Audiobook Secrets, Uzbekistan in Photos, 2019's Best Books & More: Endnotes 22 November

Every Friday, we celebrate the weekend — and all the reading and relaxing and daydreaming time ahead — with Melissa's favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Why work when you can read fun stuff?!

This post is part of our Endnotes series.

That majestic raven is overlooking Bryce Canyon National Park in southwestern Utah. It’s not really a canyon but is a collection of natural rock amphitheaters and rocky spires called hoodoos. The hoodoos — vivid desert shades of red, orange, and white — are made by stream erosion and frost weathering of sedimentary rock. So what’s with the name? It’s called Bryce Canyon to honor one Mr. Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer who homesteaded there in the late 1800s. [more]

• This sweet and moving short graphic story Memories from Límon by Edo Brenes recently won the Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story prize for 2019.

• The New York Times covers the nitty-gritty of how to move abroad.

• When Margaret Drabble was in her mid-70s, she decided to learn German: ‘There were conversation classes available, but I didn’t want to converse. I wanted to read.’ This essay about her adventures in language learning is lyrical and lovely.

• Austin Kelon waxes poetic about the right book.

• Last week, we shared a video about the Brontë Parsonage’s quest to reclaim a tiny book written by 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë. Here’s the delightful video of the Parsonage staff when they learned they’d been successful:

• Brightly painted garage doors make an alley in Evanston, Illinois so colorful and charming.

• Did you ever notice that your hotel has a signature scent?!

• The secret world of audiobook recording is fascinating and seems way more challenging than you might expect.

• Perhaps you’d like to see beautiful pictures of Uzbekistan?

• Modern Mrs. Darcy rounds up the best bookish gifts for kids who love to read.

• This library in Helsinki, Finland, is everything: ‘The central library is built to serve as a kind of citizenship factory, a space for old and new residents to learn about the world, the city, and each other.’

• The Largehearted Boy blog collects all of the ‘best books of 2019’ lists for your reading pleasure.

• I’m not crying, you’re crying. LOVE this article from Lonely Planet about The Dogs of Chernobyl program that provides care for doggos in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl disaster. (Even if you can’t visit, you can still donate to support the puppers.)

• Bookish podcast of the week: Witness History is a short-form podcast — just 10 minutes — in which we hear from someone who came face-to-face with a historical event or person of note. In this episode, Claire Bowes talks to Christopher Cerf, a man who knew Dr. Seuss.

• Travel podcast of the week: We’ve all run into them: the people who hog the airplane armrest, try to walk through airport security with a pocket knife, or think speaking English in increasingly louder volumes will help them communicate with someone who speaks only French. In this episode of Flight of Fancy, you’ll hear cringey travel stories and learn how to be a better traveler yourself.

Wishing you a perfectly comfortable place to read this weekend.

Top image courtesy of Tyler Quiring.