In October 2025, we took over Trevor Hall — a Georgian manor house in Llangollen, Wales — with forty members of the Strong Sense of Place community. It was the best book club ever. We took walks in the countryside, talked about (so many) books, enjoyed ridiculously delicious meals, and told spooky stories by candlelight. And we made lifelong friends.

We’re doing it again — and you’re invited to join us!

Together, we’ll make ourselves at home in this historic mansion surrounded by the picturesque North Wales countryside. We’ll have a book club, share gourmet meals in the Great Hall, play parlor games, ramble in the hills, and stomp our feet at a Celtic ceilidh.

Our weekend begins in Manchester, England — a UNESCO City of Literature. We’ll check into our rooms at a design hotel and enjoy our first IRL meetup in a historic library. After a good night’s sleep, we’re off to Elizabeth Gaskell’s House for a private tour of the Victorian villa where she wrote ‘North and South’ (and entertained literary friends like Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens).

After a restorative tea-and-cake break, we’ll ride together via private motor coach through the rugged countryside to Llangollen, a charming town on the River Dee in North Wales. Our destination: Trevor Hall.

The Hall sits on a wooded hilltop overlooking green slopes dotted with sheep and horses. After a tour of the house and gardens, we’ll ease into country living in the Hall’s luxurious (and tastefully eclectic) rooms. With bookish activities, entertainment, and surprises planned throughout the weekend, you’re sure to be delighted — and have plenty of time to connect with old and new bookish friends.

Dates
This is a five-day, four-night trip: Thursday through Monday. It will be held on two consecutive weekends; each weekend is limited to 19 guests.

• Weekend 1: Thursday, November 5 through Monday, November 9
• Weekend 2: Thursday, November 12 through Monday, November 16

Also!

• Click here for the complete details about the weekend and to enjoy the pretty photos
• For early access to tickets, join our Patreon.
• To be notified the minute tickets go on sale, join our free Substack newsletter.
• If you’re curious about last year’s trip, listen to our podcast episode That Time We Rented a Manor House in Wales.

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One of the best things about Christmas is that it stretches and bends to fit the shape we want and need it to be. Sure, holiday traditions can punch above their weight in December — sometimes feeling more like an over-loaded sleigh of obligation than a yuletide treat. But Christmas also invites us to adapt the season to be just as we like it: Stay up too late with books, greet the dawn with a walk, eat one more bite of your favorite treat, Grinch-out under a blankie, or get together with your people for holiday hijinks. Do all of it! Do none of it! Santa will add you to the Nice List no matter what.

In this episode, Mel explains why she thinks everyone should read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and Dave tries to trick us with a holly-jolly version of Two Truths and a Lie. Then we recommend five great books sprinkled with Christmas magic, including two fantastic (and fantastical) books about holiday traditions around the world, a rom-com with just the right level of sweet and sassy, a YA Gothic mystery set in a smuggler’s inn, and a cozy murder mystery that proves making merry can be quite dangerous.

• The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
• The Atlas of Christmas: The Merriest, Tastiest, Quirkiest Holiday Traditions from Around the World by Alex Palmer
• The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg
• Greenglass House by Kate Milford
• 12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas by Natasha Bache

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Christmas: May Your Heart Be Light

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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We took walks in the countryside, talked about (so many) books, enjoyed ridiculously delicious meals, and told spooky stories by candlelight. And we made lifelong friends.

In this episode, we explain where the idea came from in the first place, share some of our favorite moments, talk about our outdoor adventures in North Wales, and offer some tips for how you can create a similar experience with your favorite people.

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A few bits and bobs about Wales: It’s symbolized by a ferocious red dragon (and the yellow daffodil). Its lakes, rivers, and mountains are home to the fair folk (the Tylwyth Teg). And it’s known as the Land of Castles (more than 600 of them on hilltops, overlooking the sea and millions of sheep).

Wales is the place for you if you want to ramble around outside under moody skies; it’s also the place for you if you prefer to be cozy — perhaps whilst drinking tea or whisky and feeding your mind with literary pursuits.

In this episode, we highlight the literary hijinks that abound in Wales: libraries, bookshops, legendary authors, and ancient tales. We learn about a Christmas tradition that’s equal parts silly and spooky — and a madcap endurance race with unusual participants. Then we recommend great books that took us there on the page, including a literary story on a rugged Welsh island, a gripping mystery in Cardiff, a travelogue stuffed with delicious food stories, a rock-n-roll memoir, and a modern retelling of Dracula set in a Welsh village.

• Twenty Thousand Saints by Fflur Dafydd
• My Family and Other Rock Stars by Tiffany Murray
• Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Graves
• Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
• The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Wales: Castle Ruins, Moody Skies, and Stories by the Fire

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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In this episode from 2020, we talk about the origins of Halloween monsters and the tricky laws around selling a haunted house. And we recommend a bunch of books for Halloween, including some fun titles for people who want to get in the spirit but don’t like to be scared.

Trick or treat!

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SSoP Podcast Episode 17 — Halloween: Costumed Revelry, Voices From Beyond, and YAY, Candy!

It’s no surprise that most Halloween stories delve into the dark corners and shadows of life. That premise is in the very name of the holiday. Originally known as All Hallows' Eve, it’s celebrated just before All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day — two holidays meant to honor the dead. For thousands of years, people all over the world have remembered the lost with candles, rituals, costumes, and revelry.

The best Halloween stories produce tingles up the back of the neck, while also, maybe, breaking one’s heart just a little bit. After all, good scares and sorrow often go hand-in-ghostly-hand.

In this episode, we get curious about Halloween traditions and explore the lore around classic creepy creatures., Then we recommend books that celebrate the spirit (and spirits) of Halloween, including stories for self-proclaimed scaredy-cats, titles that should come with a ‘don’t read this at night’ warning label,‘ and a few in-between.

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit the show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Halloween: About 31% More Gothic than Normal

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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In this show, we’re excited about two books: The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley and Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Then Mel explains what she means when she says the magic word ‘Gothic.’

• The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley
• Starter Villain by John Scalzi
• Our review of Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George
• What is Goth?
• Gothic Literature: Basics of the Genre & Key Elements
• Gothic: An Illustrated History by Roger Luckhurst
• YouTube: Tristan and the Classics
• Video: Gothic Literature — Teach Yourself Course
• Video: 8 Aspects of Gothic Books

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

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In this episode, we take a virtual tour around the globe to atmospheric and historic destinations to celebrate Halloween. We find out if coffin races are a real thing, get into the OG New England vampires, and celebrate the history of the largest nighttime gathering in the United States. (Spoiler: There are costumes involved.)

