Hello, friends!

I hope you had a fantastic reading month in October! Did you embrace Spooky Season? Did you read any of the buzzy new releases? Sharing is caring.

The book I enjoyed the most in October was the haunted house novel The Cracks by T.H. Huddleston. When a former chef loses her husband to a long illness, she leaves London for a crumbling manor house in the country to recuperate among her old friends. But the house is covetous, and her friend’s wife begins to embrace the worst traditions of the old aristocracy — and things go poorly in a spectacularly entertaining way. There are creepy haunting episodes, a dinner party from Hell, and a handful of memorable characters.

Spill the tea: What’s the best book you read in October?

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Boo! Trick or treat!

You ready for the big day tomorrow? I’m assuming you’ve got your goodie bag prepared — or have at least stocked up on your favorite candy for your own personal use. Technically, Spooky Season ends on November 1 (or November 2 if you include All Souls’ Day), which means you’ve got four more days to slam some eeries reads into your brain, and delicious Halloween treats into your mouth.

We’ve got ideas for you! Here are:

• 7 Eerie Audiobooks to Fill Your Ears with Spooky Halloween Fun

• 7 Dark Academia Novels for a Perfectly Eerie Halloween

• 43 Spooky & Sublime Gothic Novels with a Strong Sense of Place

You might cleanse your palate between books with a beautifully eerie poem about a haunted house or a gleeful ghost. Whichever you choose, you’ll need something sweet (Pumpkin Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Filling inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and something salty (Pumpkin-Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds inspired by the novel Small Spaces).

Finally, a poem for you:

For One Night In a Haunted Manor by Terry Flood

The ghosts wear watches –

ironically. When asked the time

they reply “Eternity!”

as did the poet Batyushkov

who for that earned the odium of Mandelstam.

Quite a row of them on the old park bench

under an always waning moon

trying out ever more tortuous tenses

havering between

pluperfect and passato remoto.

Should one of their number be so

coarse as to mention the present

there follows a flurry of nightgowns,

a clearing of throats.

Then an older, timeworn ghost

– the exact same age as the others –

might point at the sky

where a barn owl has passed

and bequeathed an augury with feathers

to regale the uncertain hour.

P.S.

Find more Halloween goodies, including 50+ recommended reads, on our Halloween Destination Page.

P.P.S.

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The veil will be thin tomorrow night! On the History of the Aes Sidhe, Ireland’s Seductively Dangerous Fairies. The author, Sarah Clegg, wrote the book I LOVED and recommended in our Christmas episode last year: The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures. I will 100% read what she has to say about Irish fairies.

Treat yourself to this fantastic non-scary ghost story by the brilliant and funny Whitney Matheson.

A little something to help with the clock change this weekend:

A Field-Guide to the Brontës’ Literary Universe. Amy M. King explores the landscapes and botany that shaped the sisters’ novels.

Atlas Obscura has a peek into how Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. Spoiler: He wrote in his library books! ‘…books transported Stoker to the region in the Carpathian Mountains, and he brushed up on geography, cuisine, and superstitions. He also apparently left his mark on some of the library’s volumes.’

The cutest Halloween comics, courtesy of cartoonist Gemma Correll:

How Disney’s ‘The Skeleton Dance’ Became a Masterpiece of the Macabre. ‘These skeletons don’t merely dance. They do the Charleston. They do the grapevine. They join hands and caper around in a circle, like something out of a children’s game (or folk horror ritual). A pair take turns using each other as pogo sticks. One saucy skeleton wiggles his hip bones and slaps them vigorously. They pop apart their limbs and reassemble. They undulate like they have no bones, even though they are bones. The music riles them to the point that they can’t help but participate in it, with one playing a cat’s tail like a violin while another grabs a couple of his friend’s femurs and proceeds to play his ribs like a xylophone. It’s a frenzied melding of merriment and the macabre until a cock crows, signaling dawn, and they all fall to pieces.’

Surely you want to see 30 Color Snapshots That Show What Halloween Looked Like in the 1960s and 1970s. So many disturbing masks!

This book from Manderley Press looks like an excellent read: The Haunting of Lamb House by Joan Aiken, ‘a ghostly story for adult readers, set in Lamb House, Rye in Sussex.’ The story of how the new edition of the book came to be is really neat.

Grab a friend, light a candle, and read aloud one of these 20 spooky short stories (free online).

Three delightful words: Edinburgh Witch Map. ‘The Edinburgh Witch Map illuminates both Edinburgh’s dark history of persecution and its vibrant modern community of witches, pagans, and occult practitioners.’

Related: The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive. Digital scans of originals and transcripts of documents, plus maps, articles, and more. Thanks for friend-of-SSoP Ronda for this treasure!

Eighty-eight years ago today, ‘War of the Worlds’ — directed and narrated by Orson Welles — was broadcast live from the Mercury Theatre on CBS Radio, and people kinda lost their minds.

Don’t tell me the perfect Little Free Library doesn’t exist.

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If you’ve got it, haunt it.

Greetings, dear readers! — Oct 27

The shot above is pretty iconic — and my go-to fall movie is When Harry Met Sally…. To be fair, it’s also my go-to Christmas movie and go-to New Year’s Eve movie. The scene of Sally sadly dragging her Christmas tree home alone through the streets of Manhattan? Iconic. Harry’s running through those same street in his dreadful jacket and sneakers on NYEve? Iconic. His ‘the rest of your life’ speech?! ICONIC.

But that’s not telling anything you don’t already know.

So here’s my lesser-known pick: They’re Watching from 2016.

It’s a found-footage comedy-horror. It’s not scary-scary — but it is pretty bloody. There are gross-outs that don’t bother me, but if you’re sensitive to that, this isn’t for you.

Why am I recommending a gory movie? Because it’s set in Moldova, tells a fish-out-of-water story, includes creepy villagers, an angry mob, and the legend of a witch-burning. My favorite scene, the one that keeps me coming back to the movie, is a night in the local pub that involves too much booze and drunken singing. Dave and I once spent an evening at the Gypsy Bar (Cikánská jizba) in the Czech village of Cesky Krumlov that was the real-life version of that. (If you want to try it, the whole movie is on YouTube.)

Spill the tea: What’s a movie you love for fall and/or Spooky Season?

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Hello, friends!

We’re back in your podcast player with a new episode — South Korea: Kimchi, K-Pop, and All-Night Karaoke is in your podcast player right now. Listen below, on your favorite podcatcher, or on our show notes page where you’ll find a soothing video about a Temple Stay, a how-to for Korean Street Toast, and interviews with many of our recommended authors.

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South Korea sits at the easternmost edge of Asia and shares the Korean Peninsula with its stern northern neighbor. South Korea’s current geography was created by outsiders: The US and Soviet Union drew its borders after WWII. Although its 20th-century history is pretty grim, the modern country — dynamic, resilient, traditional, and fashionable — is not.

In the capital city of Seoul, soaring skyscrapers and colorful neon glitter are juxtaposed with traditional swooping tile roofs. Cone-shaped mountains surround the city, framed by pink cherry blossoms in the spring and maple leaves turned gold, red, and orange in the fall.

A short list of things for which we can thank Korea: Kimchi and bibimbap. The MP3 player and those sweet instant coffee sticks with built-in sugar and creamer. K-Dramas (Hello, Attorney Woo!) and K-Pop. (Who doesn’t love a little ‘Dynamite’?!)

In this episode, we learn about the discovery of a long-lost royal tomb and the new apps known as ‘dopamine sites.’ Because it’s nearly impossible to talk about South Korea without contrasting it with its northern neighbor, we take a virtual trip to the DMZ and share tips for living like a monk (for a day).

