Fall Fun, Dark Academia, Google Reviews, Book Lovers' Venice & More: Endnotes 19 September

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.

Autumn has arrived in Prague, and it’s got me craving walks in the forest, bowls of soup (like this one, and maybe an interaction with a magical woodland creature. This collection of hotels around the world that showcase fall are pretty dreamy. (The view out the window of the Grand Hotel Kronenhof in Pontresina, Switzerland, looks like my fairytale dream IRL.) If you’d like to take a virtual walk in the woods, I recommend this poem by Rudyard Kipling — and, perhaps, a listen to our podcast The Forest: Meet a Witch, Climb a Tree. You could also enjoy the classic thriller The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White, or any of these excellent reads: 12 great books set in the forest. To go along with those books, you definitely need snacks! How about Victorian seed cake, chocolate whoopie pies, homemade salted caramels, or easy caramel corn.

• Why is it so much fun to ‘eavesdrop’ on what other people are reading? I thoroughly enjoyed this roundup of what six book lovers in Washington, DC are currently reading.

• If you love Dark Academia like I love Dark Academia, this is the list for you: 141 Dark Academia Books for Fall Reading. I’m finally reading Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and, so far, it’s as great as everyone says. It also got me wondering why The Secret History hasn’t been adapted for the screen. Town and Country has the answer.

• Here’s one for Slow Horses fans. Mick Herron talks about Jackson Lamb and the other lovable losers of MI5. ‘A bunch of people who aren’t very good at their jobs and don’t like each other, forced to work in an office. I mean, why would you want to read it?’

• Find a ‘glimpse of humanity in an unlikely corner of the internet’ on Google Reviews. ‘Most of the time, reviews alternate between angry, comically banal, and downright bizarre.’

• Trompe-l’œil is so delightful. This article from Getty gets into it — and these paintings by 17th-century Flemish artist Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts are super fun. (I especially love the ‘Reverse of a Framed Painting.’

• Kinda related: Ivan Aivazovsky’s Miniature Seascapes.

• The new Havana Helmet Club podcast seems cool. ‘A mysterious sound blights the lives of US spies in Cuba. Is it a covert attack?’ The makers previous show West Cork was very compelling and entertaining.

• A Book Lover’s Guide to Venice — and 5 Famous Literary Destinations for Bookworms To Visit.

• The Conversation asks, Why are adaptations of Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey so rare? ‘They represent Austen’s most nuanced works, focusing not just on romance (although both heroines get their happy endings) but on society’s wider issues. Crucially, they demonstrate that their author was not just a writer of fluffy romance, but an informed observer of politics and society and the structures that underpinned them.’

• Related: Why We’re Still Reading Jane Austen on Her 250th Birthday. By the fabulous Lucy Worsley.

• Ah, what it’s like to live inside the New York Public Library.

• Heck, yeah, Victorian readers!

• If someone wants to buy me a present, I’ll take anything from Max Mara’s Brontë-inspired fall line.

• The new horror bookshop The Twisted Spine in New York City looks awesome! They organize the store in ‘a way that encourages visitors to discover something new, with sections for young readers and those who are just getting into horror, and we’ll have many types of sub-genres, like slasher, true crime, and even fungal horror.’

• Sometimes, the Onion really crushes it! Emerald Fennell Assures Fans Wuthering Heights Will Be Faithful Adaptation of Twilight.

• And if the new Wuthering Heights trailer has you in a Brontë fever, here are The 10 Greatest Wuthering Heights Adaptations, Ranked. Some interesting international versions.

Happy Spooky Season!

Top image courtesy of Florian van Duyn/Unsplash.