Then we recommend five books worthy of adding to your Spooky Season celebration: a cozy story of witchy friendship set in upstate New York, a haunted house story with a heroine who refuses to leave, a modern riff on a classic mystery trope set on Halloween, a horror novel for the Covid era, and a mashup of ghost story, family saga, and travelogue set in Italy.

• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• The September House by Carissa Orlando
• Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
• Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Halloween: About 31% More Gothic than Normal

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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For the wealthy, the right home can mean status, reputation, and legacy, especially in the UK. For hundreds of years, the traditional English manor was more than simply a big house staffed with servants. It was a grand home situated on farmland owned by the family. In addition to being a showpiece, it was a responsibility.

The US equivalent is a Gilded Age mansion, minus the need to worry about the welfare of tenants. Those 20th-century robber barons could simply count their money and throw lavish dinner parties. And in Europe, the history and luxurious accommodations come in the form of palaces, chateaux, castles, palazzos, and other opulent estates.

In this episode, we explore the house -as-character in books by iconic authors, including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Nancy Mitford, and a gaggle of Gothic writers. We also delve into the real secrets of the Winchester Mystery House and meet the various ghosts haunting British country piles.

Then we recommend many books we love set in notable manor homes, including:

• The Original by Nell Stevens
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker — and the audiobook
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver — and the audiobook

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Manor House: The Fall of the House of… Almost Everyone, Really

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Since the 1860s, baseball has been called ‘America’s pastime.’ During times of strife — the Civil War, the Great Depression, the World Wars — baseball provided escapism and a sense of normalcy. It’s always been seen as a reflection of American attitudes and values: The game requires cooperation and self-sacrifice — and like America, baseball LOVES a maverick. Baseball is also democratic: Just about anybody can play just about anywhere if they’ve got an open space, a bat, and a ball. As a spectator, even if you don’t know all the rules, you can still recognize the elation of a stolen base or a home run.

In this episode, we take a virtual tour of some of the remarkable ballparks around the US, meet the most eccentric man in baseball, delight in players' excellent nicknames, and wax poetic about popcorn. Then we recommend great books that took us inside the stadium on the page, including a sweetly funny epistolary novel that sneaks up on you, a love letter to the unsung catcher, a 1920s mystery starring the Cincinnati Reds, a closer look at pitching, and a literary mashup of campus novel, baseball story, and rom-com.

• Last Days of Summer: A Novel by Steve Kluger
• The Cincinnati Red Stalkings by Troy Soos
• The Art of Fielding: A Novel by Chad Harbach
• K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner
• The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game by Tim Brown

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Baseball Diamond: Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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But exhibitions in museums are more than mere collections of striking items. Museums are vital institutions that take on the tasks of collecting, interpreting, and caring for artifacts so they can be experienced by the general public.

The Ancient Greek word mouseion means ‘seat of Muses.’ In classical antiquity, a museum was a place for contemplation and philosophical debate. When art moved from the open air, larger-than-life statuary of the Greco-Roman era to more intimate, human-scale paintings and objects, the definition of museum changed, too. It became a place to visit to see art — and anything placed in a museum became art.

In this episode, we romp through the delightful hoarding behavior behind Renaissance Wunderkammers, learn about the first museum curator (spoiler: It was a woman!), and celebrate the majesty of the Louvre. Then we recommend books that transported us to museums around the world.

Here are the books we recommend on the show:

• A Little History of Art by Charlotte Mullins
• A Parisian Cabinet of Curiosities: Deyrolle by Prince Louis Albert de Broglie
• Cabinets of Curiosities by Patrick Mauriès
• How to Enjoy Art by Ben Street
• Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2022-07-18-museums

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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The concept of a national park is credited to George Catlin, a 19th-century lawyer, painter, and adventurer. His travels took him all over the burgeoning United States, where he met fifty native tribes. He also worried about the loss of wildlife, wilderness, and indigenous people as America expanded westward into the frontier. His solution? A ‘nation’s park’ — land protected by the government for future generations.

That vision became reality in 1872, when Yellowstone, in what’s now Wyoming, became the first national park established by Congress. Now there are 63 National Parks across the US and its territories, from Acadia in Maine to Yosemite in California, Denali in Alaska to Dry Tortugas in Florida, and so many more in between.

In this episode, we explore the almost overwhelming awesomeness of the NPS and take a virtual tour of some of the coolest experiences you can have in nature. We learn about the history of hippos and the Everglades, meet the most dangerous animal in the Grand Canyon, and learn the best place to eat popovers in Maine. Then we recommend five books that took us on big adventures in national parks, including a historical novel in Oklahoma, an adventure story in the Pacific Northwest, a murder mystery in Michigan, a memoir in Arizona, and a Bigfoot tale in Washington.

• Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
• Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
• A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
• A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
• Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of National Parks: Go Outside and Touch Grass

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Today, the traditions of the colonies — and a Moorish invasion or two — are integrated into Portugal’s cuisine, music, architecture, and the azulejos that tell stories of Portuguese life in colorful ceramic tiles.

Portugal has treasures to offer every kind of traveler: the fortified wine of Madeira and the port of the Douro Valley, ancient Roman ruins and crenelated medieval castles, lush hilltop gardens and one-of-a-kind beaches, savory fried snacks and perfectly-sweet pastries — and bookish delights including a baroque library, a literary hotel, and a church-turned-bookshop.

In this episode, we hit the high seas with Portuguese explorers, take a virtual visit to the world’s oldest operating bookstore, and learn the multifaceted story of the Portuguese poet Pessoa. Then we recommend great books that took us there on the page, including a punch-you-in-the-feelings thriller, a charming history of Lisbon, a different kind of WWII story, a swashbuckling adventure starring a language-loving ape, and a memoir-cookbook hybrid that reads like the best kind of travel guide.

• Two Nights in Lisbon_ by Chris Pavone
• Queen of the Sea: A History of Lisbon by Barry Hatton
• Estoril by Dejan Tiago-Stankovic
• The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque
• The Murderer’s Ape by Jakob Wegelius, Peter Graves (translator)
• My Lisbon: A Cookbook from Portugal’s City of Light_ by Nuno Mendes

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Portugal: Storytelling, Surfing, and Ineffable Saudade

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Links

• Aftertaste: A Novel by Daria Lavelle
• Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
• Butter Honey Pig Brea by Francesca Ekwuyasi
• Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown
• Lush by Rochelle Dowden-Lord
• Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls
• Podcast: Mel recommends Piglet by Lottie Hazell
• The History of Fralinger’s Salt Water Taffy
• Inside the Epic Quest for a More Perfect Taffy
• A Mathematical History of Taffy Pullers by Jean-Luc Thiffeault
• Cape May Magazine: Fralinger’s Salt Water Taffy
• Buy Fralinger’s Original Salt Water Taffy
• Tasty’s recipe for salt water taffy
• Peanut Butter Salt Water Taffy from Food52
• Video: How Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy Is Made Using A 200-Year-Old Technique

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 see stunning photos of our Season 7 destinations.

Transcript of this episode.

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
• Read an excerpt from One Golden Summer
• Love is Like Peanuts by Betty Bates on Internet Archive
• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
• My Friends: A Novel by Fredrik Backman
• Beartown: A Novel by Fredrik Backman
• A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
• Anxious People by Frederik Backman
• American Writers Museum
• Level Up: Writers & Gamers exhibit
• Online Exhibits at the American Writers Museum
• Get Lit Happy Hours and the Grown Up Book Fair on 13 May.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
• Invasive by Chuck Wendig
• I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney
• Truth in Advertising by John Kenney
• Writer’s Digest interview with John Kenney
• The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float by Farley Mowat
• Pen America website and Instagram
• Pen International website
• Pen American Literary Awards Finalists
• Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn
• With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang
• On Freedom by Timothy Snyder

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Exit Zero: Stories by Marie-Helene Bertino
• 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino — hear Mel talk about it on our Pennsylvania episode
• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino — hear Mel talk about it on our Outer Space episode
• The Pretender: A Novel by Jo Harkin
• Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin
• The Uncensored Library
• The Uncensored Library on the Minecraft website
• BBC: Minecraft ‘Loophole’ Library of Banned Journalism
• Peabody Awards on The Uncensored Library

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon



Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Perspective(s): A Novel by Laurent Binet
• The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer
• HHhH by Laurent Binet — hear Mel talk about it on our Prague podcast episode
• The Black House by Peter May — hear Mel talk about it on our Scotland episode
• Seek by iNaturalist: download the app for Apple or Google, watch a demo video, get the user’s guide

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon



Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of this episode

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory
• Daryl Gregory’s website
• Read an excerpt from When We Were Real
• Podcast: Mel talks about Spoonbenders in our Chicago episode
• Mel’s write-up of Spoonbenders
• Podcast: Mel talks about the P&T Knitwear bookshop
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Witches of Scotland website, Instagram, and TikTok
• The book: How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy’s Guide to Silencing Women
• The podcast: Witches of Scotland Tartan Episode
• Smithsonian magazine on the campaign and tartan
• Nicola Sturgeon Issues Apology for ‘Historical Injustice’ of Witch Hunts.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Expert of Subtle Revisions by Kirsten Menger-Anderson
• On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR by Steve Oney
• The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
• Prague Spring by Simon Mawer
• Skellig Coast Dark Sky Festival
• Wikipedia on the amazing Skellig Michael
• Kerry International Dark-Sky Reserve
• Kerry Dark Sky Tourism
• 2025 Dark Sky Festivals and Star Parties
• DarkSky International

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
• Video: Emma Donoghue at Politics and Prose bookstore
• The Antidote by Karen Russell
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• Why Lying on the Ground Feels So Good
• How to Do a Legs-up-the-Wall Pose
• Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler, Katy Derbyshire (translator)
• The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler, Charlotte Collins (translator)
• The Field by Robert Seethaler, Charlotte Collins (translator)
• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
• The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
• Order Up
• Adam Wagner: Patreon and Twitter
• BBC: The Deepest Hole We Have Ever Dug
• Orion Magazine: Inside the Deepest Artificial Hole on Earth
• Wordle
• Connections

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• How to Survive a Classic Crime Novel by Kate Jackson
• Cross Examining Crime website
• Artist Joanna Lisowiec’s website
• Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson, Jay Cooper
• Wolf Hall Companion by Lauren MacKay
• The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by Susan Morrison
• Kevin Kelly’s ‘50 Years of Travel Tips’
• Video: The Future Will Be Shaped By Optimists

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon



Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Watermark by Sam Mills
• Sam Mill’s website
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison
• Gerloczy in Budapest: the hotel and the cafe
• Alma Nomad Bakery in Madrid
• Moon Croissants in Paris
• Instagram: Up close and personal with a double-baked almond croissant
• Fascinating facts about croissants
• Three-day Croissant recipe

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman
• Podcast: Mel talks about Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman
• Visit Elinor Lipman’s website.
• Elinor Lipman is the new EM Forster. Fight me.
• Review of The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
• Review of The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman
• Review of Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman
• On the Hippie Trail:
• Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer_ by Rick Steves
• Photos from On the Hippie Trail on Rick Steves' website
• Video: Rick Steves talks about his book
• Taylor Mali’s website
• What Learning Leaves by Taylor Mali
• Video: Taylor Mali performing ‘How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog’

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels by Caroline Eden
• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
• Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration by Jimmy Carter
• My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand: print and audiobook
• …And Your Ass Will Follow by George Clinton
• All You Need is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown & Steven Gaines: printand audiobook
• Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones by Dolly Parton: print and audiobook

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Power and the Glory: The Country House Before the Great War by Adrian Tinniswood
• The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939 by Adrian Tinniswood
• Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II by Adrian Tinniswood
• Playworld: A Novel by Adam Ross
• Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
• Adrian Tinniswood’s website
• Podcast: History Extra — The Golden Age of the Country House
• The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch

Mel’s Favorite Doorstopper Novels

• Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
• REAMDE by Neal Stephenson
• The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili (translated by Ruth Martin & Charlotte Collins)
• Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth - reviewed on our Hollywood podcast
• Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel - reviewed on our London podcast
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - reviewed on our Library podcast
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - reviewed on our Cemetery podcast
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
• The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - reviewed on our Library podcast
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, nobles and ne'er-do-wells have gathered on country estates for a bit of leisure, a lot of sumptuous food, sparkling conversation, and general good cheer. You’re invited to join us at Trevor Hall for a modern take on the traditional manor house weekend.

Together, we’ll make ourselves at home in this historic Georgian mansion surrounded by the picturesque North Wales countryside. We’ll talk about books, share gourmet meals in the Great Hall, play parlor games, ramble in the Welsh hills, listen to stories by candlelight, and be dazzled by an illusionist from London.