Then we recommend five books we love that took us to South Korea on the page:

• a quiet novella set in a popular beach town during the winter

• a colorful comic book with recipes

• a modern story of four friends obsessed with beauty in Seoul

• a nonfiction book that illuminates life in a place most of us will never visit

• a charming retelling of Pride and Prejudice set during the 18th-century Joseon dynasty (grounded in fascinating real-life history)

Hope you enjoy this new episode! Thank you for listening!

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Endnotes: 23 October

Spooky Season is winding down. [sad trombone in a minor key] On the upside, that means the Night of Candy is almost here! It also means there’s limited time to get your Spooky Season reading done. If you’re looking for something eerie to bring October to a close, I’ve got some ideas for you!

First, we’ve got a playlist carefully curated by Dave to get you in the mood for Halloween hijinks and two Halloween-themed podcast episodes:

• Halloween: Costumed Revelry, Voices From Beyond, and YAY, Candy!

• Halloween: About 31% More Gothic than Normal

If you’re in the mood for vampires (and who isn’t, amirite?), here are 6 of Our Favorite Literary Vampires. Looking for something short and sinister? Here are 6 Short Story Collections That Are Appropriately Eerie for Halloween.

And sometimes you just have to ask yourself, Are you a Witch?

News you can use: A Field Guide to Divining a Lover on Halloween. ‘There is a long history of young people consulting the spirits through parlor games and fall produce for clues to their future spouses. These traditions, adapted (or bastardized, in some cases) from Scottish and Irish customs, captured imaginations from the Victorians to Agatha Christie. Some are still popular today, like bobbing for apples, but their romantic connotations have disappeared.’

Titan Books is a London publisher that specializes in sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and horror. Here are their horror releases for 2026, ranging from Gothic vibes to ‘read with the lights on.’

Indie booksellers recommend 31 Spooky, Eerie, and Uncanny Books for Halloween.

Related: All the new horror fiction recommended by CrimeReads so far this fall.

Let the bickering begin: The 52 Best Draculas, Ranked. ‘Although there have been many memorable theatrical incarnations of the Count (I’m looking at you two, Raul Julia and Jeremy Brett, having played Dracula on stage but without having been captured on footage while doing so), we’re only going to rank ones that appeared on film, television, or in other recordings, because that levels the playing field. Vampires by nature don’t always appear on film, but we’re very fortunate that all of these guys were able to.’

These hand-painted miniature dioramas by Oakland-based artist Shannon Taylor are very beautiful and a little spooky. More on the artist’s website.

The Best Adventure Novels: The 2026 Wilbur Smith Prize. ‘What makes a great adventure novel? For Alex Bescoby, filmmaker, traveler and judge of the 2026 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, it’s the ability to transport readers to unfamiliar worlds and bring history vividly to life.’

I will read this new feminist-slasher novel based on the title alone — This B Just Won’t Die — but this interview with the author is the clincher.

7 Fun Ways to Name Characters in Novels. ‘As I work on the manuscript, I’ve been reflecting on how much I enjoy naming characters because it’s such a uniquely creative aspect of writing fiction. Especially since all my books to date have featured the main characters’ names in the titles. Here are the several different ways I go about naming my characters.’

Ever wonder why European book spines are printed ‘the wrong way’?

12 Must-Read Books on Textiles and Fiber Art.

Is a Bad Jane Austen Adaptation a Victimless Crime? ‘Frankenstein’s creature is green and vaguely square-shaped. Sherlock Holmes wears a hunting cap and smokes a curved pipe. Charlotte Lucas is twenty-seven years old, with no money and no prospects, already a burden to her parents, frightened. It doesn’t matter that Mary Shelley, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jane Austen never wrote those details; the stories have ballooned past their narrow literary beginnings, destined to be eternally rewritten by culture.’

As a devotee of the reality show Below Deck, I was honor-bound to read this essay: Excessive Wealth, Extreme Emissions, and Ecocide: What I Learned at Europe’s Big Superyacht Show. It’s informative, infuriating, and funny. ‘To be honest, I’ve come dressed all wrong for Europe’s big annual superyacht trade exhibition. The code for men seems to be crisp and tucked in, blazers and chinos, navy and white, sculpted hair and designer sunnies. (I went colorful, loose, casual). For women, it’s something like Riviera elegance. Everyone – whether they’re Italian, French, English, German, American, exhibitors, buyers, brokers, charterers – seems to know each other. The international superyacht community seems to be a close-knit one, and I’m not part of it. Yet.’

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By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. — Willie Shakespeare

Hello, readerly friends!

It’s firmly fall here in Prague. I had to wear gloves on my morning walk today! (Not a complaint.) Here are a few snaps of the autumnal colors in our favorite park:

I think the book that feels like fall to me is pretty obvious by now: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It begins in late autumn with a train ride through the Slovenian Alps to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Major fall vibes. Next up: The sequel Mystery Play, which was just released last week.

That’s me — what about you?

Spill the tea: What’s a book that feels like fall to you?

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Hello, friends!

Huzzah! Today is National Dictionary Day, a celebration of Noah Webster (‘father of the American dictionary’) and the wonder of words. Or, more specifically, the magic of documenting their meanings.

Webster was born in Connecticut on 16 October 1758 — when the American colonies were in the midst of the French and Indian War. By the time he was 43, the colonies had declared independence from Great Britain, and the lexicographer was convinced American students shouldn’t have to use British textbooks.

He wrote A Grammatical Institute of English Language (the primary source for spelling and grammar in the US), and started work on the first American dictionary: An American Dictionary of the English Language. According to the Merriam-Webster website, he learned 26 languages to help him write this tome. When it was completed in 1828 — more than two decades after it was begun — the book contained nearly 70,000 words. Today, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary includes about 225,000 terms that are updated annually.

Here are some very specific (and fun) dictionaries to explore:

• The Positive Lexicography Project, an index of ‘untranslatable’ words related to wellbeing from across the world’s languages

• The Dictionary of Victorian Slang, so you can sprinkle conversation with phrases like got the morbs and mafficking and mentasentil (see page 175 in the linked book

• A Dictionary of Old Trades, Titles, and Occupations, in case you want to consider your livelihood in alternate timelines

• Random House Word Menu, a fantastic tool for writing

• The Time Traveler archive, which documents the new words added to the dictionary each year. (The year I was born gave us morning breath, word processor, and mindf*ck.)

For two novels in which dictionaries play a major role, I loved:

• The Great Passage by Shion Miura (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter): A sweet and gently told story set in Japan about a group of people toils for more than a decade on a new 2900-page (!) dictionary called The Great Passage. It speaks lovingly of the power of words and the emotions contained in the particular arrangement of a few letters. Read my write-up; hear me talk about.

• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich: A gorgeous, affecting story with a bookshop at its core. We’re introduced to the main characters’ bookishness when she describes how a dictionary got her through incarceration. She drops book titles like literary confetti throughout the story — a handy appendix called ‘Totally Biased List of Tookie’s Favorite Books’ compiles them all into a list of several years’ worth of excellent reading. Read my write-up; hear me talk about.

Do you have a novel you love that features a dictionary or other research book? Drop it into the comments!

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Endnotes: 16 October

I think this will be divisive! Would you cut up your big books to make readable volumes? (I would.)

Also potentially divisive: Every Jane Austen Screen Adaptation Ranked. ‘To our minds, Jane Austen adaptations should be reasonably close to the text, preserve a fair bit of her snappy dialogue, and recreate that sense that we’re entering a more charming, more genteel world than today’s one – it’s the escapism we all need right now, after all.’

Tangentially related: This is an interesting explainer about bestselling books whose screen adaptations were never made. So many favorites on this list — The Night Circus_, Circe, Mexican Gothic, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay!

