Eiffel Tower, New Storytelling Pod, Hot Dog Towers, Dorian Gray & More: Endnotes 28 March

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.

March 31 is a pretty important day for anyone who agrees with our assertion that Paris is always a good idea. On that date in 1889, Gustave himself and a few select personalities of the day officially inaugurated the Eiffel Tower. They climbed the 1710 steps to the top — the tallest tower in the world at the time — and unfurled the French flat while listening to the clamor of a 21-gun salute. Read more about that day and enjoy photos here. The Tower was built expressly for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which opened a few months later. ‘Already festive, the Eiffel Tower lit up every evening with the light of hundreds of gas lamps protected by opal glass cases. A tricolor beacon, housed in the campanile, sent out three signals of blue, white, and red light over Paris.’ And treat yourself to this documentary about the ‘fair that changed everything.’

• The new nonfiction book Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: The Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend sounds so good. Here’s what The Guardian has to say about it. ‘Jane Austen’s Bookshelf would not disappoint any reader who picked it up along with all their other Janeite merch but it’s so much more… Romney’s book is as sharp an examination of the great forgetting of female writers as you could wish for, uncowed by big-name critics, buoyed instead by the instincts of a single reader trusting her honest enjoyment over dusty tradition.’

• Related: Bath, Balls, and Darcy’s Pile: Where to Celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th Anniversary. ‘It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a fan of Jane Austen must be in want of festivities to mark her big birthday. Here are some of the best.’

• There are some fun reading and watching ideas in this collection of murder mysteries set at dinner parties: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.

• Three words: Hot Dog Tower.

• 10 of America’s Most Beautiful Historic Mansions. Ca’ d’Zan in Florida! The Biltmore Estate in North Carolina! Oheka Castle in New York!

• Take a deep dive into Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights:

• Whoa. This futuristic house from Severance is available to rent. The 7-bedroom Taghkanic House in upstate New York — designed by architect Thomas Phifer in 1999 — lists on Airbnb for a cool $4k per night.

• Fish Friday Around the World: Six chefs — from France, Brazil, New York, Tennessee, Australia, and Virginia — share what they’re cooking for Lent and beyond.

• 18 of the World’s Most Incredible Ancient Ruins.

• You might know the actor Wil Wheaton from his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation or the film Stand By Me — or his celebrated turn as an audiobook narrator for Ready Player One. He’s putting his acting and voice work to good use in his new podcast It’s Storytime, with Wil Wheaton. Each episode (weekly, Wednesdays) features speculative fiction that Wil loves, pulled from the pages of Uncanny, Lightspeed, On Spec, and others. ‘Listeners will travel through time, meet some gods, watch people fall in and out of love, and more.’ Listen on your favorite podcast app.

• Kinda related: Sam Tackeff’s newsletter The Second Lunch is (mostly) about recipes and food, but she also delves into fitness, hobbies, and other topics associated with living well. My favorite thing about Sam is how intentional she is with how she spends her time and where she puts her energy. Plus, she’s fun! I liked her thoughts on listening to podcasts and the shows she enjoys.

• I would love to see Sarah Snook’s one-woman show version of Dorian Gray on Broadway. This chat with the show’s costume designer is so good. (Sarah has to embody 26 different characters!)

• Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt was ‘forever an American in Paris.’ The new book Mary Cassatt between Paris and New York by Ruth E. Iskin paints a vivid portrait of this remarkable artist. According to this Hyperallargic article, Iskin ‘injects fresh perspective and important nuance into Cassatt’s legacy, while affirming her singular place in art history: as a prominent Impressionist, a trailblazing woman artist, and an American Parisian whose influence spanned an ocean.’

• Here are the finalists for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction.

• Must-click headline: What’s Going on With Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights Wedding Dress?

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 fun new books: The Expert of Subtle Revisions by Kirsten Menger-Anderson and On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR by Steve Oney. Then Dave recommends a tranquil dark sky festival. [transcript]

Links

• The Expert of Subtle Revisions by Kirsten Menger-Anderson

• On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR by Steve Oney

• The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

• Prague Spring by Simon Mawer

• Skellig Coast Dark Sky Festival

• Wikipedia on the amazing Skellig Michael

• Kerry International Dark-Sky Reserve

• Kerry Dark Sky Tourism

• 2025 Dark Sky Festivals and Star Parties

• DarkSky International

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

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. — Oscar Wilde