Brighton Pier, Tiny Bookshop Game, Butterfly Murals, Summerween & More: Endnotes 15 August

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.

Known as ‘London by the Sea,’ Brighton has been a popular summer getaway since King George IV built his Royal Pavilion there in 1787 and transformed a sleepy fishing village into the place for well-heeled Victorians to splash in the sea. Brighton is still a delightful place to breathe the sea air and visit the Brighton Palace Pier, the only one of three historic piers that remain in the seaside town. The pier officially opened in May 1899 — decorated with ornamental archways illuminated by 3000 lights. Stretching roughly a mile into the sea, the pier was capped with a 1500-seat theater and smaller pavilions for dining, smoking, and reading (!). The first amusement ride added to the pier was a Ferris wheel in 1932, and today there are dozens of rides and games in the arcade. You can ride a Turbo Coaster, race down the Helter Skelter slide, relax on the carousel, or brave the Horror Hotel. (Is the pier haunted? I can’t say, but I do know that a 2003 fire (malevolent spirits?) destroyed the Ghost Train ride.) In this video, a local shares his favorite things to see and do in Brighton (and reveals that if you lined the planks of the pier up end to end, they would reach all the way across the English Channel to France).

• THIS IS NOT A DRILL! The Tiny Bookshop game has launched! Get it on Steam for the desktop or the Nintendo Switch. ‘Leave everything behind and open a tiny bookshop by the sea in this cozy narrative management game. Stock your tiny bookshop with different books and items, set up shop in scenic locations, and run your cozy second-hand bookshop while getting to know the locals.’

• Do you know about the dance-theater performance storming the New York Public Library? Performers, ‘dressed as formal library pages in white shirts and black ties,’ dance among the tables in the Rose Main Reading Room.

• The medieval library in the Pannonhalma Archabbey, the oldest library in Hungary (founded in 996), is in a knock-down, drag-out battle with beetles. ‘The beetle invasion was first detected during a routine library cleaning. Employees noticed unusual layers of dust on the shelves and then saw that holes had been burrowed into some of the book spines. Upon opening the volumes, burrow holes could be seen in the paper where the beetles chewed through.’ (Thank you to friend-of-SSoP Elizaebeth N. for sending us this story.)

• Kinda related: How well do you know the libraries of the world? I got 8/12.

• Definitely related: Eight of the UK’s Most Impressive Private Libraries. (The photo of London’s The Athenaeum Club stole my heart.)

• Literary travel might be the best travel. Here’s a Book Lovers’ Guide to the South of France and a Book Lovers’ Guide to Barcelona.

• I just learned the term ‘Summerween,’ and I’m into it. Kirkus recommends 21 books for a spooky Summerween, and here are some great prompts for sunny scaries:

• This SoCal Spring Reading Retreat — hosted by our Patron and bookseller (and retired librarian) Kristin — looks like so much fun. Library tour, bookshop crawls, reading on the beach, afternoon tea — everything your bookish heart could want.

• How to Travel to the Most Remote Office on Earth. ‘Commuting to Concordia research station in Antarctica takes days—it’s more remote than the International Space Station. Here’s how to get there.’

• The Be Back By Dinner Substack asks: Would you drive six hours for a salad? My answer is yes.

• Wait, what?! The people behind the glorious Dishoom cookbook and stellar London-based restaurants opened a mini hotel. (Hear me talk about the cookbook in our podcast episode India: The Continent Masquerading as a Country.

• Ooooh, a series of butterfly murals by artist Mantra that’s worthy of Veronica Speedwell, aka our favorite Victorian sleuth/lepidopterist.

• Somewhat related: Artist Larysa Bernhardt makes embroidered plush moths.

• It’s right there in the name! Clothes in Books blogs about clothes in books. It’s fun.

• I’m intrigued by the read-aloud Moby Dick marathon that happens every summer at the Mystic Seaport Museum. This first-hand account of this year’s festivities has only deepened my interest. (Hear Dave make the case for reading Moby Dick in our podcast episode The Sea: Tales of Poets and Pirates).

• Are you a travel journaler? The Noted Substack offers 3 ways to take travel notes.

Wishing you a lazy sunset stroll and cotton candy dreams.

Top image courtesy of Ben Guerin/Unsplash.