Here’s a free tool to make a grid of nine books you love. My picks for today (subject to change any time):

Delightful! Scientists Discover 180,000 Giant Tortoises on One Seychelles Island.

The garments in the Garden of Ethereal Realms: Guo Pei Costume Art Exhibition at the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, China, are stunning. One of the gowns almost looks like an open book.

Kudos to our friend Michael (of Michael and Brent are Going Places) for bringing such positive attention to his local food bank.

14 Mesmerizing Mazes and Labyrinths on Atlas Obscura.

Two words: Cute dogs.

I cannot improve on this headline: Thieves Pulled Off Another Shocking Art Heist in France. This Time, They Took a 330-Pound Bronze Book Cover Designed by Salvador Dalí.

Train + cheese = happiness.

Sorta related: The Man Hiking the World in Search of Rare Cheeses. ‘…deliciousness is cultural. It’s taught. So, I always say: don’t try something once, try it 10 times. Uncomfortable foods open doors. But be sure to eat them because you’re interested in the culture, not because they’re freaky to you.’ More good news: He has a Substack!

Have you noticed the way the internet killed the paragraph? ‘All this put some questions in my mind: Where do our ideas about paragraphs come from? And why does the internet-native paragraph work so differently from its traditional cousin?’

25 Haunted House Novels, from classic creaky houses to maniacal modern homes.

Sorta related: I’ve Read 50+ Witch Books. These Are the Best.

On the enduring appeal of Spider-Man, the tortured Hamlet of superheroes. ‘I believe the secret to the longevity of Spider-Man (as well as countless other superheroes) lies at the nexus of four qualities cultivated over many decades…’

These blank journals designed to look like Victorian science books are really lovely. (We have their passport covers, and they’re beautifully made.)

I was curious about Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li, a historical novel about two musicians. Ron Charles review convinced me to add it to my TBR: ‘The symphonic nature of this novel — the elaborate movements that eventually resolve — is rapturous; the great upheavals of Europe in the early 19th century rumble in the bass line.’ Enjoy a sneak peek of the novel with this excerpt at LitHub.

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Petition to bring back frequent use of ‘snuggery’ and ‘snugify.’

(See dictionary image above.)

Greetings, dear readers!

Although books with Gothic vibes can lean spooky, they don’t have to be horror. Jane Austen seems to have had a lot of fun weaving Gothic elements into her decidedly un-scary novel Northanger Abbey. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and The Distant Hours by Kate Morton all play around with the Gothic, with nary a ghost or other supernatural being involved.

But having said that, Gothic horror novels — like Dracula and Jennifer Thorne’s Diavola — are super-fun if you like to be frightened (on the page).

And then there are those rare (delicious) books like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca that live in the liminal space between not-horror and horror — and old-school Gothic romance à la Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Stewart, who put their charming heroines in harm’s way, then give them the tools to save themselves just in the nick of.

The bottom line is: You don’t have to be a horror fan to love the thrill of an isolated location, portentous dreams, and weather with personality.

Spill the tea: What’s a Gothic novel you love?

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P.S.

Want to immerse yourself in more Gothic goodness? Here’s our podcast episode where I answered the question What is Gothic? and recommended a slew of books.

P.P.S.

That’s Cologne Cathedral at the top of this post. Construction of this Gothic confection was begun in 1248 but stopped nearly 300 years later, in 1560. As ever, money was tight, and by that time, the Gothic style (vertical height, pointy) was falling out of favor, and Renaissance architecture (horizontal balance, domes and arches) was on the rise. It was finally completed in October 1880, 632 years after it started. During WWII, it was badly damaged but its spires stood tall in the otherwise flattened city. Today, it represents at least two superlatives: the largest façade of any church in the world and Germany’s most-visited site. Visitors are welcome at services without a ticket; with a ticket, you can tour the church, its treasury, and the tower.

Hello, friends!

We’re back in your podcast player with a new episode — Michigan: We’re All Just Yoopers and Trolls Livin’ in the Mitten State is in your podcast player right now. Listen below, on your favorite podcatcher, or on our show notes page where you’ll find WORDS.

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Michigan may be in the heart of the American Midwest, but it feels like a state with a coast. Its mitten-shaped peninsulas touch four of the five Great Lakes, and with around 11,000 inland lakes, too, you’re never more than a 10k from some kind of water.

The Upper Peninsula is the place to go for dense forest, snowy winters, and an outdoorsy lifestyle influenced by Finnish and Swedish heritage. Head south to the Lower Peninsula for Detroit-style pizza, unique Petoskey Stones, and the University of Michigan — including its Law Library with the reading room of your dark academia dreams.

Michigan is the Cherry Capital of the US and home to the Isle Royale National Park — wolves and otters and moose... oh, my! It’s also the birthplace of both the cornflake and the Motown sound — the state that invites you to dance in the streets and be mayor for a day.

In this episode, we explore the freshwater spring of Kitch-iti-kipi, delve into the history of the Big D, learn about the Kellogg brothers’ feud, and explore Michiganders’ silly nicknames for each other.

Then we recommend five books that took us to the Great Lakes State on the page:

• a biography of Detroit

• a collection of stories set in Dearborn’s Arab-American community

• two suspenseful family dramas disguised as thrillers

• a dramedy set at a resort hotel on Mackinac Island

Hope you enjoy this new episode! Thank you for listening!

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Endnotes: 09 October

Let’s take a romp through some reading-inspired street art! We’ll start with a banger: Here are 45 murals about books, libraries, and reading. One of my favorites from that collection is Curiosity Feeds Imagination by Mantra. It’s on a street in Esch-sur-Alzette, a city in Luxembourg with lots of amazing street art.

In Espona, Spain, a young reader stretches for a book — and in Bree, Belgium, a bicycle tunnel is transformed into an enormous bookshelf. In real life, Charlotte Brontë was just 4’9”, but in this Kilkee Beach mural, she’s (much, much) larger than life. (There are more author murals in this collection.)

In Utrecht, Netherlands, a trompe l’oeil bookshelf adorns a brick building — and in Vilnius, Lithuania, an entire street is devoted to literature. Finally, this line of novels published by Penguin UK flips the script: street artists re-imagined the covers of ten contemporary classics.

Whoa. The stories in this piece from The Guardian about book clubs that got dramatic are intense (and quite amusing). ‘More than a decade ago, she selected Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh as December’s book since it was set during the Christmas season. But Eileen, which tells the tale of a troubled young woman who becomes obsessed with an older co-worker at the prison where she works, is decidedly not an uplifting holiday season read. “People are mad to this day,” VanDenburgh said. “At the very last meeting, in fact, people brought up Eileen, like: Don’t you dare ever do that to us again.”’

Eight of the Best Meta Mysteries. For people who love when a mystery knows it’s a mystery.

At the recent Valentino Spring 2027 runway show, guests were asked to bring their favorite book to be donated to charity after the show. See photos and read about it here and here. It was held in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. Swoon.

Do you know the phrase ‘ergodic books’? I didn’t until I watched this:

Your periodic reminder that most people are compassionate and want to make a kinder world: Activists Unveil Quilt Honoring Thousands Disappeared by ICE in Minnesota.

The 2026 Comedy Wildlife Photography Award Finalists made me LOL so many times. Confession: I love a water buffalo.

Take a few minutes to escape into a real-life fantasy world with this short piece about Ronda, Spain.

What’s Your Travel Love Language?

A delicious little piece on the origins of pad thai. For more, listen to our podcast episode Thailand: Come for the Food, Stay for the Spiritual Enlightenment.

This is so cool! Explore a 3D paper model of historic Prague.