Our weekend begins in Manchester, England — a UNESCO City of Literature. We’ll take over a boutique hotel in the city center where we’ll enjoy an evening pub meetup, spend the night, and start our morning with a breakfast fry-up. Then we’re off to the Elizabeth Gaskell House for a private tour of the Victorian villa where the author wrote her classic novel ‘North and South’ (and entertained literary friends like Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens).

After a restorative tea-and-cake break, we’ll ride together via private motor coach — just over an hour — through the rugged countryside to Llangollen, a charming historic town on the River Dee in North Wales. Our destination: Trevor Hall.

The Hall is a Georgian mansion on a wooded hilltop overlooking green slopes dotted with sheep and horses. After a tour of the house and gardens, we’ll ease into country living in the Hall’s luxurious (and tastefully eclectic) rooms. With literary activities, entertainment, and surprises planned throughout the weekend, you’re sure to be delighted — and have plenty of time to connect with old and new bookish friends.

For complete details about the weekend and lots of photos, visit strongsenseofplace.com/weekend.

For early access to tickets for a Readers' Weekend at Trevor Hall, join our Patreon.

To be notified the minute tickets go on sale, join our free Substack newsletter.

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Buy: Gifts from the Kitchen by Kristine Kidd
• Internet Archive: Gifts from the Kitchen by Kristine Kidd
• A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions by Mark Forsyth
• Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir by Denise Dorrance
• Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott
• The Way Things Work by David Macaulay
• How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson
• The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson
• The Way by Cary Groner
• Sky Team dice game — how-to video
• Harmonies board game — how-to video
• Flip 7 card game — how-to video

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

====

We know you don’t all celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving, but it’s never a bad idea to express gratitude and devote a day to being cozy. In that spirit, we’ve made a little gift for you to show our appreciation.

Watching the movie ‘Home for the Holidays’ is an annual Thanksgiving tradition in our house. The film is based on a brilliant short story by Chris Radant that is, sadly, out of print.

Both the story and the film tell the tale of a family Thanksgiving in all of its gluttonous, annoying, loving glory. It’s a celebration of affection, patience, and forgiveness.

Since you can’t get the story as an audiobook, Mel went into our blanket fort recording booth to read the story out loud, and then Dave worked some editing magic. Boom! We made our first homegrown ‘audiobook.’

We’re grateful you’ve all joined us on our Strong Sense of Place reading-traveling adventures. We hope you enjoy the story!

• Read the short story by Chris Radant
• Transcript of this episode
• Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris
• The Starlets by Lee Kelly & Jennifer Thorne
• Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
• Darkly by Marisha Pessl
• Mel’s review of Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
• Night Film by Marisha Pessl
• Steam gift cards 
• Tiny Glade on Steam
• Video: Tiny Glade Demo #1 and Demo #2
• A Little to the Left on Steam — also available on macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
• Video: A Little to the Left Demo
• Oddada on Steam
• Video: Oddada Demo

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we get excited about two books: the audiobook version of Rivals, written by Jilly Coooper (read by Georgia Tennant) and Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker from King Arthur Flour. Then Mel shares her extreme enthusiasm for sandwiches and The Sammies Awards. 

Links

• Rivals by Jilly Cooper(read by Georgia Tennant)
• King Arthur Flour Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker
• Podcast: How the Sandwich Consumed Britain
• Read: How the Sandwich Consumed Britain
• The art of the Ultimate Sandwich
• The Guardian Audio Long Read podcast
• The Guardian Long Read archive
• Sandwich Designer of the Year Awards
• Recap of the 2023 Sammies
• Meet the Chef Behind the UK’s Best Sandwich, the Smokey Roll
• Smokey Roll recipe
• Mountain Feta & Merguez Wrap by Simon Broadribb

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seattle is a mashup of water and mountains — it just might be the ultimate outdoor playground. If you want to go hiking, camping, boating, biking, or meander in a beautiful garden, Seattle is a fantastic place to do all of that.

It can also claim a vast realm of ‘firsts’ in music, architecture, politics, and literature. (Not to mention Bigfoot sightings, if that’s your thing.) There’s grunge music, Elvis appearances, the Seattle Seahawks’ 12th Man, an inordinate number of sunglasses, and more library cards than anywhere else in the United States. 

The city also hosted two World’s Fairs: the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in 1909 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush (you do not want to miss the Two Truths and a Lie story about that one!) — and the Century 21 Exposition in 1962. That one tried to predict what life in America would be like in the year 2000 and beyond — which gave us the Space Needle, the Alweg Monorail, and a car shaped like a rocket.

In this episode, we learn the stories of a few remarkable Seattle women, celebrate Seattle’s superlatives, and share a bookish itinerary for the ‘Most Literate City in the Country.’ Then we recommend seven great books that took us there on the page, including an unusual ghost story, a memoir about living in 1950s Seattle, a thriller set in the world of journalism, three graphic novels that will make you want to take a walk, and a modern fable set in the San Juan islands.

• I Wish I Was Like You by S.P. Miskowski
• This Boy’s Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
• Deadline Man: A Novel by Jon Talton
• Seattle Walk Report: An Illustrated Walking Tour through 23 Seattle Neighborhoods by Susanna Ryan
• Secret Seattle: An Illustrated Guide to the City’s Offbeat and Overlooked History by Susanna Ryan
• Street Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide by Taha Ebrahimi
• Bear by Julia Phillips

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Seattle: City of Superlatives

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Evan Rail’s website and Instagram

Evan’s interview with Radio Prague International

Pelikan fountain pens

Rohrer & Klingner inks

Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrun (gold-green ink) - see it here

Rohrer & Klingner Solferino (purple) - see it here.

Kaweco pens — and the Kaweco Sport

Parker Quink ink cartridges

Herbin inks

Herbin Lie de Thé (brown) - see it here.

Diamine inks

Diamine Writer’s Blood (maroon)

Diamine Bloody Absinthe (green and red)

Diamine Aurora Borealis (teal green)

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But that wasn’t always the case.

In the Middle Ages, graveyards were far more raucous, home to fairs, markets, and even grazing cattle. In the 19th century, some cemeteries were the place to see and be seen, possibly with a well-stocked picnic basket in tow.

In 1860, The Green-Wood Cemetery in New York rivaled Niagara Falls (!) as the most popular tourist attraction in the US.

In this episode, we take leisurely strolls through Pére Lachaise and Greyfriars Kirkyard, learn about the one-way train for the dearly departed, and visit a cheery Romanian cemetery. Then we share five books we love that explore these often peaceful, sometimes eerie ‘museums of people,’ including a 19th-century classic mystery tale, a how-to for death, two beloved fantasy novels, and a Gothic thriller set in 1980s Barcelona.

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) by Sallie Tisdale
• A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
• Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel by George Saunders
• Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Cemetery: Celebrate Life, Honor the Dead

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Accidentally Wes Anderson website and Instagram
• Accidentally Wes Anderson: Adventures by Wally and Amanda Koval
• Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally and Amanda Koval
• Accidentally Wes Anderson: Adventures audiobook narrated by Jeff Goldblum
• Radio Prague on the Red Arrow train
• Polostan by Neal Stephenson
• Video: Neal Stephenson at the Long Now Foundation
• NPR on Callin’ Oates
• Video: She’s Gone
• Video: Sarah Smile

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We begin with the Amazon, a vast rainforest and river teeming with magical creatures like pink dolphins, bioluminescent mushrooms, and — yes — piranhas and anacondas. (Shout-out to the friendly capybaras!)

Brazil’s cities offer something for everyone — the capital city of Brasília’s futuristic architecture, Sao Paulo’s international food scene, and Rio’s seductive combo of city sights and sparkling beaches. (There’s a reason we’ve been singing about the tall and tan, young and lovely girl from Ipanema for decades.)

While you’re surely ready to dance the samba and drink a few caipirinhas, did you know Brazil is also the place for award-winning cheese? Or a spring-fed pool that feels like champagne? Or ‘chestnuts from Para’?

In this episode, we explore Brazil’s rainforest and urban jungles, dig into the fascinating (really!) story of Brazil nuts, and meet one of the world’s finest Emperors. Then we recommend five great books that took us there on the page:

• The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha, Eric M.B. Becker (translator)
• Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey
• The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, Benjamin Moser (translator)
• Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá
• Flesh and Bone and Water by Luiza Sauma

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other awesome readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Brazil: Sugarloaf, Samba, and Sao Paulo

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel
• Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham
• History Extra podcast
• Ancient Egypt: The Big Questions
• Salem: Investigating the Witch Trials
• More episodes about witches
• Halloween episodes

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Its cities encapsulate the country’s contradictions: ancient souks and ultra-modern skyscrapers, women veiled in abayas but also entering the workforce, petroleum refineries, and sparkling beach resorts.

Cards on the table: Saudi Arabia has an abysmal track record on human rights, with women, LGBTQ+ communities, and journalists the target of discrimination and violence. Women are still legally classified as minors, with male relatives making significant decisions on their behalf. But in the last few years, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — known as MBS — passed laws that lessened some restrictions with Saudi Arabia. And he’s invited the world in: His Vision 2030 plan opened Saudi Arabia to tourism. Road signs and menus now appear in English, Western credit cards are widely accepted, and you can even catch an Uber. 

In this episode, we dive into the changing norms in Saudi Arabia, talk about some of the amazing sights that are now open to the Western world, and discuss the ambitious Neom project: a ‘city of the future’ in the desert.

Then we recommend five books that took us to Saudi Arabia on the page:

• City Of Veils by Zoë Ferraris
• MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman by Ben Hubbard
• Cardamom and Lime: Recipes from the Arabian Gulf by Sarah Al-Hamad
• The Green Bicycle by Haifaa Al Mansour
• Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Saudi Arabia: Old Ways and New Directions (?)

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Links

• Rachel Harrison’s website
• So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
• Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison — hear Mel talk about it
• Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison — hear Dave talk about it
• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• The Veil audiobook by Rachel Harrison, Louisa Krause (narrator)
• The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts by Louis Bayard
• Jackie & Me by Louis Brayard
• Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Brayard
• The Black Tower by Louis Brayard
• The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Brayard
• Podcast — Detective Agency: Discrete Inquiries, Mysteries Solved
• Arthur Brand’s website and Instagram
• Meet the World’s Greatest Art Detective
• Confessions of an Art Detective
• The Indiana Jones of the Art World
• Hitler’s Horses: The Incredible True Story of the Detective who Infiltrated the Underworld by Arthur Brand

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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There are nosy neighbors like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple with no real credentials whatsoever and police detectives — Hello, Harry Bosch! Ta, Inspector Lynley! — with entire departments behind them. Relentless journalists, dogged medical examiners, resourceful bounty hunters (We see you, Stefanie Plum!), and, perhaps, the most endearing detectives of them all: private eyes.

This show is all about the gumshoes who work outside the pesky laws of search warrants and chain of evidence. Who maybe toil in an office with a frosted glass door and a dame with moxie tapping away at a typewriter — or perhaps the dame with moxie is the detective. This installment celebrates independent investigators who distract and delight in their search for the truth.

In this episode, we meet the world’s first PI and first American lady detective, delve into Poe scholarship and the problem with his ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ and discuss one of the kindest mystery authors. Then we recommend five books we love that put us in the thick of dangerous inquiries, including the escapades of a thoroughly modern detective agency, an urban mystery with a bookish PI, a British caper with an unforgettable hero, a how-to for wannabe detectives, and a noir-tinged fantasy novel about a reluctant sleuth.

Here are the books about Detective Agencies we recommend on the show:

• The Verifiers by Jane Pek
• IQ by Joe Ide
• Odds Against by Dick Francis
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating by Steven Kerry Brown
• The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Detective Agency: Discrete Inquiries, Mysteries Solved

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Links

• The Bookseller of Venice by Giovanni Montanaro, Edward Williams (translator)
• Libreria Acqua Alta
• Libreria Studium
• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
• Secret City Trails interactive walking tours

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The capital, Panama City, in the bottom arch of the S, invites you to stroll down red-brick streets lined with lush palm trees and white colonial buildings that look like layer cakes. You can stroll along the seafront and gaze out across the Pacific — and daydream about the 17th-century pirates that sailed nearby.

When you’re ready for adventure, you might hike to the top of Panama’s highest mountain — Volcán Barú — to watch the sun rise over both the Atlantic and Pacific, volunteer in Cerra Hoya National Park to study jaguars, spend the night a traditional village in the jungle with the Emberá people, or kick back at an artistic island resort.

Maybe it’s more your speed to spend endless days in your bathing suit, eating fresh fish just pulled from the sea, or sipping some of the world’s best coffee. Panama has all of that and more.

In this episode, we get curious about the Panama Canal, discuss the relative sobriety of dwarf sloths, and get real about what it’s like to spend time in the jungle. 

