Myanmar, Board Game History, Peruvian Cuisine, Art for Readers & More: Endnotes 24 September

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.

The dreamy photo of Buddhist monks above was taken in Myanmar. Buddhism is practiced by almost 90% of the population there; the two most popular practices are merit-making (accumulation of good merit through charity and good deeds to obtain a favorable rebirth) and vipassanā meditation (training of the mind to see things as they really are.) This video will take you inside the UNESCO World Heritage site of the 12th-century temple at Bagan.

• This is really good: Find Your Bunk, Change Your Life: Thinking About Liminal Spaces in Books, TV, and Movies. Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore, discusses how transitional places — camps, colleges, and boarding schools — serve as powerful settings for stories of thrills, chills, and gore.

• Is there a perfect shape for books? ‘Everyone has their book-object hangups. There’s something compelling about a gorgeous paper-over-boards book… I love a small-format hardcover… they feel compactly special, the literary equivalent of a petite but intensely flavorful dessert.’

• The beach can be a special place in fall and winter. ‘Strolling along sandy shores is always a great activity, even if you have to wrap up in a jacket and scarf to do it. And hearing the waves crash from your bedroom window can be even more comforting if you’re wrapped up in a big fluffy comforter to keep warm and cozy.’

• Bring on spooky season! Bustle recommends 25 best vampire books and BookRiot explores the Gothic novels with shoutouts in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

• You probably need these chocolate bars inspired by classic literature.

• Fancy a stay at this villa in Vals, Switzerland?!

• People have been playing board games for about 10,000 years (!). The Public Domain Review explains the relationship between board games and events in history.

• Here’s Why I’m Ditching Goodreads And Switching To Storygraph — And Why You Should Too.

• In this episode of the podcast Cold War Conversations, Prague-based journalist Mark Baker shares stories of his time in the Czech Republic of the ’80s. Spy stuff!

• These travel and etiquette tips are specific to Paris, but I would argue that most of them apply to any European city.

• Last week, I shared a link about crossing the Atlantic on the QE2. This week, I learned there’s a travel company that specializes in retro cruises on the Queen Mary 2. Period-appropriate outfits! Swing music! Cocktails! (Thank you, Ronda!)

• Who doesn’t love to see their favorite book pop up in movies? Here are 50 Literary Cameos in ’90s Movies. Then you can keep it going with 50 Great Literary Cameos in Terrible Early 2000s Movies. (Do I need to watch Definitely, Maybe?)

• Italy’s Book Doctor. ‘In the city of Bologna, home to the world’s oldest university, Pietro Livi developed an unusual machine shop—part artisanal and part high-tech—built to restore damaged ancient texts to their former glory. And then came Venice’s historic floods of 2019.’

• The 1930 novel The Invisible Host is a mystery written by two US journalists, and it may have inspired Agatha Christie’s most successful book.

• Related: Top 10 underrated Agatha Christie novels

• In our podcast episode about Peru, we talked about the country’s 3000 varieties of potatoes and the delicious cuisine that lures visitors to its restaurants. National Geographic explains why every foodie you know is heading to Peru. (Perhaps you’d like to try Peruvian Popcorn or the stir-fry known as Lomo Saltado.)

• I really enjoyed this story about British wildlife artist Mouse Macpherson. ‘Mouse Macpherson kept an eclectic menagerie of pets and wild animals and signed everything, from paintings to cheques, with a tiny mouse.’

• This artist is living my bookish-introvert-who-just-wants-to-be-alone-to-read dream:

May you embrace your own brand of weird this week.

Top image courtesy of vectorx2263/Shutterstock.