Perhaps you need to get lost in some yummy British period dramas.

Naomi Alderman writes sharp novels with big ideas and lived-in characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this look at her workspace and writing habits.

The new Gothic graphic novel The Cutting Garden (written by Darcy Van Poelgeest; art by Erin Connally; letters by Aditya Bidikar) looks great. ‘[A] graphic novel set within a New Orleans flower shop, where haunting botanical elements mirror the slow decay of a family line’ illustrated with Erin Connally’s hand-painted watercolor washes and naturalist patterns.

Aw. Inside Amy Winehouse’s library. A new exhibit collects 400 books that were in the late singer’s personal library. ‘Most of the volumes are out-of-print paperbacks with glossy, candy-bright covers…. There are themes: books about Hollywood (biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Dean Martin, Alfred Hitchcock); about music (Frank Sinatra, Bob Marley, Peggy Lee); about gangsters (Ronnie Kray); and a few literary choices: Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. We will never know whether Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black inspired the title of Winehouse’s multi-platinum album Back to Black. I wonder, too, whether her music was influenced by her apparent love of Vladimir Nabokov, or sudoku. How ever did she find the time?’

Wow. This is awesome: An enormous pop-up book at the Los Angeles Public Library. It measures 31 by 20 feet when it’s open — and it’s beautiful! (Hugs of thanks to friend-of-SSoP Pam G. for sending this our way.)

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Hope you’re reading something great.

My September reading was a bit of a mixed bag. In my recap from the Margins app below, you can see in my daily log on the left that I started three books (!) that did not make it into my final tally. (I’m still reading Emma and The Historian.)

I had high hopes for Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted. The premise is fantastic, the writing is beautiful and evocative, but, alas, my heart was unmoved. The tone and shape of the story reminded me quite a lot of The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy — but The Snow Ball reached my feelings in a way Madame Sosostris did not. (The Snow Ball is an excellent read for New Year’s Eve, BTW.)

The other four books I finished were all delightful in their own way:

• Newbourne Park by Jennifer Thorne: a deeply unhinged (compliment) manor house story with very sharp teeth; from the author of Diavola, which I LOVED

• Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison: a time-loop novel with a very relatable heroine who finds herself at the Worst Wedding Ever; very funny, deeply moving, relentlessly entertaining. Harrison is a must-read author for me. I reviewed Cackle in our Halloween episode last year. Also recommend Bad Dolls, So Thirsty, Black Sheep, and Play Nice.

• Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer: charming, life-affirming, sun-drenched, romantic — Andrew Sean Greer is so so so good at what he does; a mini vacation to Italy; a cousin to A Room with a View and Still Life by Sarah Winman.

• Object in Focus: The Tudor Heart by Rachel King: I picked up this little book at the British Museum, and for 36 hours, I was obsessed with the story of how a young man found this 500+-year-old necklace in a field with a metal detector.

Spill the tea: What’s the best book you read in September?

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P.S.

The aster is the birth flower for September. It’s colorful, daisy-ish blossoms — purple, pink, white, yellow, red, blue — add a last splash of bright color to autumn before plants and trees hunker down for the winter. They were sacred flowers for the Greek and Roman gods, each color representing a different virtue: white for innocence, purple for wisdom, red for passion, pink for love and kindness. They were also beloved by Thomas Jefferson and held significance in post-WWI Hungary; read more about that here.

Happy High Spooky Season! Or as we like to call it around Strong Sense of Place HQ: The most wonderful time of the year.

The raven — majestic, intimidating, intelligent, playful, and almost human in its ability to grieve — has lived alongside people for more than 30,000 years. In Norse mythology, two ravens named Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) are Odin’s companions — and in Native American cultures, the raven often represents transformation and is sometimes a shape-shifting trickster.

Across the pond in London, it’s said that the Tower of London and its kingdom will fall if the resident ravens ever leave the fortress. To stave off disaster, seven ravens are kept at the Tower at all times by the Ravenmaster.

The first literary raven might be the one immortalized in The Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2100 BCE. But the most popular bookish bird has got to be Edgar Allan Poe’s mesmerizing ‘The Raven.’ It’s practically an anthem for Spooky Season; I’ve written about it before.

Did you know Poe’s raven was inspired by Charles Dickens’ pet?

The British author kept a talking raven named Grip. She could ‘repeat several phrases, she buried coins and cheese in the garden, and she often bit people, including the coachman and the children. Following an incident where Grip bit one of the Dickens children, she was banished to the shed.’ She’s the star of Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rudge, which was reviewed by Poe — who was then inspired to write his poem.

Here’s the raven’s introduction from Barnaby Rudge:

The raven, with his head very much on one side, and his bright eye shining like a diamond, preserved a thoughtful silence for a few seconds, and then replied in a voice so hoarse and distant, that it seemed to come through his thick feathers rather than out of his mouth.

‘Halloa, halloa, halloa! What’s the matter here! Keep up your spirits. Never say die. Bow wow wow. I’m a devil, I’m a devil, I’m a devil. Hurrah!’—And then, as if exulting in his infernal character, he began to whistle.

When the real-life Grip died in 1841, Dickens had her stuffed and mounted. Her taxidermied form now lives in the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

For more on ravens in the pages of books, here’s a Compendium of Literary Ravens from LitHub, and a collection of illustrations from Poe’s poem, like this watercolor by Edmund Dulac from the 1912 book The Bells and Other Poems — which is available on Gutenberg with the illustrations:

Last one: There is a delightful array of recitations and short films of ‘The Raven’ on YouTube. I made a playlist!

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Endnotes: 02 October

The Food Stylist Who Turned the New Sense and Sensibility Film Into a Feast for the Eyes. ‘In a story where manners are everything and feelings are so repressed, what is unspoken takes on extra significance. It is often left to the characters’ surroundings – the details of their everyday lives – to tell their stories, from the Regency interiors to the food on their plates. Even the sweetest-looking dishes have something interesting to say, and a table is never simply a table – it is a representation of who has money and who does not, who is living and who is merely surviving.’

Related: Four Things Jane Austen Adaptations Get Wrong, according to experts.

If you love historical fiction, you probably know the meticulously researched books by Rose Tremain; I recommended her novel The Colour in the New Zealand episode of our podcast. Her new book is The Housekeeper, a reimagining of the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel Rebecca. She wrote about it for The Guardian. (Fun! A film adaptation is already in production with Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, and Caitríona Balfe.)

This is handy and excellent for gift-giving: A directory for beautiful editions of classic books. Like this elegant clothbound series, illustrated classics, and Penguin leatherbound.

Vis-a-vis gift giving: This haunted library sweatshirt is really cute. (And the creator’s Lady of the Library YouTube channel is good, too!

This table!

As you might expect, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, has a fantastic online exhibit about the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

This is so informative and fun. Behind the Masterpiece answers art history questions, including, How would you trace labor movements using art history? and Why are there multiples of great paintings scattered around at different museums?

Would you stay in any of these unusual places to spend the night? I think my top pick is the Grand Circus Hotel in Malmö, Sweden. Although the Big Idaho Potato Hotel is also kitschy fun!

Lots of good crowd-sourced ideas here: 20 Ways to Up Your Travel Game.

Want to connect with another reader like a Victorian? Literary Fancy is starting a Pen Pal Club. ‘What appeals to me about a letter is the scale of its attention. You are writing to one person. You can follow a thought for a while. You can tell the small story that would never justify an announcement: what you noticed on your walk, what you’re reading, the sentence you kept returning to after you put the book down. And you leave room for an answer.’

These artistic cakes are so fancy!

Slow Horses fans, attention please: 9 Essential Mick Herron Books You Must Read at Least Once.

