Brick Lane, A Rosy Poem, Cooky vs Cookie, Portland Maine & More: Endnotes 05 April

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 striking street art above is found in East London’s Brick Lane — the place to go for killer thrifting, the best Indian and Bangladeshi curries (and bagels), and bars with craft cocktails and proper pints — 10 brilliant reasons to head to Brick Lane right now. It’s also one of the best places to take in amazing street art in London. Here’s a guide and map to the must-see streets, a nice photo gallery, and a self-guided tour. After feasting with your eyes, you’ll need to fill your belly, so here’s the ultimate guide to Brick Lane restaurants and Time Out’s list of the 10 best.

• This essay about legendary cookbook editor Judith Jones is a love letter to a great mind. Jones is responsible for putting two classics in our hands: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.

• Jordan Mechner is very famous in the world of computer gaming for creating titles like Prince of Persia. Now he’s written and drawn a graphic family memoir: ‘Replay started as the culmination of about 15 years of sketching, drawing from life as a daily practice. At first for pleasure, but it became more than that. It was rediscovering a mode of expression that was primary for me as a kid. Now that I’ve got it back, I can’t imagine stopping.’

• Please, please don’t take your shoes off on the plane. ‘One of the great debates of air travel is whether it’s OK for passengers to go shoeless. But air travel experts have strong reasons to keep your kicks on.’

• Here’s a compelling argument for a late-winter visit to Portland, Maine. The best coffee, lobster, outdoor activities, and museums — just pack a warm coat and have this beautiful area all to yourself.

• This interview with author Bridget Collins has me eager to read her upcoming novel The Silence Factory. Set in Victorian England and Greece, it weaves a tale about spiders whose silk is able to block out noise. What if you could choose silence whenever you wanted?

• There’s an HBC poetry reading for every mood:

• Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book is the best cookie cookbook, and I will not be convinced otherwise. So I enjoyed this essay about how we spell cooky or cookie (or koekje). How could anyone resist a sentence like this: ‘The father of American lexicography inhabited the Cookyverse!’ (Thank you to Pam G. for the link!)

• Treat yourself to this gift link from The Washington Post: Old Soviet files showed up at his door in Ukraine. Then the mystery began. The story and photos are fascinating stuff.

• Oooh! Always happy to see a new play about the Brontë sister, and Underdog: The Other Other Brontë sounds so good!

• Must-click headline: Why You Should Never, Ever Turn a Baguette Upside Down. ‘If you’ve ever tossed a little salt over your shoulder, or seriously considered hanging garlic on your door frame to protect you from evil, then we’ve got one more food-focused superstition to add to your roster.’

• The photos of The Shepherd, a new cultural center opening in May 2024 in Detroit’s East Village, are stunning. ‘Asmaa Walton, an independent curator and founder of Black Art Library, has curated the new Little Village Library. Located within one of the Shepherd’s transepts, the library is a public archive dedicated to artists of color who have made significant contributions to the arts in Michigan and beyond. Moreover, the church’s confessionals have been repurposed into reading booths, providing the public with a space to enjoy.’

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: How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin and Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles. Then Mel explains how much she’s loving the new Brontë Parsonage podcast. [transcript]

Links

• How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

• Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles

• Podcast: Russia: Revolution, Hope, and Vodka

• Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

• Video: A Gentleman in Moscow trailer

Distraction of the Week: Behind the Glass Podcast

• Brontë Parsonage website

• Behind the Glass: A Parsonage Podcast

• The Guardian on Anne Brontë’s interest in geology

• Photos that take you inside the Parsonage

• Video: Tour of the Parsonage

• Rowan Coleman’s website

• The Brontë Mysteries series by Bella Ellis

• Bella Ellis on Instagram

Wishing you a moment of inspiration.

Top image courtesy of Toa Heftiba/Unsplash.