Omega Park, Foodie Novels, Voynich Manuscript, Hot Dogs, Book Bars & More: Endnotes 23 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 friendly deer above lives in Omega Park (Parc Omega) in Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, Quebec, Canada. If you want to see amazing wildlife — elk, bison, wolves, bears, foxes, and more — in its natural habitat, Omega Park is a pretty magical place to do it. For starters, a 12-km (7.5 mile) driving trail lets you go on safari in your own car. Along the way, you’ll see more than 20 species of animals, and you can feed carrots to the deer through your window. For an even more immersive adventure, you can ride in a caged golf cart instead — or spend the night in a wolf chalet (lodge des loupes). The chalets and cabins feature floor-to-ceiling windows that allow you to spy on a wolf pack right outside. Here’s a first-person account of a night among the wolves, and a pretty spectacular video. Here’s a post about visiting the park in the winter, and a winter video. Heads up: According to bloggers, reservations are a precious commodity, so if you want to visit, start stalking the website now.

• This essay makes the case for two of Agatha Christie’s cold war-era novels. ‘Yet for all its post-war setting, They Came to Baghdad is at heart a mature variant on early thrillers like The Man in the Brown Suit (1924); it is buoyant with good humor, and the deadly situations from which its gloriously resourceful protagonist, Victoria, must extricate herself are best defined by the word scrapes.’

• Sorta related: The Best Ian Fleming Books. ‘During the war, he loved the idea of making up plots. It’s interesting because plot has two meanings: planning to do something — undermine someone or some system — or the plot of a novel. Fleming liked both. One of the plots that he had a bit of input into was the idea that turned into Operation Mincemeat. The idea was to use a corpse, equip it with false papers and get it into the sea so that it’s picked up by the Germans. This misdirected the Germans about where the D-Day landings were going to happen. Fleming loved that idea. He’d read about it in a book, a work of fiction. It really sums up the sort of ideas that he liked—creative and slightly outrageous.’

• Two words: Watermelon Architecture, a tribute to the best summer fruit.

• While we’re being dreamy about summer, here are 40 ways the world makes awesome hot dogs. The chart is Art. Put it in the Louvre!

• Very related (and very useful):

• News you can use: 7 Delicious Novels That Celebrate the Joy of Food and Cooking. ‘Stretching from Nora Ephron’s iconic 1983 autobiographical novel Heartburn to new releases like This Is Fine and Piglet, here are seven of the best books that will bring you all the comfort and satisfaction of your favorite home-cooked meal.’

• Did you know you can visit the real Hundred Acre Wood of Winnie the Pooh? Everything you need to know right here.

• 7 Amazing Places to Encounter Wildlife Up-Close. Polar bear! Deer! Manatees! Monkeys! Penguins!

• Do you remember when Dave talked about the Voynich Manuscript in our podcast episode about libraries? There’s a new effort to decode this 500-year-old literary mystery. ‘The Voynich Manuscript has long baffled scholars — and attracted cranks and conspiracy theorists. Now a prominent medievalist is taking a new approach to unlocking its secrets.’

• This is fun! A roundup of books in which two genres’ caress, not collide.’ Instead of fundamentally shaping the story, the speculative elements merely insert a dab of the unexpected into the everyday.

• Break out your calendar, here are 39 literary movies and TV shows to watch this fall. So excited for the new season of Slow Horses, The Critic (Ian McKellen!), and Interior Chinatown.

• Ooh, there are so many cool book bars in NYC.

• Thou lumpish plume-plucked moldwart! You need this Shakespearean Insult Kit.

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: The Divide: A Novel by Morgan Richter and Mina’s Matchbox by Yōko Ogawa (Stephen B. Snyder, translator). Then author Morgan Richter explains why now is a great time to read Batman comics. [transcript]

Links

• The Divide: A Novel by Morgan Richter

• Mina’s Matchbox by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen B. Snyder (translator)

• The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen B. Snyder (translator)

• Morgan Richter’s website, YouTube channel, and Twitter

• Nightwing Vol. 1: Leaping Into the Light by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo (illustrator)

• Catwoman 1: Trail of the Catwoman by Darwyn Cooke & Ed Brubaker (illustrated by Cameron Stewart, Mike Allred, Brad Rader)

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Release your inner superhero.

Top image courtesy of Ali Kazal/Unsplash.