This is both practical and aspirational: A short framework for how to read a book in a weekend.

The (excellent) Slightly Foxed podcast has an episode about The Other Mitford Girl. ‘In our latest podcast, our emphasis moves from the girls to their mother – matriarch of one of the most outrageous, controversial, influential, glamorous and intriguing families of the twentieth century.’

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Only this and nothing more.

Let’s boo this!

In our house, it’s been Spooky Season since September 1; we call it Low Spooky Season. But here we are on the cusp of October — the most boo-tiful month — and the celebration of High Spooky Season.

Dave and I will share in the comments, but we want to hear from you first!

Spill the tea: What are you reading for Spooky Season?

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Hello, friends!

We’re back in your podcast player with a new episode — Boarding School: Crushes, Cliques, and Curfews is in your podcast player right now. Listen below, on your favorite podcatcher, or on our show notes page where you’ll find a video of the dreamy Fellows’ Library at Winchester College and amazing photos of historic boarding schools.

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Since 597, students have hauled books among the green lawns and Gothic stone buildings of the world’s oldest boarding school: The King’s School in Canterbury, England. Founded by St. Augustine — patron saint of theologians, printers, and brewers (!) — it’s educated hundreds of thousands of boys over the past 1400 years, including Shakespeare’s rival Christopher Marlowe and Legolas himself, actor Orlando Bloom.

Boarding schools are practically designed for drama in real life and on the page. They’re populated by kids of all ages, and the closed environment is ripe for cliques, bullying, and friendships tighter than family. The built-in power dynamics — students vs. teachers, day schoolers vs. boarders, scholarship kids vs. legacies — are the ideal kindling for entertaining and affecting conflict.

In this episode, we take a romp through the history of boarding school literature, enjoy a virtual tour of the posh school for the world’s elitest students, and celebrate a thirteen-year-old boy who biked sixty miles to make it to the first day of term in 1926.

Then we recommend great books that took us back to the school on the page:

• a hypnotic murder mystery at an Irish girls’ school

• a coming-of-age story at an elite New England institution

• a YA horror that begins on Halloween night

• a grown-up dark fantasy set at a magic school

• a Brontë classic that’s weird and wonderful

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Endnotes: 25 September

Oh, heck yeah, fat bears! The yearly celebration of berries, bellies, and hibernation has begun! From now until 29 September, you can vote for your favorite among 16 brown bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Meet the bears here. Last year’s grand champion was the 1,200-pound Chunk, and the AP wonders Can He Win Again? Get all the details you need and vote in this thrilling competition on the official website. Don’t miss the Hall of Champions.

You can get up close and personal with the bears from the safety and comfort of your couch with this live cam of Brooks Falls. It’s quite soothing to watch the bears frolic in the river and snack on salmon.

Explore.org has 200+ live cams if you’d prefer to watch Orca whales…

Elephants and giraffes…

Or the puppy cam at a non-profit organization that teaches combat veterans how to train service dogs for fellow veterans...

The Explore.org YouTube channel also posts the best moments from the live nature cams!

One of our favorite children’s books is I Want My Hat Back, an adventure tale about a polite (until he’s not) bear who loses his favorite red hat and goes on a quest to find it. In just 32 pages, author Jon Klassen tells an emotional story that rivals a novel ten times as long. He recently won the 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and talked to LitHub about his latest book. Be sure to treat yourself to this puppet show re-enactment of I Want My Hat Back.

Emily St. John Mandel answered a Q&A with Electric Lit about her new book Exit Party and embracing the mess of a first draft. ‘You start editing, and at first the problems are enormous. And then with every revision, the problems just get smaller and smaller and smaller. And when I find myself moving commas around, that’s when I know it’s time to hand it off to somebody else.’

The 1995 Emma Thompson-helmed Sense and Sensibility adaptation is perfect in every way (trailer, and/but I’m excited for the new one. Here’s the eye candy of the new Sense and Sensibility filming locations. ‘Stately homes, bucolic English landscapes and a tumbledown cottage coalesce to form the backdrop to the latest Austen adaptation.’

Sorta related: Stop Adapting Jane Austen! Five other 18th‑century writers ‘perfect for the screen,’ including Samuel Richardson — I’ve had his novel Pamela on my TBR forever because it’s mentioned in my beloved Jane Eyre and Anne Radcliffe (the Gothic novelist loved by Austen herself).

The Sylvia Plath rap you didn’t know you needed:

Very relevant to our interests: Why the Places We Love in Books Can Never Quite Be Found in Real Life. ‘Haworth, Bath and Dorset all exist, obviously. They can be found on a map and visited. But the Brontë moors, Austen’s Bath, Wordsworth’s Lakes and Hardy’s Wessex are also literary reimaginings of those places. They may never have existed in quite the form readers imagine.’

A new podcast for Spooky Season! Twice a week, The Haunted Libraryco-hosts — Irish actor Colin Morgan and Scottish actress Katie Leung — read novels and short stories that have become classics of the horror genre. So far, they’ve released a few chapters of Strange Case of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Related: The 8 Greatest Gothic Horror Books of the Last 25 Years, Ranked.

I’m a huge fan of Lucy Foley’s closed-circle-of-suspects mysteries like The Hunting Party set in Scotland on New Year’s Eve, and The Guest List, which takes place at a hazardous wedding at a posh Irish island resort. In this essay for The Guardian, she talks about writing her new book Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel — a new Miss Marple mystery. ‘When I was asked to write the first full-length Miss Marple novel since Sleeping Murder was published posthumously, 50 years ago in October, I immediately thought of my granny. My first encounter with the world of Agatha Christie was through her.’

The woodland creatures in these precise paper collages by Caryle Lewis look like they were magicked from the pages of a fairy tale. (The book The Paper Girl is also amazing!)

You’re Probably Eating Pizza Wrong. Not possible.

Quiz: How well do you know UNESCO’s newest World Heritage sites? Yikes: I got 8/15.

‘There is no respectable woman… that sells books!’ Read the memoirs of 19th-century women who sold books door to door. ‘These works record the physical, intellectual, and emotional labor of canvassing, offering a window into the otherwise little-documented experiences of women working in a field that both recruited and presented numerous challenges for them.’ (This reminds me of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.

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They’re all good bears.

Hello, friends!

I love a quirky/weird museum! I want to walk in thinking I don’t care a whit about the subject, then walk out obsessed, with a purse full of postcards and a confirmation email for books I just ordered — from my phone while eating cake in the museum cafe — to fuel my newfound interest.

I’ll tell you about the Vienna clock museum and my quest for its catalog in the comments. But first… we want to hear from you!

Spill the tea: Tell us about a museum or gallery visit you loved.

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Hello, friends, and happy Friday!

That stunning sunset scene above is Collioure, a town on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. We’ve not been there (yet), but I just learned about it while reading The Historian, and now I can’t wait to go.

The town looks like it was designed for old-fashioned postcards, with sun-dappled squares to relax with a book, pastel houses along meandering lanes, a medieval castle, and five beaches so you can find your perfect spot.

The church in the photo above is L’Église de Collioure (Church of our Lady of the Angels), built in the 17th century. Inside, an ornate Catalan Baroque altar hints at the town’s history: Collioure was part of Spain until it was annexed by the French in 1642 during a fierce struggle between Habsburg Spain and Bourbon France. Outside, the architecture is southern Gothic, with a round bell tower that stands defiant on the edge of the sea, having weathered centuries of battering waves. Initially, the tower served as a lighthouse, with fires lit to alert ships to the position of Collioure’s port. At the end of the 17th century, the original church was razed, and the new one was built around the tower.

Learn more about visiting Collioure from Rick Steves and Petite Cité de Caractère.