Then we recommend five great books that took us to Panama on the page:

• Seducing the Spirits by Louise Young
• Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune by Keith Thomson
• Silver People: Voices From the Panama Canal by Margarita Engle
• Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time—the Building of the Panama Canal by Matthew Parker
• The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Panama: Jump Back, What’s That Sound?

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Links

• The Divide: A Novel by Morgan Richter
• Mina’s Matchbox by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen B. Snyder (translator)
• The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen B. Snyder (translator)
• Morgan Richter’s website, YouTube channel, and Twitter
• Nightwing Vol. 1: Leaping Into the Light by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo (illustrator)
• Catwoman 1: Trail of the Catwoman by Darwyn Cooke & Ed Brubaker (illustrated by Cameron Stewart, Mike Allred, Brad Rader)

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Where the coast of Norway meets the Norwegian Sea, there are more than 1700 fjords, stunning waterways lined with sheer rock cliffs and dotted with dramatic waterfalls, storybook villages, and friendly goats and sheep. The best way to experience the fjords? By boat, of course: a dinner cruise, catamaran, sailboat, kayak, ferry, whale watching boat, or a breathtaking ride on a fjord safari.

Inland, you can meet the locals of past and present. Stop by the fascinating Viking Village to time travel to 1000 (and learn to throw an axe!) — or spend an afternoon among the bears, reindeer, wolves, lynx, and leopards at the Bjørn Parken (Bear Park). You can feed a fox!

When you’re ready for a meal, too, sink your teeth into Norway’s national snack: the hot dog — with lingonberry jam and french-fried onions — or try the ubiquitous and one-of-a-kind brunost (brown cheese). Caramelized, savory, and surprising, it’s just what you want on a cracker or waffle. And don’t sleep on the smoked salmon, pickled herring, or shrimp plucked from the nearby icy waters.

In this episode, we get excited about all the exhilarating, unexpected, delightful adventures Norway offers — and talk about why the Norwegian government employs financial planners and moral philosophers. Then we recommend five great books we love that took us to Norway on the page:

• The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting, Deborah Dawkin (translator)
• We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth
• The Hike by Lucy Clarke
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
• The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Norway: Vikings, Bears, Boats, and Bergen

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LoLT: Postcard Pen Pals and Two New Books — 30 June 2023

In this episode, we get excited about two new books — ‘100 Places to See After You Die’ by Ken Jennings and ‘What the Dead Know’ by Barbara Butcher — then Mel gets excited about postcards from around the world.

LINKS

- 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings.

• Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings.
• Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings
• What the Dead Know: Learning about Life as a New York City Death Investigator by Barbara Butcher.
• Visit the Postcrossing.com website, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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• Facebook
• Twitter
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Paris: It’s Always a Good Idea - 24 August 2020

When you daydream about Paris, whatever sparkling, romantic images you conjure are probably not too far off the mark. It is, after all, know as the City of Lights and the City of Love.

The Eiffel Tower can be seen from almost everywhere and is a constant reminder that you are IN PARIS. The streets are lined with cafés, the tables and chairs arranged so you can sit next to your companions and look out on the people passing by. The smell of baguettes wafts in the streets in the early morning. And when the sun gets lower in the sky, burnishing the buildings with its glow, people fill the cafés, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, and talking, while their hands gesture in the air to make a point. It is, in many ways, just like the movies.

In this episode, we talk about some of our favorite experiences visiting Paris and how it really does live up to its dreamy reputation. Then we discuss the books that transported us there: an insightful memoir about one lively (and typically Parisian) street, an illustrated novel about the magic of everyday life, a fictional biography of Madame Tussaud, a modern crime novel with a snappy heroine, and a confection of a story that centers around an exceptional bottle of wine.

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other friendly readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Paris: It’s Always a Good Idea

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

As always, you can find us at:

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• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Links

Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran’s website

Maria by Maria von Trapp on Internet Archive

Podcast: Theater: Act One, Scene I, Lights Up

Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi’s website

Burial place of Genghis Khan

Why Genghis Khan’s Tomb Can’t Be Found

Podcast — Mongolia: Under the Eternal Blue Sky

The Mongol’s Coffin by E. Chris Ambrose

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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While those perceptions are valid, Mongolia may have some surprises for you. The sun shines 250 days a year, and summer days are luxuriously long and warm. Yes, Khan is a national hero (see: the 3-story glimmering steel statue of the Mongol leader on horseback), but Mongolians are most welcoming. The flap door of a ger is open to all, friends and strangers alike — and a hot bowl of milk tea will appear as soon as you cross the threshold.

In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, you can eat in restaurants, visit a temple, and wander through museums. When you’ve had enough of the bustle, ride into the steppes — on a horse, a camel, or an all-terrain jeep — and back in time. Under that vast sky, you can head north to spruce forests that stretch toward Russia, or west to the jaggy Altai mountains, or south to the wind-swept dunes of the Gobi Deserts (and, eventually, China).

In this episode, we meet a formidable Mongolian warrior princess, listen to the otherworldly sound of Tuvan throat singing, and travel back in history with the annual Naadam Festival (a.k.a. the Mongolian Olympics).

Then we recommend five great books that took us to Mongolia on the page:

• Akmaral by Judith Lindbergh
• Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer
• Stand on the Sky by Erin Bow
• Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick
• When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East by Quan Barry

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other friendly readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Mongolia: Under the Eternal Blue Sky

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Links

A Season for That by Steve Hoffman

Steve Hoffman’s website and an interview with the Star Tribune

Still blog by Mary Jo Hoffman and an interview with Yoga Journal

Still: The Art of Noticing by Mary Jo Hoffman

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Podcast: Pennsylvania: Political Player, Potato Chip Maker

The ‘Pack One Bag’ website

Deadline Magazine on the podcast and the upcoming TV remake

Stanley Tucci Compares WW2 Fascism Story to Now — ‘It’s Happening Today’

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our sun is about 93 million miles (150 million km away), shooting us with subatomic particles. Probably not maliciously, but who knows? The sun might be a trickster. It’s also filling our solar system with light so we can see all the other planets, comets, asteroids, dwarf planets, and moons in orbit.

As humans, it’s nearly impossible to not put ourselves at the center of the world — we all have main-character energy. For millions of years, we puny humans have looked up at the sky and tried to understand just what the devil is going on and where we belong in the whole situation.

