Sardinia, Wordle Words, '40s Fashion, Jane Austen Cooking, Louisville & More: Endnotes 16 May

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.

The charming photo above was taken in Sardinia, Italy — the second largest island in the Mediterranean. Its beaches are white-and-turquoise dreams (10 of the best), its sun-drenched villages ramble over hilltops and seem poised to whisper ancient stories (take a look), and the food… oh, the food! Charcuterie and seafood, unique pasta and sauces, and 400 varieties of bread (!). All of that adds up to a spectacular place to spend your time — and maybe lengthen your life. The above-average life expectancy on Sardinia is 81 years, and the island has the highest rate of centenarians in the world. (Meet Antonio Todde, the first man in the world to live to 110.) When you’re ready to start planning a trip there, National Geographic offers the essential guide to visiting Sardinia, and Travel+Leisure shares their tips for planning the perfect trip. Glamour magazine recommends the 10 best hotels in Sardinia 2025 for a slice of ‘la dolce vita’, while CondéNast Traveler wants you to visit the ‘wild side’ in Sulci. Finally, for your bookish needs, Toast gets literary with a reflection on D.H. Lawrence’s travel classic Sea and Sardinia.

• Voting is always a good idea — and this ballot has the added appeal of bookish fun! USA Today wants you to vote for the best indie bookstores. ‘Independent bookstores deserve to be celebrated, and USA TODAY 10BEST tasked a panel of bibliophiles with nominating the best shops throughout the country. Now, we turn to our readers to decide which among these exceptional indie bookstores are the very best.’

• Where are my Wordlers?! 5 Preposterous Words That Wordle Will Actually Accept as Valid. This essay has a very strong opening: ‘Deep in the cavernous basements of The New York Times, where the conniving fatcats of the Wordle team spend their days plotting new ways to spin letters into gold, there is a giant horde of 5-letter words so precious and so dangerous that to lay eyes on it, even for a second, would be a death sentence. I’m assuming.’

• If you’ve been wanting to read Middlemarch by George Eliot, now is a great time! Haley Larsen — who has a PhD in literature — is hosting a Middlemarch read-along that starts 26 May. Her post includes some helpful tips for tackling doorstopper classics!

• This is an awfully big adventure! Writer Christopher Wallace details his trip from Capetown to Cairo. ‘I dressed up in linen suits and safari jackets and was overwhelmed with experiences: playing with meerkats in the Kalahari, visiting a watering hole with some 250 elephants in the Okavango Delta of northern Botswana, riding a dhow around an archipelago off the coast of Mozambique.’

• Atlas Obscura answers the question, what international food can i legally bring into the U.S.? Guidance for how to haul edible souvenirs home without breaking the law.

• More news you can use: So, you don’t have a REAL ID — now what?

• Fun! Seven Ways to Live Like a Local in Louisville.

• Ready your TBR! Here’s one take on the 21 hottest books of summer 2025.

• I love these glamorous fashion illustrations from the 1940s and ’50s — and would happily read a collection of short stories about these women.

• Must-click headline: I Cooked Like Jane Austen, and All I Got Was This Vaguely Regency-Era Sense of Smugness (and an Inedible Soup).

• This could make a very compelling must-visit dream board: 65 Less-Obvious Cities To Add To Your List.

• Anise-flavored liqueurs are my favorite! If you like the taste of licorice, too, treat yourself to this guide to Greek Ouzo from Food & Wine.

• I don’t know if we’ll ever make it to Morocco, but I do love to daydream about it. Here’s Travel+Leisure on how to spend one perfect day in Casablanca.

• Please and thank you, I would like a novel about this recently discovered ‘lost’ Magna Carta.

• Our pal, the brilliant thinker/writer/human Addie Broyles wonders, What does it mean to have a sense of place? — and turns to late architect Charles Moore to find the answer.

• Check out A Book Lover’s Guide to Hanoi — then enjoy our podcast episode Vietnam: Divided by War, Bonded by Family.

New Podcast Episode — SSoP Podcast Season 7: Announcing Our Fun-Filled Destinations

We’re delighted to announce that Season 7 of the Strong Sense of Place podcast kicks off on Friday, 30 May!

We’ve put together an itinerary of thrilling destinations with a journey to every region of the globe. Pack your (virtual) bags for Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and two exciting destinations in the United States. (Hint: There will be incredible vistas and majestic trees involved in our visit to America.) This time, we’re also celebrating two favorite holidays for maximum fun.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the food, sights, sounds, and scenery of far-flung destinations around the world. Be sure to pack your curiosity in your carry-on and leave room for lots of books!

Click right here to listen to the show and eyeball stunning photos of our Season 7 destinations.

We’re super excited about lucky number seven!

Top image courtesy of Ante Hamersmit/Unsplash.