P.S.
We’re in week two of our Patreon slow read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. You can read all the details and learn how to join here — and we have an exciting update: Elizabeth Kostova will be joining us on Zoom for our final book club on Saturday, December 12… just in case you want to join us.

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Endnotes: 18 September

How to Be a Word Detective. ‘Like examining one fine thread of a spider’s web, tracking a single word’s etymology back in time will lead you into a web of connections between languages, peoples, and places. In English etymology, my main focus here, the cast of characters is diverse. Legions of Romans, longships of Vikings, schools of Muslim scientists, academies of Greeks, and one fateful army of Normans in 1066 have all influenced the words of what linguists call Modern English (c. 1500 CE- present day). Of course, all those people didn’t exist in a vacuum. The whistling arrows at the Battle of Hastings and the scratching quills of William Shakespeare formed part of real historical events and sociopolitical circumstances that are still reflected in our vocabulary.’

Yes! Emily St. John Mandel’s new book Exit Party was released this week. She talked to LitHub about how she’s ‘never been particularly interested in disaster, but I am interested in its aftermath. There’s hope in thinking about the world that follows catastrophic events.’

I enjoyed Emerald Fennell’s film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and/but I’m pretty excited about the upcoming Gothic horror version Wuthering Heights: House of the Damned. This article outlines three things this spooky version is doing better. (Grateful for a world that includes all versions of the Emily Brontë classic.) (Trailer here.)

Tangentially related: 8 Great Tales That Feature Supernatural and Otherworldly Houses by Ashley Woo, author of Wildwood, a new Gothic novel set at a crumbling estate in Vermont. ‘Haunted houses never go out of style. Most times they can serve as a reminder for the protagonist, the place where echoes of bad deeds are kept until they are set right. Other times the house itself is innately evil, the physical manifestation of the darkest sides of humanity, of our worst fears.’

Definitely related: In this Q&A, author Ashley Woo talks about writing her debut novel Wildwood. (When asked what book she can’t stop thinking about, she said, ‘Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian. I read it on my honeymoon in Transylvania.’

If you’re picky about pencils the way I’m picky about pencils, you might like this:

One of our favorite sources of travel inspiration and info is Brent and Michael are Going Places. The nomadic pair have lived in 40 countries and visited 30 more, taking photos and collecting stories along the way. Their writing is heartfelt and evocative; the photos are beautiful. Michael just launched a website to sell his gorgeous photos (and FYI, there are only 98 days until Christmas.)

Fall is my favorite season, and I think we all know by now that I am very food motivated. I am, therefore, predisposed to love this: Six of Europe’s Tastiest Rural Retreats for Autumn. ‘Fields are a thousand shades of gold, orchards are turning copper, and woodsmoke is scenting the air. It’s a time of abundance across Europe’s vineyards, forests and farms, and the continent’s rural kitchens and countryside stays are leaning into the culinary rituals of the season, inviting guests to slow down, tug on boots and sweaters, and taste the land at its most generous.’

Vaguely related quiz: How well do you know the world’s national parks in autumn? My score was terrible (5/12), but who cares? The photos are awesome, and I learned new fun facts!

Glam alert! The new film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility premiered in London. Questionable, Romantic, and snazzy fashion choices were made. (I love love love the Emma Thompson version of S&S — and I’m excited to see this one!)

This is packed with inspiration and practical tips anyone can follow: Design Principles to Follow for Authentic Travel-Inspired Decor. Also, the photos are dreamy.

As September is Low Spooky Season, now is the ideal time to start thinking about Halloween travel. Atlas Obscura has some very good ideas. ‘This is not an itinerary. These places are scattered across three continents, and you are not meant to visit them all. Pick the kind of dread you are in the mood for, and go.’

Take a peek inside a medieval book of wronged women. The illuminated manuscript from 1493 — likely given as a wedding present to the queen of France — is ‘made up of epistolary poems revolving around ancient heroines or… women who were wronged by their lovers and husbands.’

Let’s all relax and enjoy a virtual trip to ten of the world’s most beautiful libraries.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is now required reading in China. CNN has a fascinating report on why the 19th-century novel was added to the curriculum — and the pros/cons of the story it tells.

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Hope your fall reading is excellent so far.

Hello, friends!

This fall is huge for great books. I think all of my favorite authors have new releases coming out. What a great time to have a TBR pile!

Note: If you don’t have a Fall 2026 wishlist yet… The Modern Mrs. Darcy 8th annual Fall Book Preview will be released this Thursday, September 17. You should probably get in on that action. (Anne Bogel is doing a live unboxing online that night that sounds super fun!)

Dave and I will share our most anticipated fall titles in the comments, but we want to hear from you first!

Spill the tea: What new fall book(s) are you most excited to read?

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Hello, friends!

We’re back with our second episode of Season 8! Australia: Just Smile and Give Me a Vegemite Sandwich is in your podcast player right now. Listen below, on your favorite podcatcher, or on our show notes page where you’ll find the incredible video for the song ‘Smoko’ and a ridiculously cute video of a wombat.

Australia has a well-deserved reputation for being larger than life. It’s the only country in the world that covers an entire continent, and it’s home to hundreds of thousands of native animals and plants. (We’re looking at you, platypuses and koalas!)

The snapshots of Australia in your imagination (perhaps from watching the ‘80s movie Crocodile Dundee at an impressionable age)? They’re pretty accurate. Sparkly beaches, surfers, and snorkeling. Red rocks and scrubby brush. The Sydney Opera House. Jeeps in the Outback. And yes, many Australians do say ‘G’day mate.’ (Though not ‘throw a shrimp on the barbie.’)

Australia is home to two libraries on the list of the world’s ten most beautiful, in Melbourne and Adelaide. But if you really want to get to know the land down under, head outside. There are 516 national parks, excursions led by Aboriginal guides, rainforest and desert, plus 22,000 miles of coastline for all manner of splashing.

In this episode, we learn the true story of a war fought against an animal opponent and meet the architect of the Sydney Opera House. We daydream about traversing the continent in style aboard the glamorous Ghan Luxury Train.

Then we recommend five great books that took us to Australia on the page:

• a Gothic coming-of-age story set on a Queensland estate

• a gripping murder mystery from a beloved Aussie author

• a science book that delves into the cute-and-weird of the platypus and other Australian mammals

• a compelling memoir that defies categorization

• a dream-like classic set at a mystical rock formation

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Endnotes: 11 September

This week in your timelines, you’ve probably seen a whole lot of the Bayeux Tapestry, the epic, 950-year-old piece of embroidery that depicts the lead-up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. ‘Piece of embroidery’ doesn’t begin to describe this stunning example of textile arts. At nearly 230 feet long (and 20 inches tall), it’s essentially a historical graphic novel that illustrates feasting, cooking, Halley’s Comet, a fleet of ships, the death of King Edward, the coronation of Howard, and — very dramatically — Howard’s demise when he’s struck in the eye by an arrow. According to The Guardian’s 68 facts, it includes 623 men (but only 3 women), 37 buildings — including Mont-Saint-Michel — and 41 ships.

There are also horses aplenty (190), as well as dogs (35), foxes, wolves, pigs, deer, hares, frogs, camels, lions, and mystical creatures including dragons, griffins, centaurs, and sphinxes; read all about the animals.

It’s an action-adventure/fantasy/historical novel rendered in careful stitches – and it’s survived for nearly 1000 years. Its usual home, the Bayeux Tapestry Museum (Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux) in Bayeux, France, is undergoing renovations, so the Tapestry is on holiday at the British Museum in London until July 2027. Tickets are a hot commodity, and the next batch will be released on 21 October.

