Daffodils, Edward Gorey, Artful Piñatas, New P&P, Plaid's History & More: Endnotes 18 April

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.

It’s so springy here in Prague! The cherry trees and lilacs in Vyšehrad are like Impressionist paintings IRL, and the flower beds in Karlovo náměstí (Charles Square) are filled with dancing yellow daffodils and bright red tulips. The poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth showed up in my feed twice this week as if the universe wanted to make sure I’d noticed all the flowers. If you’d like to see daffodils in the States, you might try New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Bainbridge Island (Washington), Aquila’s Nest Vineyards in CT, or Gibbs Garden near Atlanta. You could also check out the state of Virginia’s claim that it’s the true daffodil capital of America. Wherever you find these sunny flowers, follow these tips to make your bouquet last.

• This is a lovely story about awesome readers. Hundreds of people formed a human chain to move 9,100 books to a new location of a beloved Michigan bookstore.

• The Edward Gorey House is about to open for the season, and good stuff is happening! There’s a new exhibit — Concealing the Art: Edward Gorey’s Mysterious Messages — that ‘showcases the repetition of themes and objects throughout Gorey’s self-authored works. They are the Mysterious Messages embedded into his books. They are mysterious because their placement is oblique, random — and repetitive.’ You can also pre-order the new book E is for Edward, a compilation of materials from the last decade of curated exhibits at the museum. If you can’t get to Yarmouth Port, MA, maybe you’re closer to Texas? The Cushing Memorial Library at Texas A&M is hosting Ubiquitous Edward Gorey, an exhibit of 600 items including drawings and other personal Gorey stuff. It runs until September 2025.

• The ‘Dear Atlas’ column on Atlas Obscura is a hoot. Exhibit A: Are there any cool hotels or vacation rentals where one might have a paranormal encounter? (Also good: What Parts of Route 66 Are Worth the Drive?)

• These photos of the restored Grand Palais are stunning.

• Brighten your day with these whimsical, colorful piñatas by artist Roberto Benavidez.

• Brontë-related updates: One of Charlotte Brontë’s tiny books of poetry is being published for us grown-ups — and a rare watercolor by Emily Brontë was just purchased at auction and will be displayed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

• Sorta related: Heathcliff’s gold tooth and Catherine’s widow’s weeds!

• In other adaptation news: I was meh about another version of Pride and Prejudice until I learned it stars Olivia Colman (Mrs. Bennett), Emma Corrin (Elizabeth), and Jack Lowden (Mr. Darcy). Now I’m all in.

• Pop quiz: How many walled cities around the world can you identify?? I got 5/10.

• Make your ‘night at the museum’ dreams come true! You can enter a drawing to spend the night at the UK National Gallery. ‘…you’ll experience your very own private late-night tour of the collection with one of our esteemed National Gallery curators. After all the excitement, you can get tucked into bed adorned by the M&S X National Gallery collection, in a bespoke bedroom surrounded by the world’s greatest artists as you drift off to sleep. To top off this incredible experience, you’ll wake up to breakfast in bed…’

• Recently on The Library of Lost Time, I talked about the very cool Witches of Scotland tartan. If that made you curious about tartan, treat yourself to this episode of the History Extra podcast about plaid’s checkered history.

• This new annotated version of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is so cool.

• Whoa. The Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí — you probably know his buildings, the Sagrada Familia Basilica and Casa Batlló — may become a saint.

• In today’s episode of The Library of Lost Time, I talked about the new Laurent Binet novel Perspective(s). You can read an excerpt here.

• There’s Still More to Learn About Anne Frank. The New Republic reviews a new biography of Anne Frank, her remarkable diary, and the legacy of both.

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 new books: Perspective(s): A Novel by Laurent Binet and The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer. Then Dave shares the app that’s decoding nature’s secrets in his favorite park. [transcript]

Links

• Perspective(s): A Novel by Laurent Binet

• The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

• HHhH by Laurent Binet — hear Mel talk about it on our Prague podcast episode

• The Blackhouse by Peter May — hear Mel talk about it on our Scotland podcast episode

• Seek by iNaturalist: download the app for Apple or Google, watch a demo video, get the user’s guide

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

Corny but true: Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers.

Top image courtesy of Yoksel Zok/Unsplash.