Sourdough Library, Jane & Rochester as Dogs, Bunnyhenge & More: Endnotes 01 May

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’s the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, up there in all its… grandeur. Its reverse-S curve divides the city in two, meandering east from Constitution Bridge to St. Mark’s Basilica on the Piazzo San Marco to the east. Along its 2-mile (3km) length, it’s lined with Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance palaces and churches. You might have seen reports recently that dolphins had returned to the canal. Sadly, that’s not quite true, but these jellyfish and octopus videos seem to be legit.

• This is a fascinating look at Regency costumes in film. ‘…the most obvious thing is the hair. Is the hair up or down? The heroine’s hair in the recent production of Sanditon is down at the back all the time, which is just a fundamental Regency no-no.’

• Having trouble concentrating on a novel? The Guardian invited authors — including George Saunders, Julian Barnes, Hilary Mantel, and more — to recommend 50 short stories they love.

• You definitely want to peruse this map labeled with fonts named for places in the United States.

• Charming revelation #1: A sourdough library exists. (Yes, it’s a place where they collect and archive sourdough starters.) Charming revelation #2: You can take a very well-done virtual tour of it online.

• It’s fantastic to see a community rally around literature like this.

• Mark your calendar: The Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide is coming on 14 May! Don’t miss the ‘unboxing’ sneak peek on 12 May. Get the details here.

• RED ALERT: IKEA has shared its Swedish Meatball recipe. I repeat: IKEA HAS SHARED ITS SWEDISH MEATBALL RECIPE.

• This is one of the best things I saw all week: Jane and Rochester as Dogs. There are eight of them, and they’re brilliant.

• Explore the Art Deco wonders of New York City’s Rockefeller Center.

• I absolutely loved this five-day diary from a ‘reluctant cyclist’ who took a bike trip in Transylvania.

• Sure, you’ve heard of Stonehenge, but what about Bunnyhenge and Ponyhenge?!

• Hans Holbein was the favored portraitist for Henry VIII’s court. A lecturer from the University of Cambridge draws the connections between the artist’s work and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy.

• Literature Cambridge is offering a series of reasonably-priced ‘online study days’ that feature lectures and seminars with scholars. Upcoming topics include Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway, Angela Carter’s story collection The Bloody Chamber, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and more.

• This looks like so much fun: How to make an illustrated map in eight (easy) steps.

• Enjoy these vintage photos of the world’s most famous landmarks at Conde Nast Traveler.

• Remember when we announced that we’d signed on with Bookshop.org? The new online bookseller has now raised more than $1 million for independent bookstores. If you used any of our bookshop.org links, YOU helped do that. Well done, everyone!

• Over at the blog Dear Mr. Hemingway, I wrote about one of my favorite cookbooks — Bought, Borrowed and Stolen — which features travel stories, recipes, and lots of beautiful, sharp knives.

• Bookish podcast of the week: We recently rewatched the movie version of Bridget Jones’s Diary. This episode of the Bookclub podcast takes a deep (fun) dive into Helen Fielding’s novel.

• Travel podcast of the week: On Desert Island Discs, guests share the eight musical tracks, one book, and a luxury item they’d take with them to a desert island. In this episode, Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe shares his picks.

Literary Adaptations To Stream

There are so many special literary adaptations to watch online for free right now, I’m consolidating them all here for easy reference.

• Southwark Playhouse presents Wasted: a rock musical about the lives of the Brontë sisters; available now. Review here.

• Shakespeare’s Globe presents various Shakespeare plays: including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and more; available on various dates.

• Emma the Musical: showing 6 May and 7 May at specific times.

• UK National Theater presents Frankenstein: starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller; running 30 April through 7 May.

Until I saw it, I didn’t realize I needed a rock version of the Brontës’ lives. May you find just the thing you didn’t know you needed.

Top image courtesy of Henrique Ferreira.