Here’s a BBC report on the whole shebang, and everything you need to know about the Bayeux Tapestry. If you can’t get there in person, there’s an excellent online experience with a tour mode and the ability to browse the Tapestry following your whims. This episode of the History Extra podcast features an interview with the curator who helped bring the Tapestry to London — and the official website is rich with fascinating info, interviews, and online events. There are also shopping opportunities! How cute is this ceramic Lady Edith?! Perhaps you need a Norman Nasal Helmet or a tea towel.

Last weekend, I devoured (and loved loved loved) Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison, the queen of comedy-horror novels (with lived-in characters, fantastic dialogue, and heart to go along with the horror). In this essay for Crime Reads she explores why weddings are such a great setting for horror stories. And in this essay — Do You Guys Ever Think About Dying? — she gets real about ‘anxiety, horror, and coming to terms with her inevitable death.’ But in a fun way!

Neat! How Rhyme Works (and Why). ‘Two syllables are said to rhyme if they share a rime. Got it? Not at all confused? Excellent.’

If Wuthering Heights is One of Your Books™, you might be interested in this first edition facsimile coming soon from British Library Publishing. The pretty package includes a reproduction of the first edition Wuthering Heights in two volumes; a first edition facsimile of Emily Brontë’s own copy of _Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846) with her handwritten notes; and facsimile looseleaf pages from her poetry notebook. It’s available for pre-order now at a discounted price.

For your TBR: The Best Crime Novels, Mysteries, and Thrillers of September; 20 Must-Reads for Obsessive Book Lovers; and 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List.

Well, this is beautiful:

This week the UN backed a resolution to change the way Africa and other areas are represented on world maps. Here’s an essay that explores how every map ‘starts with a lie’. And the BBC explains what different world maps get right - and what they get wrong.

This might be my favorite link of the week — Any Human Ever. I’ll let them tell you what it’s all about: ‘Over 100,000,000,000 people have ever lived. You’ll draw, step by step: a year, a place, a life, each taken at random from real data.’ The revelations of the different data points and the final story are surprisingly moving.

On a lighter note, The Most Beautiful Museum Cafes in the World.

Tangentially related: The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH, looks fun.

La Scala, the famous opera house in Milan, now has gorgeous opera, ballet, and concert productions available to stream for free. I love opera in small doses, so this is such a gift! The Marriage of Figaro! Giselle! Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor!

Wanna see a butter shop?!

This is a very nice love letter to the thank-you note. ‘… at a time when people simply text their thanks – if they extend any appreciation at all – the act of sending a handwritten note signals something honorable about the sender.’

Quiz: How well do you know your train stations? I got 8/12.

I’ve been enjoying the Opening Lines podcast. In each episode, the host explores the themes, background, and structure of famous books, plays, and stories with the first line as a jumping off point. This post is also great: The First and Last Lines of Classics That Are Just Delicious. ‘Some books introduce themselves like a handshake. Others walk into the room, steal your drink, and make you rearrange your entire emotional life.’

This free online talk from The Getty Center looks very interesting. Rethinking the Egyptian Book of the Dead. ‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead is widely known as a guidebook to the afterlife. Yet when we look closely, its texts and images often suggest prayers and ritual instructions that make little sense in relation to death. Egyptologist Rune Nyord explores whether modern interpretations have been shaped by Christian ideas of trial, judgement, and salvation and offers a fresh reading of the ancient texts rooted in their Egyptian cultural context.’ Tickets are free, but you need to register.

Calling all Lonesome Dove fans. Reading Maps now has an interactive map of all the locations in Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer-winning epic.

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ISTI MIRANT STELLA.

(‘These people marvel at the star,’ from the segment of the Bayeux Tapestry that depicts Halley’s Comet.)

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Hello, friends!

I had a great reading month, mostly focused on South Korea and Michigan, with a completely banana-pants (compliment) manor house novella thrown into the mix for fun. My recap from the Margins app:

Dave and I will share our best books from August in the comments, but we want to hear from you first!

Spill the tea: What’s the best book you read in August?

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Hello, friends, and happy Friday!

We’re starting our Patreon slow-read book club of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova this weekend. My feet have been walking the cobblestones in Prague, but my imagination is in ‘70s Amsterdam and Slovenia, 15th-century Istanbul, and mid-20th-century America. And I keep seeing dragons in unexpected places. (If you’ve read the book, you know what I’m talking about.)

That pretty little Baroque church above is Church of the Holy Spirit near the village of Podolševa in northern Slovenia, close to the Austrian border. Even the church has a dragon!

The nearby village is the highest settlement in Slovenia (at around 4300 feet/1300 meters). This is old country; settlements in the area date back to the 13th century. The church was first mentioned in written records in 1631, and it houses the area's oldest bell, inscribed with ancient Gothic lettering.

It’s easier to get there now than in the old (old) days: The Solčava Panoramic Route is a 23-mile (37km) route you can travel by car, bicycle, or foot that’s marked with 20 waypoints to enjoy the vistas and valleys. There are high-mountain farms where you can spend the night and eat delicious local specialties, like meat dumplings, mushroom soup, venison goulash, and prekmurska gibanica, a 10-layer cake with strata of poppy seeds, shredded apple, and crushed walnuts, served warm.

While in Slovenia, you’ll also want to visit the atmospheric capital city of Ljubljana and Lake Bled, which we talked about previously here and here.

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Endnotes: 04 September

I’m not sure if/when I’ll actually do it, but I daydream about wild swimming — in Ireland, in Copenhagen, in Spain. Until then, here are 9 memoirs abut wild swimming.

Graphic novels are a great way to bridge the gap between page-turning beach reads and the atmosphere of Spooky Season. These 7 graphic novels build stories from fragments, including collage, photography, and other handmade techniques.

Are you one of the many fans of the novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi? Good news! He’s now publishing on Substack!

Last call for our Patreon-based slow read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova — it starts this weekend! You can find all the details you need to join right here. In addition to the thoroughly transporting story, you’ll instantly have about 90 new bookish friends. Our Patrons are the nicest readers around!

Weird is a weird word. ‘We say weird all the time for the little everyday oddities we encounter. But weird wasn’t always such a casual word. A thousand years ago, it was one of the heaviest words in the English language: the ancestor of weird was the Old English word wyrd, which meant ‘fate’ or ‘destiny.’ (Hence, the Weird Sisters of Macbeth.)

Whelp, I definitely wish I had one of the tiny books in the video below. Here’s how the artist made it.

‘Close the curtain, strike a pose, and collect your photos here.’ The Art of Photo Booths. This is a really fun story, and here’s my favorite fact: The inventor of the modern photo booth, Anatol Josepho, was paid $1 million by the Photomaton Company; they planned to place the booths across America. Josepho ‘pledged to put half of the original million in a trust for charity and use the other half to support other inventors.’ If you don’t feel like reading the essay, at least treat yourself to the dozens of photo strip pics.

I clicked on this so quickly! Volunteer to care for cats on the Aegean Island of Syros. They provide bed, brunch, and utilities in exchange for about six hours per day, five days a week. On a Greek island with lots of cats!

Well, this is a whale of a museum. (Sorry.) ‘Opening in 2027, The Whale will explore the science, behavior, evolution and cultural history of whales through art, storytelling, sound and architecture.’ The architectural drawings are stunning; it looks like a whale’s fluke.

Sorta related: Wildlife Photographer of the Year finalists.

Slow Horses is back! Plus classic literary adaptations to watch in September.

On the Entrancing Moral Quandaries of Dark Academia. ‘Unlike us, the protagonists of dark academia are not locked out of the elite power structures. Their admittance to the institution is a disruption to the status quo, allowing us to imagine access to everything we lack. But the appeal of dark academia isn’t solely this glimpse of wealth and power, though that matters. More so, these narratives offer the opportunity to feel simultaneously included in that world and superior to it, the paradoxical pleasure of hating the upper class while being one of them.’

