Ken Follett, Audio Erotica, Shakespeare's Birds, Best Restaurants & More: Endnotes 05 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.

Happy birthday to author Ken Follett, born this day in 1949 in Cardiff, Wales. He’s sold almost 200 million books during his career, so you’ve likely crossed paths with one of them at some point in your reading life. His breakout novel was the 1978 spy thriller Eye of the Needle, set in the UK during the leadup to the D-Day invasion — and for a while, Follett specialized in tales of espionage set around the world: The Key to Rebecca (Egypt), Lie Down with Lions (Afghanistan), Triple (Cold War-era Middle East), and Night Over Water, which takes place during a tense 30-hour transatlantic flight on the posh Pan Am Clipper as the passengers flee WWII. These breathless, swashbuckling tales are how I discovered his books. His prose filled my head with images like the one above. (BTW, that’s the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, featured in The Key to Rebecca.) Follett’s books were page-turners filled with glamorous characters and — beguiling for 13-year-old me — sometimes outrageous sexual escapades. In short, these books are a romp. In the late ’80s, he turned his imagination toward historical fiction, penning The Pillars of the Earth, a gripping doorstopper about the construction of a Gothic cathedral in Medieval England. It’s now the cornerstone of the Kingsbridge series that spans the Dark Ages through the Industrial Revolution. Aside from giving us wildly entertaining books, Follett also served 10 years as President of Dyslexia Action, an organization that trains teachers to help students with dyslexia. If you want to get started with his backlist, here’s a video with a helpful overview. But I also encourage you to hear him talk about his work because he is a good talker! Like this BBC interview. Or perhaps you’re curious about his number one writing secret. Follett’s personal list of six thrilling reads includes Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming and Bleak House by Charles Dickens. And finally: Ken Follett on History’s WORST Century, His Secret Door & Playing Taylor Swift’s Wedding?!

• In this week’s Tuesday Tea over on our Substack, I shared that I’m very excited to read Ruth Ozeki’s new short story collection The Typing Lady and Other Fictions. In an essay for LitHub, she explains why the typewriter is her favorite writing instrument. ‘I have spent the last month traveling, giving talks, teaching, and buying vintage typewriters. Why am I doing this? Because I am an obsessive-compulsive who has a fetish for old writing implements, but that’s not the only reason. I have faith that these typewriters are going to lead me somewhere. I don’t know where, but I hope somewhere interesting. I feel a character inside me, compelling me to buy vintage typewriters. Who is this character? Who is s/he trying to become?’

• Step aside AO3 (Archive of Our Own), Quinn — a ‘women-focused audio erotica platform’ — may be the next level in fan fiction. ‘Most of the platform’s stories are written and produced by independent content creators who record the audio with their own voices.’

• Brontëite Paul Crossley built a miniature replica of the Brontë Parsonage:

• Meet the woman on a mission to paint all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works. The paintings are beautiful!

• If you love a jolt of caffeine to start your day, you might be interested in coffee plantations where you can spend the night. Costa Rica! Colombia! Tanzania! Vietnam! And more!

• My City: Milan. ‘Oh, Milan, my lovely Milan. Since the 2015 Expo exploded, this city, once dismissed as the “gray epicenter” of stiff finance, has undergone a metamorphosis. As a born-and-bred Milanese returning after years in London, I have found a creatively-charged, flourishing city, where design, fashion, and art converge.’

• News you can use: A Map of the World’s Best Restaurants. ‘We asked our favorite food-loving travelers—chefs, cookbook authors, and travel show hosts—about the best meals they’ve had, anywhere in the world.’

• CrimeReads has the scoop on 10 new books that came out this week.

• Do we need to move to Denmark?! With a library card and a pin code, you can visit the library after-hours. ‘You can use all the normal services at the library and check out books, music, games, etc. at the self-service machines, and of course, meet with other people, learn, study, and have a coffee. The open library is a community space with lots of opportunities.’

• This antique cabinet, circa 1610, is covered in tiny scenes made of stone mosaics.

• Can’t manage a European vacation? Visit these 10 European-inspired US cities instead. ‘To enjoy a transatlantic holiday, however, you don’t need to cross the ocean. Towns and communities across the United States, from California to Connecticut, have preserved the traditions and culture of their immigrant ancestors.’ (I went to Solvang on a family vacation when I was 12, and it was great!)

• I can’t improve upon this headline: You’re Guaranteed to Spot at Least One Gorgeous Giraffe in Each of These 15 Stunning and Awe-Inspiring Images.

May your current read whisk you away to somewhere wonderful.

Top image courtesy of Yousef Salhamoud/Unsplash.