In this episode, we try to unpack many of the mind-blowing facts we know about space and our expanding universe — and we get real about the emotional impact of embracing our stardust origins. We talk about the condition called the Overview Effect and whether or not space smells funny. Then we recommend great books that took us there on the page:

• Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
• The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowell
• The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
• The Milky Way by Moiya McTier
• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertolino

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Outer Space: We Are All Made of Stars

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Links

• A Super Upsetting Cookbook about Sandwiches by Tyler Kord
• Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin in New Orleans by Mason Hereford
• Deadly Sin crime series by Lawrence Sanders
• Good Material by Dolly Alderton
• Meet The Indian Giant Squirrel That Looks Like A Dr. Seuss Concoction
• India’s election 2024: A logistical triumph across a vast polling network
• In Pictures: Kitchen that feeds 100,000 daily
• Golden Temple (Wikipedia)
• Video: How The World’s Largest Community Kitchen Feeds 100,000 Daily At Golden Temple
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to get loud? India is the place for you! Sure, its population of 1.4 billion people might overwhelm you with the sheer crush of humanity, but its cities have an undeniable energy once you’re acclimated. Delhi, the capital, has everything that makes travel great: ancient forts, mosques and temples, leafy parks and botanical gardens, sprawling bazaars, and bustling lanes of street food. 

Feeling like a quiet retreat? India is the birthplace of yoga and meditation. You could visit Rishikesh, on the bank of the Ganges, to practice asanas in the birthplace of yoga. 

India is also a fantastic place to shop for jewelry in a market, eat the best curries in the world, browse epic English-language bookstores, wander through centuries-old forts, and, of course, marvel at the Taj Mahal.

In this episode, we celebrate the poet Kabir Das, talk about dolphin rights, dig into Salvador Dali’s quirks, and explore India’s Golden Triangle. Then we recommend five great books that took us to India on the page:

• Loot: A Novel by Tania James
• City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple
• Dishoom: Cookery Book and Highly Subjective Guide to Bombay by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, Naved Nasir
• The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das
• The Bandit Queens: A Novel by Parini Shroff

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of India: The Continent Masquerading as a Country

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• Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
• Rob Hart’s Substack
• Hip-Hop is History by Quest Love
• Video: Quest Love on CBS Mornings
• Chaos League website
• Photos from a previous Sahara Expedition
• First-hand report from a previous experience of Miskatonic University

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We could talk about how the New York Stock Exchange started under a tree (!) on Wall Street and how NYC is now the financial capital of the world. Billionaires, millionaires, blah blah blah. 

Let’s talk about what really matters.

Like… the best pizza and bagels in the world, the Met and the New York Public Library, art deco skyscrapers and bodega cats, Carnegie Hall, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, and that one place on the corner in Brooklyn with the best Polish pastries. 

There’s the immediately identifiable New York accent and the 800 or so languages spoken by New Yorkers from all around the world. The City That Never Sleeps is the ultimate melting pot; we’re all better for it.

New Yorkers are a unique breed who’ve changed the personality of the city over and over again. Dutch and British settlers named the place, immigrants made it cosmopolitan, the elite of the Gilded Age filled it with skyscrapers, and barriers were busted by the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. And let’s not forget the unnamed good samaritan on the subway who will warn you that the next station is closed so you need to transfer.

In this episode, we grab an imaginary coffee to go in a ‘We Are Happy to Serve You’ cup and explore the ultimate bookish day in New York City. In Two Truths and a Lie, we meet the musicians of the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and visit a Brooklyn store where you can buy a can of chutzpah. Then we recommend six great books that took us to New York City on the page, including two graphic novels, a love letter to ’90s Manhattan, a frothy family saga, historical fiction with a challenging heroine, and a collection of short stories from a master of fiction.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González

Hello, NY by Julia Rothman

Roaming by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki

Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other smart, friendly people who love travel and books.

Transcript of New York City: NO! SLEEP! TILL BROOKLYN!

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Links

The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis

Video: Jaclyn Goldis on the Chris Voss Podcast

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Video: Kaliane Bradley’s first TV interview on Good Morning America

Video: How to Convert Image to Text in iPhone & Android

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Substack
• Patreon

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to argue with the notion that France offers the best of everything. From scenery and snacks to iconic art, world-changing history, and culture-shaping fashion, it’s practically ground zero for the good things in life. The light is golden. The wine is luscious. The cheese is heavenly, and the scenery is so beautiful, it makes the heart yearn. 

You can take a road trip or a bike ride among the purple rivers of lavender fields in Provence or the gilt-and-green vineyards in Burgundy. Loll in the sun and splash in the sea along the Riviera — or tour a château where nobles ruled and romanced 500 years ago. Wander the streets and cafés that inspired Vincent Van Gogh, then relax under a shade tree with a perfect baguette and the world’s best butter.

In this episode, we take a virtual road trip around France, explore the Bayeux Tapestry, and get curious about an obscure (and deeply romantic) French law. Then we recommend five great books that took us to France on the page.

Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier, translated by Polly Mackintosh

Joan by Katherine J. Chen

Murder on the Île Sordou by M.L. Longworth

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin, translated by Hildegarde Serle

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other smart, friendly people who love travel and books.

Transcript of France: Mostly Here for the Butter

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Thanks to you, we’ve had over one million downloads (!) and, the best part of all, we feel like we’re part of a massive book club filled with the best people. Thank you for that!

In this mini-episode, we each looked back through our book recommendations to find our top 10 titles from the first five seasons of the show. Maybe you’ll find your new favorites, too!

Find all the book titles and the corresponding podcast episodes on our blog.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Our FREE Substack
• Instagram
• Patreon

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In this mini-episode, we answer those questions and more — including what we do if we find a great book after a show has aired, what the inside of our podcast recording booth looks like, and whether or not Dave is really 6’5". And, due to popular demand, we deliver an update on our cat Smudge.

Links

We answered other popular questions in previous editions of ‘Ask Us Anything,’ including how we met, whether or not we really love everything we recommend, previous jobs, and more. 

2020 Ask Us Anything

2021 Ask Us Anything

Transcript of this episode.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve put together an itinerary of 12 thrilling destinations with a journey to every region of the globe. Pack your (virtual) bags for Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and two great cities on opposite coasts of the United States. This time, we’re also heading to space (and two other super-fun themes). Get ready to explore customs, history, scenery, food, art, and more — all you need is your curiosity, an open heart, and a favorite spot to read. 

