Seattle Piers, Banned Books, Extreme Airports, Hollywood Stories & More: Endnotes 03 May

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.

If you want to get smacked in the face with fresh sea air and hang out with seagulls, Seattle’s historic waterfront piers are a good place to do it. There are nine piers, constructed in the 1800s to serve the Alaskan Gold Rush and the railroads. Now you can go there to eat seafood, pick up souvenirs, and take in spectacular views from the top of the Great Wheel. You can eat a 4-course meal while floating in a gondola 200 feet above Elliott Bay. (If you prefer to keep your feet on the ground, the Great Wheel lights up with colored displays on weekend nights.) There’s also an arcade, a classic carousel with 30 hand-painted horses, the Seattle Aquarium, and a 1-hour catamaran cruise around the Bay. Don’t miss the ‘flying theater’ of Wings Over Washington. Once you’re strapped into the seat you take flight, thanks to immersive projections of dramatic Washington scenery. Congratulations, you’re an eagle now, soaring over the seaside cliffs, through the mists of the Olympic National Forest, alongside hot air balloons at the Walla Walla Valley Balloon Stampede, and Washington’s other natural wonders.

• Ten translators from around the world weigh in on what makes a translation great.

• Reading books set in Hollywood is always good escapist fun. The Los Angeles Times put together their list of the 50 best Hollywood books of all time — then their readers weighed in on 19 books the newspaper missed. And we offer five more in our podcast episode Hollywood: Gumption, Glamour, Heartbreak, and Hubris.

• Téa Obreht is the author of The Tiger’s Wife — a book I love so much — and her latest The Morningside, which I talked about in this episode of The Library of Lost Time. She talked to Elle magazine about some of her favorite books.

• Escape rooms are getting eerier, and I’m here for it. ‘Nominated rooms include games like 60 Seconds to Escape in Gurnee, Illinois, involving skeletons popping out at people down hallways, or Madness Toledo in Spain, featuring biohazard spills, unleashed monsters, and a huge Alien-esque creature taking up most of a room, ready to mow participants down with its toothy jaws.’

• Definitely need a heist novel about this Georgian crime ring that stole millions in rare books.

• Travel guru Rick Steves seems like a very good egg and is living his best life. (WaPo gift link)

• This thread of street art is really fun:

• Author Maia Kobabe wrote the graphic memoir Gender Queer. This comic in The Nib explains what it’s like to have written the most banned book in America.

• Strong agree: ‘…for me, the most satisfying crime fiction are stories that spring from a particular place and the people who live there; a place and manners the author knows well; stories that could not happen anywhere else.’ Read more from author Peter Nichols about his favorite crime novels with a strong sense of place.

• Take a virtual, lyrical trip to Indonesia with this essay: What’s It Like In Lombok In The Morning?

• Adventurers, this is for you — a hotel in Canada’s Banff National Park that can only be reached by foot, ski, or bike. ‘With memories of the Shadow Lake Lodge’s complementary afternoon tea dancing in our heads, we strapped on our packs, hauled our bikes through the wildlife gate and began the ride through crisp, crystalline snow, savouring the snap of it below our wheels.’

• Gibraltar, Nepal, Antarctica and more, here are 10 of the world’s most extreme airports.

• Treat yourself to this list of words coined by women. Male gaze, misogynoir, imposter syndrome, intersectionality, and more.

• This quiz about the origins and meanings of idioms is tough and informative. I only got 9/15.

Season 6 of our Strong Sense of Place podcast starts 24 May

We’re thrilled our new season is about to start!

Our Season 6 itinerary includes 12 thrilling destinations with a journey to every region of the globe. Pack your (virtual) bags for Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and two great cities on opposite coasts of the United States. This time, we’re also heading to outer space (and two other super-fun themes).

Get ready to explore customs, history, scenery, food, art, and more — all you need is your curiosity, an open heart, and a favorite spot to read. See photos and descriptions of all our upcoming destinations right here.

Join us as we travel around the world, one great book at a time.

Top image courtesy of Caio/Pexels.