Montenegro, Wedding Thrillers, New Orient Express, Cussing History & More: Endnotes 12 August

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 soothing shot above was taken in Montenegro, a small country in the Balkans on the Adriatic Sea. It’s got just about everything you could want in an Eastern European getaway: majestic mountains, cozy villages with orange-tiled roofs, and stunning beaches — plus all the activities that go along with the terrain, like hiking and mountain climbing, swimming, snorkeling, boating, and relaxing. I’m currently daydreaming about going to this eco-village for reading, hiking, and local cuisine — and here’s a list of the 20 best things to see and do in Montenegro. You’ll definitely want to put your eyes on this video.

• Is the ‘thriller set at a wedding’ genre the best genre for summer reading? This book list can help you decide.

• For 20 years, a book club in Buenos Aires has been reading and discussing just one book: Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. ‘They have gone beyond being mere fans or memorizers into forming an intimate link with the novel, and by extension with each other… They speak of the characters as if they are old friends — and since they’ve spent decades rereading, they could easily have a closer and more in-depth understanding of these fictional beings than many people might have of real humans.’

• This is timely: The history of amusements parks in images.

• You’re probably familiar with the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, but did you know that author Patricia Highsmith also wrote comics?

• Famous Authors Share Their Favorite US Bookstores.

• Meanwhile, at Prague Castle:

• This peek inside the world of crossword puzzle writing is really interesting.

• Perhaps you, too, can relate to this comic called Things to See and Do at the Emotional State Fair.

• The views at these restaurants in US national parks are spectacular. Hello, Crater Lake Lodge!

• Sorta related: I just learned about the new trail through California’s Grove of Titans, home to some of the planet’s tallest trees, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I literally dreamt about it!

• Mystery author Sara Paretsky shares some of her favorite books and makes a compelling case for reading more of the social comedies by English novelist Barbara Pym.

• The Orient Express Is Resuming Its Legendary Journeys From Paris — and It’s More Glamorous Than Ever.

• This will probably make you chuckle: History Today explores the curse words of yore. ‘An early recorded use of the f-word was a piece of marginalia by an anonymous monk writing in 1528 in a manuscript copy of Cicero’s De officiis (a treatise on moral philosophy).’

• When something on Instagram makes me say ‘wow,’ I share it with you:

• Two Prague-related stories: It’s been twenty years since a devastating flood damaged the city; the photos in this blog post are really something. And this is an excellent article about The Lobkowicz Museum near Prague Castle. (It’s one of our favorites because the audio tour is fantastic, the café has a patio with breathtaking views, and a handwritten manuscript by Beethoven is right there in the collection.)

• How do you feel about these travel posters designed by AI?! The travel company Stasher fed an AI tool ‘the country and the tourism slogan. The rest was up to them.’

• The Brontë Parsonage Museum — home of the writing sisters — in Haworth, England, opened in August 1928. These two newspaper reports from the time are a retro delight. ‘The first time, we are told, never comes back, and the present writer will not soon forget his sensations on seeing for the first time, and so suddenly, the home of the Brontës.’

• Music is one of our favorite ways to create a sense of place in our own podcast, so we were pretty excited to learn about the new podcast Sound of our Town. Each episode explores a different city through its music, from ‘the best venues and tales of local heroes, to the neighborhoods and communities where new styles thrive.’

It’s time for a dance break.

Top image courtesy of Pink_colibri/Unsplash.