did. I’m currently on my very first house sit through TrustedHousesitters, caring for two incredibly sweet, easygoing dogs. While they’ve been wonderful company during my downtime, this trip has also doubled as something I want to be intentional about moving forward: a writing retreat. Building travel around writing time—quiet mornings, unstructured afternoons, space to think—feels less like a luxury and more like a necessary shift in how I want to move through the world.

That mindset carried into my first full day, which started with a solo walk along the downtown canal. The full three-mile loop offers one of the most immersive introductions to the city you could ask for. The path winds past water, public art, and a cluster of museums that practically guarantee I’ll be back. It’s the kind of place where you don’t feel rushed. You notice things. You let the city unfold at its own pace.

This trip, though, had one clear literary destination: the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. I spent a long time with the Slaughterhouse-Five exhibit—longer than I expected. The weight of it builds slowly. Kurt Vonnegut’s experience as a prisoner of war during World War II, particularly surviving the firebombing of Dresden, shaped the novel in ways that feel impossible to separate from the text itself. Held in an underground slaughterhouse during the bombing, he witnessed devastation on a scale that defies easy narration. It took him years to find a way into that story. And when he did, he didn’t tell it straight.

Slaughterhouse-Five fractures time, looping and slipping between moments in a way that mirrors the lived experience of trauma. The narrative resists linearity because trauma resists containment. It interrupts the present. It replays without warning. The structure of the novel doesn’t just tell a story—it enacts what it feels like to live with PTSD.

Writers often use their work to process what they’ve lived through, to create shape where there wasn’t one before. Vonnegut’s novel feels like both an act of witness and an attempt at survival on the page.

Later, I went looking for a bookstore—and found one that was absolutely worth the detour. The Garden of Readin’ Book Closet caught my attention when I searched for bookstores in the area. The vibrant photos alone were enough to pull me in, and I can say without hesitation: it was worth driving out of my way to get there.

Inside, I had the chance to talk with the daughter of the mother/daughter co-owners. She told me that both of them work full-time jobs in addition to running the bookstore. That kind of commitment shows up in every detail of the space—it’s thoughtful, welcoming, and clearly built with care.

If you’re anywhere near Indianapolis, make the trip. Independent bookstores don’t run on convenience; they run on community. And places like this deserve to be supported.

If you’re planning your own literary outing in Indianapolis, here are a few more stops to consider:

• Indianapolis Public Library Central Library: A striking blend of historic and modern architecture, with plenty of spaces to read, write, or simply linger.
• Indiana State Library: Ideal if you’re drawn to archives, research, or quieter corners of literary history.
• Irvington neighborhood: A neighborhood that invites wandering, with indie shops and a pace that feels just right for a bookish afternoon.

I’ll be sharing more photos from this trip over on Instagram, so be sure to follow along there. And if you’d like future posts from this travel-meets-literary series delivered straight to your inbox, click the blue subscribe button on this page.

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Accommodations for this stay were made possible through TrustedHousesitters. If you’re curious about traveling this way—staying in real homes, caring for pets, and building in time for things like writing retreats—you can learn more and sign up through my link.

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Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.