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 festive photo above looks like the Grinch threw an afternoon cupcakes-and-eggnog party after his heart grew three sizes. We are all-in on holiday happiness like goodwill Grinches, boozy eggnog, and this discussion on Reddit which answers the Very Important Question: If the Grinch’s heart was two sizes too small, and it grew three sizes in one day, it’s now one size too large. What health complications result? (Prepare for your own heart to expand when you read what artist Chuck Jones has to say about what the Grinch meant to him.) People have been celebrating the season with eggnog — and ratifying treaties, apparently — since the 13th century when monks fancied up their possets (a drink made from hot milk, wine or ale, and spices) with whipped eggs and figs. Now, in addition to sipping perfect eggnog on its own, you can enjoy it in a layer cake with bourbon-vanilla frosting, slow cooker cinnamon roll casserole, or our new favorite way: in an eggnog cappuccino. Eggnog not your thing? Here are nine other Christmas drinks from around the world.
Whoa! Did I just become obsessed with this comic about Adam Ant? Not as obsessed as this human on the internet who found and posted every episode of the comic.
This is one of the best annual traditions: The Edward Gorey House envelope art contest.
I recently spent about 90 minutes organizing my Christmas books — so many crime novels, holiday horror stories, rom-coms, and story collections. And now, here are a bunch more good titles to consider.
TimeOut has ideas about The 21 best places to go for Christmas in the world for 2024. We’ll be staying home with Smudge and our tree, but it’s still fun to look.
Related: The 28 Best Christmas Markets in Europe, From Antwerp to Zagreb and The Best European Christmas Markets to Visit This Winter.
One of my secret powers is finding the public restroom any place I go. Still, this ultimate ranking of NYC’s secret public bathrooms is super helpful.
And kinda related: How Affordable Are New York City Museum Cafes?. I love a museum café, and one of the loveliest is at the Morgan Library in NYC.
Whoa, did you know that Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was also a painter?
Dave and I have been watching the adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Say Nothing. (Dave recommended it in our podcast Ireland: It’s Not Good, It’s Grand, and it is great and phew… tough. If you’re watching, too, you might like this Esquire interview with Keefe. ‘There was a moment in preproduction when we were in Belfast for the first time doing a black-cab Troubles tour. The cabbie was driving around quoting Patrick’s book to us, and Patrick said, Excuse me, where are you getting these quotes? The driver said, It’s the best book about the Troubles, Say Nothing. I got to … say, This is Patrick Keefe, the author of the book.’
What happens to the natural world when people disappear? ‘Across the globe, vast swathes of land are being left to be reclaimed by nature. To see what could be coming, look to Bulgaria.’
Wow. This new dude ranch resort in Montana looks fantastic. Beautifully rustic cabins, meals eaten in the open air, fly fishing, mountain biking, lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes, and, in the winter, snowshoeing.
Author Amy Tector wrote a super-fun holiday rom-com called Snowdrop Kisses, and you can read it for free, with new installments emailed to you every day from now until Christmas. I enjoyed it last year, and I’m loving the replay this year. Treat yourself!
There are so many best-of lists making the rounds right now — I enjoyed this one from Marie-Claire because it includes so many books I’ve not heard of before.
This is cool: The Secret Tricks Hidden Inside Restaurant Menus. ‘Even the binding around the menu is passing us important messages about the kind of experience we are about to have,’ explains Charles Spence, a professor in experimental psychology and multisensory perception at the University of Oxford. ‘There are a lot of elements on a menu that can be changed to nudge the customer in one way or another.’
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 new books: A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson and The Way by Cary Groner. Then Dave recommends fun board games to play with your friends and family this holiday season. [transcript]
Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.
Top image courtesy of Jill Wellington/Pexels.
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