Big Sur, Vintage Travel Photos, Updating the OED, Chorizo Lore & More: Endnotes 01 July

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.

Ah, Big Sur. There’s nowhere else like it on Earth. It’s found on the central coast of California, where the Santa Lucia Mountains gloriously crash into the Pacific. Novelist Herbert Gold described it as ‘one of the grand American retreats for those who nourish themselves with wilderness.’ Aside from the stunning views, there are redwood forests for hiking (and quiet contemplation) and beaches to take in the sun and fresh sea air. A road trip on this 70-mile stretch of Highway 1 is an iconic American experience; here are 8 things to experience while hugging the coast in a convertible.

• When we started this project in 2019, we never expected we’d need to address anything other than inspiring travel and great books. But lately, the world has been more complicated and challenging than usual. We were devastated by the Supreme Court decision on 24 June to overturn Roe v. Wade. As always, we encourage empathy for all. Removing the rights of people to make their own decisions strikes us as particularly damaging. Stripping away access to essential healthcare is diabolical and dangerous for all of us. If you or someone you know needs help or you want to get more involved, please visit Action For All. It links to dozens of reputable resources, divided by actions: I Want to Donate, I Want to Volunteer, I Need Healthcare, I Want More Information, and so on.

• You might also want to read this collection of literary responses to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision — and learn how bookstores are reacting.

• This love letter to bookshelves will have you gazing at your own book collection like a heart-eyes emoji.

• Phew. This sonnet by Michael Rosen, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the release of Anne Frank’s diary, is piercingly sweet and sad.

• Once upon a time, two young people got married, then traveled the 19th-century world, collecting images from 18 countries as they went. This is the dramatic story of their lives and how their collection ended up at the National Geographic Society.

• This personal account of a train ride from Marseille to Berlin is excellent.

• This Twitter thread is a fun ride. Click through to read the whole thing.

• From Barnes & Noble: The 10 Best Cookbooks to Cure Your Stomach’s Wanderlust.

• When we moved from San Francisco, CA, to Austin, TX, we drove on the fabled Route 66 — so I’m loving this podcast series from Vanishing Postcards about the historic road.

• Actress Lake Bell is so great — she’s especially good in the sharp, expectation-subverting romantic comedy Man Up. So I’m excited for her audiobook Inside Voice: My Obsession With How We Sound coming in November. ‘Bell takes listeners through her own personal journey — covering how her own love of accents and dialects inspired her career as an actor — while also investigating how society treats people based on the way they speak.’ There will be 20 voices, including Drew Barrymore and Jeff Goldblum, along with linguistics professors, dialect coaches, poets, and voice actors.

• Here’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the Oxford English Dictionary is updated. (For a lovely fictional take on dictionary writing, please treat yourself to The Great Passage by Shion Miura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter.)

• When things make me say ‘whoa,’ I share them with you. Exhibit A:

• Quiz! These 11 films were shot on islands, but can you guess which ones?

• Yes, to glamour. Yes, to Noël Coward. ‘With the comfortable certainties of Edwardian England gone, Coward’s generation were acutely aware not only that they lived in a post-war era, but very probably a pre-war one, too. This was characterized by the almost hysterical party lifestyle of the flappers, a sybaritic breed who lived in a whirl of cocktails, cigarettes, and gramophone records.’

• Add the Book Companion website to your list of handy links. It serves up character lists, plus links to author information and reviews for hundreds of books, like The Night Circus or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. (I discovered it when I needed to clarify a character in The Mirror & the Light.)

• BTB, gotta go stay at this treehouse hotel.

• Neat! it’s us, over there! We were delighted to do a Q&A with the excellent bookish newsletter So Novelicious.

• Hey, ho… chorizo!

• From Inside Hook: The Best Moments From the Smartest Literary Festival in the World.

New Episode of The Library of Lost Time

In each 5-minute show, we talk about two new book releases 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 new book releases: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson and Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe. Then we take a sweet virtual road trip along Ohio’s famed Donut Trail.

Books

• Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
• Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

Distraction of the Week

• Read all about the Butler County Donut Trail. Download the free Donut Trail map and the Donut Trail passport.

• Here’s a donut-by-donut recap of a blogger’s trip down the Donut Trail.

• Until you can hit the Donut Trail, why not make these easy homemade donuts?!

May you find something sweet down the road this week.

Top image courtesy of Michael Durana/Unsplash.