Endnotes: La Scarzuola, P&T Knitwear, Ditching Books, Naturalist Notebooks
Every Friday, we celebrate the weekend — and the reading, relaxing, and daydreaming time ahead — with Mel's favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Let's go!
The combination of garden and art installation above is found in Montegabbione, Italy. It’s La Scarzuola — the Ideal City — designed by Italian architect and designer Tommaso Buzzi. This ‘autobiography in stone’ is a mashup of surrealist, Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance architecture — including grottos, reflecting pools, stairways, and replicas of famous landmarks like the Parthenon, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Temple of Vesta. The original Franciscan monastery was purchased by Buzzi in 1956; he took up residence and built his ‘elusive, surreal, fairytale vision’ between 1958 and 1978.
He definitely had a better education in the Classics and a more fanciful imagination than I:
'Poetically and idealistically, I could describe myself as someone who lives within a maze, chased by the Minotaur, and from which Theseus and Ariadne emerged after the fall of Icarus. I imagine that Daedalus, renouncing his wings, closed himself within his own labyrinth after the death of his son Icarus, eternally adding bits and pieces. He would look longingly at the sky, pacing and following echoes while cultivating his metamorphic garden; Cyparissus soared into the abyss, the wind and water vibrated, and the sun cast playful shadows as if to scorn him. I’d turn all this into poetry...'
La Scarzuola is still a private home, but it is possible to book a tour. Here’s an excellent essay with beautiful photos; there are fantastic pics on Instagram, too — and a video tour. An ad for the fragrance Gucci Bloom was also shot in this ‘garden of dreams.’
Do you remember when I recommended the book Unpacking for Greece in this episode of The Library of Lost Time? The author Sally Jane Smith recently released the sequel, Repacking for Greece: A Mediterranean Odyssey. Again, Sally takes us on an epic adventure and uses all her senses to transport us to Greece on the page. I was honored to write a blurb for her book: 'A must-read for everyone who knows travel is the best way to get lost and to find ourselves.' Learn more and get your hands on a copy here.
In today's new episode of The Library of Lost Time, Dave recommends a fun online tool to find new-to-you music along with Erik Larson's new book — and I talked about Dame Judi Dench's new book about her experiences with Shakespeare.
I'm really enjoying dipping in and out of Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent in between the other things I'm reading. It's about Shakespeare, yes, but it's really about a life well-lived, creativity, and the power of storytelling. It's exactly the sort of memoir I enjoy. (Oh! Remember when I talked about my own Shakespeare project and how I was hoping to get tickets to see David Tennant in Macbeth? It happened! This week! We're going! Can't wait!)
I'm not usually a fan of celebrity memoirs, but I think if you can get a person — famous or not — talking about the topics that fire them up, it's the best/most interesting way to learn who they are. The guests on Brett Goldstein's podcast Films to Be Buried With or Anne Bogel's What Should I Read Next? (and Dave and I on our show) reveal a lot about who they are by talking about their favorite movies and books.
Which brings me to another atypical celebrity memoir I'm loving right now: Quite: Love, Life, and Eyeliner by Claudia Winkleman. In case you're not familiar, she's the host of Strictly Come Dancing (UK's Dancing with the Stars) and The Traitors UK. She also has a fantastic black fringe and a deeper affection for black eyeliner than even I do. See?
She's very funny, and reading her book is like having a coffee with a good friend who dishes out tough love and unrelenting support in equal measure. Here's a video that gives you a sense of her self-deprecating humor — and a snippet from the book:
'You can buy that very glamorous kaftan, and you can spend three days planning the most impeccable dinner party, but you probably won't feel like Beyonce on a yacht, and the award-winning cheese board is not why the evening was fun. Can I recommend instead that you put on a good pair of jeans, smear (and I really do mean smear) some eyeliner in the vicinity of your eyelids, and just go about your day.'
Finally, my birthday is next week, and I think I just found the perfect plan for my celebration:
Endnotes: 26 April
This interview with the founder of the P&T Knitwear bookshop made me feel good humans. ‘I was born in this country, safe, to a stable family that cared about education, all of the kind of typical Jewish story. Whatever I’ve done is nothing compared to the stories … about my grandfather surviving POW camps and things like that. And so I wanted to kind of honor that legacy. This felt kind of like a cool way to do it.’
News you can use: Where to Start With Patricia Highsmith. ‘You can’t go wrong by starting at the beginning. The setup to Highsmith’s first published novel, Strangers on a Train, is well known but irresistible…’
I cannot bring myself to throw a book in recycling or a trash bin, even though The Walrus tries to make the case that it’s OK to throw away a book. ‘At the end of the day, a book is just paper and ink and glue. Its soul is something else entirely, less tangible but more enduring than an object on a shelf.’
I do like to pretend I’m living in my own personal music video when I walk around Prague with my earbuds, so I enjoyed this roundup of the best music videos shot in Prague.
This recap of an evening one of those crazy beer bikes is pretty funny. ‘The seat’s uncomfortable. Your arms get tired from gripping onto the countertop; your legs ache for days afterward from working really, really hard to go almost nowhere… And still, by some strange alchemy, it’s one of the best things I’ve done all year.’
Enjoy this mashup of library and retro time-travel: the story of the legendary Chicago nightclub Mister Kelly’s.
This is a fun collection of 5 best paranormal fantasy books. Or maybe the 30 greatest romance novels to read in your lifetime is more your speed.
Must-click headline: There’s a Lot More Hair Than You Think Stored at the Library of Congress.
Fancy a slumber party at Agatha Christie’s house? Here’s an excellent list of author’s homes where you can spend the night.
Which Jane Austen Protagonists Would Make the Best Detectives?
This essay about how to keep a naturalist’s notebook is filled with fun ideas that are easy to implement. I’m thinking about swapping my camera for a journal on my walks once in a while.
Explore treasures of the world, animals, outdoor adventures, and more with the best travel TV series to watch right now.
A 10-day meditation in New York’s Washington Square Park! Groovy and very cool. ‘Jemila MacEwan silently nurtures a seed in the palm of their hand amidst the hustle and bustle of the iconic public park.’
An explainer for how the English language took over the world. ‘It is an official language of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Criminal Court, and NATO. Yet just as in Europe, English divides the world population in complex ways and creates cultural strains across the globe.’
I recently saw a postcard illustrated by artist Sandra Rummler in Berlin, and I can’t stop thinking about her charming cityscapes.
New Episode of The Library of Lost Time
In each mini-podcast episode, we discuss two books at the top of our TBR, then share a fun book- or travel-related distraction. Get all the episodes and books galore here.
In this episode, we get excited about two books: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench & Brendan O’Hea and The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson. Then Dave recommends a website to find new-to-you music.
Related Links:
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench & Brendan O’Hea
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson