EM Forster's Florence, Food Words, UK Villages, Brontë Birthplace & More: Endnotes 06 June

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.

Tomorrow is the 55th anniversary of the death of E.M. Forster, author of the delightfully snarky love story and comedy of manners, A Room with a View, published in 1908. Today, we honor the man who gave us one of the sweetest on-page kisses to ever happen among a field of flowers: ‘George had turned at the sound of her arrival. For a moment he contemplated her, as one who had fallen out of heaven. He saw radiant joy in her face, he saw the flowers beat against her dress in blue waves. The bushes above them closed. He stepped quickly forward and kissed her.’ Treat yourself to this episode of BBC’s Arts & Ideas which asks the question, What’s so great about E.M. Forster? The British Library has pages from Forster’s manuscript and the 1903 edition of the Baedeker guidebook to Northern Italy which is like a character actor in Lucy Honeychurch’s adventures in Florence. And here’ more on the Edwardian codes of behavior that lead to Lucy’s (charming) muddle. If you want to time travel back to 20th-century Tuscany, here’s a 1913 Baedecker’s in its entirety.

• I was a spelling bee nerd, so I enjoyed this essay about commonly misspelled food words. I definitely can never remember in what order to place the vowels in hors d’oeuvres or bourguignon. All apologies to my high school French teacher!

• You can now visit the small house where the Brontë sisters were born. The Brontë Parsonage has been a museum since 1928. Now, for the first time in 200 years, you can step inside the home in Thornton, where they were born in front of the parlor fireplace. Self-guided tours are now open for booking.

• This LitHub essay about book recommendations is pretty fun ‘My book recommendations are like perfect similes. Your book recommendations are like YAPPING, HONKING ONOMATOPOEIA.’

• I could not be more excited about the new video game Tiny Bookshop. It’s out on 07 August!

• From Atlas Obscura, the most unusual festival in the US. Hello, Pierogi Fest!

• These Art Deco designs for decorating the SS Normandie are so dreamy — as is the photo of the ocean liner sailing on the Hudson River in 1936.

• Test your knowledge of European Museums. I got 10/16.

• News you can use (when on your next flight): The 20 In-Flight Crime Movie Options on This Airplane, Ranked. I take issue with her pick for number one; I would put her #19 at the top of my list for one reason: Viggo Mortensen.

• Seven Books to Scratch That Pride and Prejudice Itch. I’m curious about Seduction Theory — the premise is great! — and I keep meaning to read Re:Jane. Have you read it?

• I love the opening paragraphs of this essay: Disney Taught Me How to Write About Food. He writes about an unforgettable ham-and-cheese sandwich; I was smitten with Moroccan food at Epcot Center.

• The 19 Most Beautiful Villages in the UK. So many cottages and cobbled streets!

• Such a cool art installation.

• Must-click headline: The Afterlife of Stories: The Art and Ambiguity of Literary Retellings. ‘But why do we continually retell the same stories, repackaging them for new audiences? Much of our love and affinity for such stories is rooted in what may be termed the ‘Volksgeist’: the cultural consciousness or collective spirit of a people. More precisely, it stems from the workings of cultural memory – the shared body of references, knowledge, stories, values, and symbols passed down through generations. These stories help to shape how a society views itself, and how it is remembered.’

Wishing you a lovely ramble in nature.