Welsh Puffins, Creative Bookshelves, NYC Horror Novels, Greek Isles & More: Endnotes 10 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.

When I saw this slideshow on Instagram, a new life goal was unlocked: Visit Skomer Island during puffin season (May-July). Skomer is a small island off the southwest coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales; a loop walk around its perimeter is about 4 miles. It’s easy to visit on a day trip; just a 20-minute boat ride from the mainland. (There are also 16 spots to stay overnight in the island’s gray stone hostel.) The island has no facilities, no shop or café, so you need to bring your own supplies. But you know what the island does have? Puffins! Roughly 40,000 puffins. Also, storm petrels, guillemots, razorbills (in their little tuxedos!), bluebells, painted lady butterflies, grey seals, and tiny, cute mammals like voles, wood mice, and pygmy shrews. Plus a lot more! The Wildlife Trust website has all the details you need to plan a trip — and here’s an excellent first-hand account of visiting the island. If you can’t get there in person, there’s a live video feed from the island. Puffins should be arriving soon!

• Sometimes you just need to look at some very pretty bookshelves. (So many to love! #8 might be my platonic ideal, but I’m also very into #19. Love the colors in #28 — and the windows/piano/double bookshelves of #39? Dreamy! Share your faves in comments!)

• 5 Expansive Horror Tales Set in New York City.

• Author Emma Straub has a favorite bookstore in every city. She shares her bookish travel tips with CN Traveler.

• Test your knowledge of traditional sports around the world. I got 9/12.

• These vintage matchbook covers are tiny pieces of art. (Remember when design was fun?!)

• See also: these colorful mural wallpapers.

• I thought I wasn’t interested in the new exhibit of Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion — Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style — until I saw the yummy photos in this write-up. The collection features more than 200 items, ‘From couture eveningwear to impeccably tailored off-duty clothing, visitors will discover the full breadth of the late Queen’s wardrobe, one of the largest and most important British fashion collections of the 20th century.’

• I know this will make many of you very happy: Warner Bros. is developing an animated series based on The House in the Cerulean Sea.

• New you can use: The best Greek islands to visit in 2026. This article is a detailed primer on the 227 inhabited Greek islands, so you can choose the one that’s best for you.

• The rustic wildness of this garden in Belgium is very soothing. ‘Most gardens look the same in Flanders. Clipped and formal, they are predominantly green, with neat hedges and topiary giving a sense of finely tuned structure and control. In total contrast, the garden of Bonem Hoeve, near Damme, is not remotely influenced by this local idiom… it is the very antithesis of other gardens in this area of Belgium, with 39 hectares of land designed in a free-flowing way, shaped by art as well as nature. Surrounded by moats and waterways, this fortified farmstead dates back to the 13th century, when nearby Bruges was connected to the sea by a natural inlet, the Zwin River. Today, at the centre of the property, an unassuming cluster of attractive, white-painted farm buildings is set on what is essentially an island, isolated yet reassuringly secure in this watery landscape.’

• Oooh, fun! A guide to Britain’s literary trails. Including Daphne du Maurier’s Cornwall, Wordsworth’s Lake District, and, of course, the Brontë sisters’ Yorkshire Moors.

• Tom Sietsema is the former restaurant critic at The Washington Post. He recently launched an independent newsletter, and I thoroughly enjoyed this installment: an unusual salad recipe, an enlightening interview, and tips for how to become a regular at a restaurant.

Fun fact: Puffins can fly and swim.

Top image courtesy of Getty Images/Unsplash+.