Endnotes 04 October: Florence, Baba Yaga, Real-Life Middle-Earth, Gothic Novels & More
Plus a new episode of The Library of Lost Time
Hello, friends!
I’m currently wearing my pumpkin-orange sweater, sipping a cup of tea, watching the rain fall outside the window, and getting ready to read the next story in Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly Authors.
Yesterday, Dave and I finalized our Spooky Season plans, which include seven movies (two versions of Macbeth!), the BBC series The Woman in White, and a Friday night set aside to eat Vampire-Fighting Pork Stew and to read scary stories to each other by candlelight.
This morning, a poem by Emily Brontë crossed my social media feed, and it felt like the universe was saying, ‘Yes, Witch! It is Spooky Season.’
Fall, leaves, fall — Emily Brontë
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
But as humans, we contain multitudes, so I was also delighted by the sunny, summery photo of the watermelon-bike in Florence, Italy, at the top of this communique.
After spending my 20s and 30s doing triathlons and long-distance bike rides, I’ve retired my clip-in pedals, but I love a leisurely bike ride with a tour guide — and Fat Tire Bike Tours are our go-to for tours in new-to-us cities. (Not an ad; we just think Fat Tire is awesome.) We’ve done their tours in Paris (at night!), Berlin (in the rain!), and Barcelona (with champagne overlooking the city from atop a hill). When we finally get to the city of A Room with a View, we will be taking one of the Fat Tire rides around Florence.
If you’re a fan of E. M. Forster’s novel, you can enjoy a self-guided walk of Florence locations from the 1985 film adaption of A Room with a View — and then visit the 10 best museums in town. This boutique hotel, recommended by Wallpaper magazine, also looks pretty sweet.
Stay curious,
Every Friday, we celebrate the weekend — and all the reading and relaxing and daydreaming time ahead — with my favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Enjoy!
If you like lists the way I like lists, then you will like this Reading List for Lovers & Makers of Lists. ‘We all make lists, if only to buy bread and milk. But we tend to forget how mythic and subversive (as we have just seen), joyful and maddening, enchanting and sobering, and utterly chilling lists can be — and what they can do.’
This article is specifically about what fiction writers can learn from Dungeons & Dragons, but spontaneity, creativity, and play are good for all of us.
Our pal Amy Tector — mystery author extraordinaire and creator of the Méli-Mélo newsletter — shared a pretty irresistible book list: The best mystery novels with dog sidekicks where nothing bad happens to the good boys.
Um, this dancer moves like a vampire, no?
How about a weekend in Venice? Cabana has some ideas for how to make it awesome.
This garden gnome in Cornwall is very cute and not at all what you’re probably expecting.
Mexico, Spain, California, Austria, Bolivia, France — all places you can visit 8 mind-bending, fantastical homes.
Relevant to Spooky Season: Who is Baba Yaga? ‘Trickster, mentor, probable goddess—Slavic folklore’s most famous villain is so much more than a witch.’
Ditto: Are you a scaredy-cat? Here are tips to help you read horror.
And related;Â 20 Best Gothic Novels to Read on a Gloomy Autumn Night.
This episode of the History Extra podcast — Powerful Pages: The Beguiling History of Books — gave me heart-eye emojis.
We’re big fans of Janine Pendleton’s urban exploration photos; her book of pics from Pennsylvania is stunning. Her 2025 calendar Beautiful Abandoned Places is now available for pre-order (with a 15% discount).
I would like to visit every one of these 7 adorable European towns.
Where to Find the Real-Life Middle-Earth. ‘While Tolkien’s stories take place in the fictional realm of Middle-earth, the awe-inspiring landscapes of the books, films and TV shows are closer than you might imagine.’
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: The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel and Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham. Then Mel recommends the History Extra podcast for all your (non-scary) Spooky Season storytelling needs.Â
I'm signing up for that History Extra podcast right now.
Aw, thanks for the shoutout! I can co-sign on the Fat Tire Bike tours -- so good and I HATE cycling of any kind. We did the Berlin one many many years ago! Also, we were in Florence two years ago and I wish I'd known about The Room with a View themed tour then... I did do a re-read and then a re-watch in honour of being there and man, both the book and the film stand the test of time!