A great new-to-me BookTuber:

23 Questions with Marlon James. ‘I love being edited if I think my editor is smarter than me. And I have a very, very, very smart editor, and the thing is, I listen, I trust. I rarely fight an editor on something because the thing about a good editor is that they don’t actually tell you what to write. They can recognize that a sentence, a paragraph, a story needs fixing, but the good editors don’t tell you how to fix it. But they won’t let it go until it’s fixed.’

A book I’m excited to read: Playing Wolf by Zuzana Říhová. A Czech couple with a shaky marriage move from Prague to a remote village for a fresh start. The locals are unwelcoming, and two days after their son goes missing, they discover the villagers in festive costumes, gathered outside their cottage. Described as ‘elegant horror novel for fans of Midsommar and The Witch.’ Read a sample.

Anne Bogel — the brains and beauty behind the What Should I Read Next? podcast — has great taste and is an Emily St. John Mandel completist, which makes her the perfect person to write Where to Start with Emily St. John Mandel.

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May your transition into Spooky Season be filled with tea and atmospheric stories.

Hello, and welcome to Tuesday!

If you’ve listened to our new podcast episode Denmark: Gettin’ Hygge With It, you know Dave bit into the sweet history of Danish pastries. Which inspired us to reminisce about delicious pastries a lot. The cream cake in Slovenia (the romanticized story here). Almond croissants in Paris (story here). The first time we tried the caramel-cream confection větrník here in Prague.

But then Dave told me a story I hadn’t heard before…

The first time I ever had a Napoleon pastry, I was maybe thirteen and living in Cincinnati. First there was the white paper to unwrap. Then the delicate crunch of pastry shattering, the cream, the dark chocolate, and layers of what I now know is laminated yeast dough. I thought it was the fanciest thing I’d ever eaten, and at the time it probably was. I don’t remember what bakery we got it from, but I do remember sitting in the car with my mom at Hyde Park Plaza, both of us not saying a word. It felt like a small ceremony.

This video is amusing and instructive, in case you want to give it a to a home:

Spill the tea: Tell us about that delicious pastry you had one time!

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P.S.

Happy Low Spooky Season to all who celebrate! This is me right now:

A perilous dastardly chilling friendly reminder that our Patreon book club and slow read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova starts this weekend. Join our Accomplice group for weekly posts, online chat, and two Zoom book club meetings. Click here for all the info you need to get in on the fanged thrilling action.

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Hello, friends!

We’re delighted to announce that Season 8 of Strong Sense of Place has officially begun! Denmark: Gettin’ Hygge With It is in your podcast player right now. Listen below, on your favorite podcast player, or on our show notes page — don’t miss the AMAZING pics of Peter Freuchen and the video tour of the Faroe Islands.

Nestled between the North and Baltic Seas, just north of Germany, Denmark is one (excellent) place made up of lots of places: more than 400 islands, Greenland, the Jutland Peninsula (which, BTW, is so much fun to say: sounds like YOOT-lan), and the Faroe Islands (which are a 40-hour ferry ride away in the far North Atlantic).

Every blog post, travel guide, and video will tell you that Denmark is laid-back and chill. All evidence seems to point in that direction; the country routinely ranks in the top five happiest nations in the world. It does seem quite idyllic, all sparkly and fresh: water, sky, and land, bright with wildflower fields, colorful boats ferrying among the islands, cozy little Lego-ish houses with grass roofs, and so. many. bicycles.

Sure, there were marauding Vikings — but there is also Denmark’s creative Golden Age, Hans Christian Andersen, Tivoli Gardens, two (beautiful) historical libraries, and New Nordic Cuisine.

In this episode, we talk about the magic of wild swimming, learn whether or not Danishes are truly Danish, discuss how Danes eat like bears, and get very excited about a rabbit island. Then we recommend five books that took us to Denmark on the page:

• a modern crime classic

• a memoir about why Danish people are so deeply contented

• a thriller with a strong sense of the Faroe Islands

• a poetic novel about witches (with a unique narrator)

• a magical, multi-generational family saga about the sea

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Endnotes: 28 August

News you can use: Today is International Read Comics in Public Day! I think most of us readers know that comics aren’t just for kids, and today is our opportunity to help spread that opinion far and wide. Grab a new graphic novel or an old-school comic and hit a park bench, the coffee shop, the bus, or the subway with your book. If you need some ideas to get you started, Dave talked about the best graphic novels for newbies in a mini-episode of our podcast — and the brilliant Tillie Walden (Charity & Sylvia, Clementine, Spinning) shared her favorite manga for beginners. You can also read her graphic novel On a Sunbeam online!

For graphic novels with a strong sense of place, we recommend:

• Persepolis (Iran)

• Daytripper (Brazil)

• Rebetiko (Greece)

• When Stars are Scattered (Kenya)

• Roaming (New York City)

• The Ladies-In-Waiting (Spain)

BTW, that’s the iconic Belgian comic book character Tintin and his pals in the image above; read more about his adventures here.

More evidence that reading fiction is good for your brain (as if we needed a scientific excuse to get lost in a good book). ‘…research has found that fiction is linked to better social cognition — our ability to think about and interact with other people — and an increased understanding of the world as a complex place.’

If you love a specialized vocabulary like I do, treat yourself to the lost vocabulary of whaling. (In this episode of our podcast, Dave makes a strong case for reading Moby Dick.)

From CrimeReads: The Very Best Short Mystery Fiction. Two modern masters of the locked room mystery — Gigi Pandian and Tom Mead — choose their favorites of the genre’s shorter form.

This book bar in Glasgow is dreamy:

‘Picture the scene: an attentive host drizzles hand-pressed olive oil on a seasonal spread made using ingredients grown in a nearby organic garden. Meat is sizzling on a nearby open grill, as you take a sip of local wine from a neighbouring vineyard. There is a faint bleat of grazing sheep, as the sun drifts behind a pastoral backdrop of endless sweeping hills, rolling meadows and peaks. You retreat to one of just a handful of rooms, to be awoken by nature the next morning.’ More on the best farm stays in Europe.

This headline made me LOL: Goodbye Cottagecore, Hello Burrowcore. I am, however, compelled by the idea of living ‘inside a storybook hideaway’ — and I do want to teleport into the photos and read with a cup of tea.

I wish Lufthansa was selling these snarky t-shirts and other merch about the quirks of flying.

Summer is ticking out, so now is a great time to ponder the question, Why Are So Many Horror Movies Set at Summer Camp?

Simon Haisell — king of the slow read on Substack — is about to tackle A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book. Here’s all the info you need about the slow read.

Sorta related: We’re doing a slow/close read of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian with our supporters on Patreon. We’d love to have you join us! Get all the details here.

This giant junk drawer sculpture is delightful! Like Gulliver’s Travels in real life.

Britain’s 10 most idyllic seaside escapes. Heed the siren song of the coasts of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and England. So many cute towns! So much crashing surf!

Florence Hazrat has written a book about the history of punctuation — On the Mark: From Periods to Interrobangs, How Punctuation Remade the World. As a devoted fan of the interrobang (?!), I am here for it. Read an excerpt about parentheses here.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is accepting donations.

Short but not necessarily sweet: Nine Novellas To Read In a Single Afternoon. (The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt keeps popping up in my life. Have you read it?)

The National Gallery Imaginarium website is a beautiful, interactive way to take a short art break. Navigate through the halls to get an up-close look at landmark works of art. Highly recommended.

BRB, gotta go read Charity & Sylvia in the park.