Literary Werewolves, Floating Breakfast, Skating Witches, litRPG & More: Endnotes 25 October

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.

This week, I stumbled across Margaret Atwood’s poem Update on Werewolves (from her 2021 book Dearly: New Poems). The poem begins with a description of the werewolves many of us know from creature features or a random Tuesday at the office: They burst through their bluejean clothing / as well as their own split skins / exposed themselves in parks howled at the moonshine/ Those things frat boys do. And then it turns into something else entirely. It’s descriptive, darkly funny, and altogether unnerving, i.e., exactly what you want from a Halloween-adjacent poem. Read Update on Werewolves in its entirety here. For more, you might take a dip into the disturbing, deep waters of Angela Carter’s story The Company of Wolves from her collection of feminist fairy tale retellings The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. (There’s a maybe terrible-in-a-good-way movie of that story, too.) Finally, treat yourself to the comedy-horror stylings of Rachel Harrison with her novel Such Sharp Teeth, a rom-com that turns into a she-wolf story and has smart things to say about body image and women’s rage. Rawr.

• We begin with a must-click headline: This Beautiful Library Has a Dungeon.

• The book you didn’t know you needed: Stevie Nicks demonstrating self-defense in high-heeled boots. ‘On this day of the shoot I was standing in my martial arts training uniform, wearing my Black Belt. Then Stevie appeared, her hair done to resemble the mane of a lion. She was psyched up for some serious photographing.’

• Neat! A regular bloke in Ireland discovered a long-lost story by Dracula author Bram Stoker. The story will be published on 26 October. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Charlotte Stoker Fund for research on the prevention of acquired deafness in vulnerable newborn babies. Learn more here — and buy it here.

• Wanderlust tells you Everything you need to know about Día de los Muertos — plus festivals of the dead in Guatemala, China, and Japan.

• What do you think about the new trend for floating breakfasts? ‘Through the sliding glass door of my jungle hotel room, I could see my breakfast had arrived. A plate of huevos rancheros were waiting in the pool. Not by — in.’

• You need to see this:

• Two exhibits to put on your radar: Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak is at the Denver Art Museum until February 2025. It presents more than 450 of Sendak’s artworks alongside pieces by other artists that Sendak collected throughout his life. Beginning 27 January 2025 — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — Anne Frank: The Exhibition will open in New York City. The heart of the exhibit is a full-scale recreation of the Annex where Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jewish inhabitants spent two years hiding to evade Nazi capture.

• Here’s a bookish podcast you might like: Dead Writers takes you inside the homes of famous American authors. ‘Riffing on literature, history, home décor, gardens, and ghosts,’ it’s hosted by literary critic Tess Chakkalakal and novelist Brock Clarke. (Thank you to friend-of-SSoP Deborah V for sharing this with us.)

• Glamour UK rounds up the 25 best new books of October 2024, according to literary experts. ‘Cancel all plans, get under those blankets, light all the candles, and tuck into some brilliant bookish delights. You won’t regret it.’

• You might want to add litRPG (literary role-playing game) to your bookish vocabulary. ‘What makes a book a LitRPG is how it is written. Game-like elements, such as player stats, are an essential part of the story. The characters in the book are usually aware of these elements… They’re adventures with the added element of levels, stat sheets, and other gaming components, giving the reader the sense they’re following along a game that is being played.’

• We saw the play Nye starring Michael Sheen at The National Theatre in London a few months ago. No surprise: It was great! From 7 to 11 November, the play will stream for free on YouTube. Details here.

• Beetlejuice, Halloweentown, Twilight, and more, here are 9 Halloween Movie Filming Locations You Can Visit.

• This has nothing to do with books or travel, but this very cool punching bag needs to be seen.

• We’re fans of the Brent and Michael Are Going Places newsletter — and now Michael has launched a new online space to share his gorgeous travel photography. He started with autumn in Prague. So dreamy!

• More lovely eye candy: The paintings by Gretchen Scherer feature the grand homes and art galleries of the past. So colorful and brimming with stories.

• We devoured the new series Rivals this week. The bonking and villains and treachery are irresistible, as are the English country houses where the parties never stop. Tattler takes us inside Chavenage House, the country manor known as The Priory in Rivals.

New Strong Sense of Place Episode — Cemetery: Celebrate Life, Honor the Dead

Graveyards, cemeteries, ossuaries, and crypts — all places of reverence where the living can pay their respects to those who’ve crossed over before us.

But that wasn’t always the case.

In the Middle Ages, graveyards were far more raucous, home to fairs, markets, and even grazing cattle. In the 19th century, some cemeteries were the place to see and be seen, possibly with a well-stocked picnic basket in tow.

In 1860, The Green-Wood Cemetery in New York rivaled Niagara Falls (!) as the most popular tourist attraction in the US.

In this episode, we take leisurely strolls through Pére Lachaise and Greyfriars Kirkyard, learn about the one-way train for the dearly departed, and visit a cheery Romanian cemetery. Then we share five books we love that explore these often peaceful, sometimes eerie ‘museums of people,’ including a 19th-century classic mystery tale, a how-to for death, two beloved fantasy novels, and a Gothic thriller set in 1980s Barcelona. [transcript]

Visit our show notes for the list of all the books we discussed, photos, links to fascinating stuff, videos, author info, and more.

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

Wishing you a spooky-fun Halloween week.

Top image courtesy of Tom Pottiger/Unsplash.