Palermo, Sicily, Ode to Bookstores, Galatea, Travel Gifts & More: Endnotes 18 November

Palermo, Sicily, Ode to Bookstores, Galatea, Travel Gifts & More: Endnotes 18 November

Friday, 18 November, 2022

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.

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The cheerful doors above can be found in Palermo, Sicily. The city is located in the northwest of the island, on the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and — no biggie — it’s been around for 2,700 old. You can explore its narrow lanes to admire its architecture: Sicilian Baroque (balconies, marble, grotesque masks), Arab-Norman (square towers, pointed arches), and Neo-Classic (lots of columns) — and on the neighborhood homes, weathered doors in a rainbow of colors. After a stroll, you can dig into Sicilian cuisine and sip local wine. Then you’ll be ready to conquer the top 10 activities recommended by locals.

 
  • This is a beautiful love letter to bookstores. ‘There was something steadying, though, about standing in an actual, cavernous bookstore and taking it all in. Your fellow customers shared a room and a set of options. The scale was human, and the stock was present. Some of it disappeared from day to day as people purchased books. But you had to walk past the stuff you thought you didn’t want to reach the stuff you thought you did. Thus, you could stumble on something you hadn’t set out for.’

  • ‘If you don’t have the luxury of booking a flight, but find yourself in need of a momentary respite, here are some podcasts that have the ability to transport listeners elsewhere through the simple magic of audio.’ Delighted to see Strong Sense of Place on this list of podcasts compiled by Evan Stern, the host of the show Vanishing Postcards.

  • Get in the holiday spirit with an ‘unusual and amusing mystery.’ Martin Edwards, the consultant for the British Library’s Crime Classics series, recommends the golden age classic Murder After Christmas.

  • So many fantastic ideas here: What to Gift Your Favorite Traveler, Based on the Destination They Love Most.

  • Related: Saveur’s Guide to Holiday Gifting 2022.

  • This is amazing:

 
 

New Episode of The Library of Lost Time

In each mini-podcast episode, we discuss two books at the top of our TBR, then share a fun book- or travel-related distraction. Get all the episodes and books galore here.

Photo courtesy of Alina Demidenko/Shutterstock.

In this episode, we get excited about two new books: Galatea by Madeline Miller and Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami. Then Dave recommends three fun boardgames for the holiday season — or anytime. [transcript]

 

Hope you’re cozy and have something excellent to read.

Top image courtesy of Cristina Gottardi/Unsplash.

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Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got Native American cuisine, Tom Gauld's library cartoons, Rod McKuen poetry, secret bookcase stairs, 1950s nostalgia, and more.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got adorable Halloween comics, Halloween around the world, potluck tips, music from Ryan Gosling, fantastical candles, and more.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got a new story from Robin Sloan, Emily Brontë biopic, the best BBC adaptations, unique advent calendars, iconic photos, and more.

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