Bora Bora, Ampersands, Remote Hotels, Hot Boy Readers & More: Endnotes 10 February

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.

Sometimes in February, you just need to turn your eyes (and, perhaps, take your whole self) to somewhere warm, relaxing, lush, green, turquoise, quiet, lazy, and rejuvenating — like Bora Bora in French Polynesia. That craggy mountain surrounded by a dreamy aquamarine sea is Mount Otemanu, the remnants of an ancient volcano. Things to do in Bora Bora include snorkeling, diving, fishing, paddle boarding, and our favorite right now: napping in a hammock. If you need daydream fuel, here are 8 tips for your first trip to Bora Bora.

• Charity Navigator is an excellent and trustworthy way to make donations to help the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

• A lyrical essay about the ampersands. ‘An editor once removed forty-four ampersands from a long poem I had written. I didn’t argue, partly because the editor had gone to such trouble… and partly because I couldn’t articulate why it mattered. Perhaps it didn’t. But I missed them, the gentle surprise of their presence… and the simple prettiness of the symbol in place of the letters to whose beauty we are inured.’

• We’ve Entered The Hot Boy Reader Era. ‘There’s never been a better time to be caught Reading While Hot (or RWH, for short). These days, celebrities are celebrated for publicly proclaiming their love of books — particularly when they choose titles approved by in-the-know tastemakers.’

• Related: Pedro Pascal has Pretty Good Gaste in Books.

• I was delighted to do a Q&A with Jeremy Anderberg, the writer behind the excellent Read More Books on Substack. I made many (many, many) recommendations for great books with a strong sense of place.

• 20 Awesome Songs About Books. Did you know Vampire Weekend has a song called ‘Oxford Comma’?!

• This is lovely. An Ode to Kraft Dinner, Food of Troubled Times.

• National Geographic made a 4-part podcast called The Soul of Music. New episodes will be released every Tuesday in February and will feature conversations between world-class musicians and Nat Geo Explorers.

• 16 Spectacular Remote Hotels Around the World.

• As the self-appointed president of the Helen Mirren Fan Club, I’m very excited about the news that she’ll be playing Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, in an upcoming movie.

• I could listen to Ann Dinsdale talk about the Brontë sisters all day.

• It’s so satisfying to peek inside other people’s journals. This one by Japanese Chef Itsuo Kobayashi documents his meals for the last 32 years with cute illustrations.

• From Atlas of Wonders and Monsters, a Substack about exploration I’ve been enjoying: In Praise of Being a Tourist.

• Hundreds of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs were never built. Spanish architect David Romero uses computer-generated models to see how these unrealized structures might have looked. I’m very fond of the cottages on Lake Tahoe.

• Did you know the placeholder text ‘lorem ipsum’ has a meaning?

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.

In this episode, we get excited about two books: Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo and Mr. Breakfast by Jonathan Carroll. Mel shares the exciting news about the return of an iconic 20th-century train. [transcript]

Links

• Boston Globe shares an excerpt from Master Slave Husband Wife.

• An interview with Ilyon Woo on CBS Sunday Morning.

• The Hudson River Rail Excursions: info, photos, tickets, and more.

• The Famous Red Carpet Express Train Rides Again.

• In this video, My Vintage Love takes a ride on the train.

Hoping 2023 is treating you kindly so far.

Top image courtesy of Maridav/Shutterstock.