Click right here to see stunning photos of our Season 6 destinations.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench & Brendan O’Hea
• The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
• Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
• Similar Songs Finder website

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Honor the Dead: Dominion Archives Mystery #3 by Amy Tector by Amy Tector

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne

 Honor the Dead: Dominion Archives Mystery #3 by Amy Tector by Amy Tector

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne

Amy Tector’s website

Amy Tector on Substack: Méli-Mélo

The Foulest Things: Dominion Archives Mystery #1 by Amy Tector

Speak for the Dead: Dominion Archives Mystery #2 by Amy Tector

The Honeybee Emeralds by Amy Tector

Louise Penny Transported Me Home When I Needed it Most — an essay by Amy Tector

Video: Murder and Mayhem in the Canadian Archive w/ Amy, Mel, and Dave

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner

Currywurst History

Currywurst Recipe

Top 20 Hangover Foods

Herta Heuwer Memorial Plaque

Herta Heuwer Google Doodle

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Podcast: Russia: Revolution, Hope, and Vodka

Video: A Gentleman in Moscow trailer

Brontë Parsonage website

Behind the Glass: A Parsonage Podcast

The Guardian on Anne Brontë’s interest in geology

Photos that take you inside the Parsonage

Video: Tour of the Parsonage

Rowan Coleman’s website

The Brontë Mysteries series by Bella Ellis

Bella Ellis on Instagram

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

Excerpt of The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

Why Translators Should Be Named on Book Covers

27 Great Books In Translation

Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How It Shapes Us by Charan Ranganath

Nye at the National Theatre, London

National Theatre Tour info

Six, The Musical around the world

Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, London

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

Téa Obreht on How She Found The Morningside

Excerpt of The Morningside by Téa Obreht

James by Percival Everett

Podcast: Sri Lanka: Remarkable, Relentless, Resplendent

Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka by Cynthia Shanmugalingam

Rambutan website and Instagram

Recipes from Rambutan here and here

Borough Market website

Cubitts eyeglasses

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

LINKS

Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith’s website and Twitter

Legal Design Podcast: Fighting Crime by Design with Lorraine Gamman

Podcast: London: The Tower, Tudors, and a Nice Cuppa Tea

Wikipedia: Shirley Pitts

Wikipedia: Alice Diamond

Gone Shopping: The Story of Shirley Pitts, Queen of Thieves by Lorraine Gamman

The Guardian: Girl Gang’s Grip on London Underworld Revealed

Criminal Secret Society: The Story of Forty Elephants

Video: Diamond Annie and the Forty Elephants — The All-Female Gang That Terrorized London

Abbie Davis with her cover of 'London Town'

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

Piglet by Lottie Hazell — audiobook

Piglet by Lottie Hazell — print

Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness by Alastair Humphreys

Stanfords Map and Travel Bookshop

Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2024

Wikipedia: Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis

Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Review: David Tennant in Macbeth

Watch David Tennant recite a bit of Macbeth to honor the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.

BBC Radio: Macbeth

Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet with David Tennant (2009)

The Guardian Review: David Tennant in Hamlet

Richard II with David Tennant (2013)

The Guardian Review: David Tennant in Richard II

Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate (2011)

The Guardian Review: Much Ado About Nothing

Legends of Literature YouTube: Shakespeare Analysis

Chop Bard podcast — ‘the cure for boring Shakespeare’

Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth by A.C. Bradley on Amazon and Project Gutenberg

Open Source Shakespeare — all the plays, sonnets, and poems

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai & Jesse Kirkwood (translator)

Wandering Stars by by Tommy Orange

There, There by by Tommy Orange

The Chicken Soup Manifesto: Recipes From Around the World by Jenn Louis

Jenn Louis’ website

A Journey Around the World, as Told Through Chicken Soup

Four recipes from The Chicken Soup Manifesto

Ye Ocholoni Ina Doro Shorba (Ethiopian peanut soup)

Video: Jenn Louis at Powell’s Books

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce

Back in the USSR by Patrick D. Joyce

Patrick Joyce’s website

The Wall by Peter Sís

Prague Spring by Simon Mawer

Podcast: Prague: Castles and Cobblestones

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Podcast: The Forest: Meet a Witch, Climb a Tree

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

National Geographic: 10 unmissable events worth travelling for in 2024

Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim in Istanbul

Ride Africa

Child.org

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Benjamin Stevenson’s website

Fall Through by Nate Powell

Nate Powell’s website

Podcast: Trains: Better Than Planes and Cars. Fight Me.

Constellation Route by Matthew Olzmann

Contradictions in the Design by Matthew Olzmann

Mezzanines by Matthew Olzmann

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Links

Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller

Podcast: Jamaica: Let’s Get Together and Feel All Right

Video: Christina Cooke reads from Broughtupsy

Christina Cooke website

SSoP review: Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

Video: Alexander 1990 animated special

NPR: For 50 years, Alexander’s been having terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days

NPR: ‘Nearing 90,’ Judith Viorst Says She’s Never Been Happier

Video: Scholastic interview with Judith Viorst

Judith Viorst’s Decades

Podcast: The Other F Word with Judith Viorst

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
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• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

video: Namibia Desert live stream

360° view of the desert surrounding the watering hole

10 Interesting Namib Desert Facts

11 Things to do in the Namib Desert

Gondwana Namib Park

Secrets of Survival: Life in the Namib Desert

Namibia’s Skeleton Coast: A journey through the ‘end of the Earth’

video: Namibia’s Wild Skeleton Coast

video: Where Namib Desert Meets Atlantic Ocean

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• The Fury by Alex Michaelides
• Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
• Planet World website
• video: Welcome to Planet Word
• video: Introducing Planet Word
• video: CBS Sunday Morning: A visit to D.C.’s Planet Word

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

Spooky & Sublime: 43 Gothic Novels with a Strong Sense of Place

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Well podcast

Doug Jones on The Well: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Ethan Peck on The Well: Part 1 and Part 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

In Our Time podcast

10 episodes recommended by the editor of BBC Sounds

CrowdScience podcast

Michael Sheen: Margins to Mainstream podcast

A Writing Chance

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/StrongSense and get on your way to being your best self.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer

The Last Mona Lisa_ by Jonathan Santlofer

Jonathan Santlofer’s website

Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

Podcast: Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators

The Seville Communion by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Podcast: Spain: Valencia, Velázquez, and Vermouth

North Woods by Daniel Mason

British Library website

Knowledge Under Attack

Rhysida, The New Ransomware Gang Behind British Library Cyber-Attack

How to Lose a Library

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Empty Theater by Jac Jemc

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

The reading resolutions we discussed in our show came from our fantastic (friendly, empathetic, imaginative) supporters on Patreon.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

One Woman Show by Christine Coulson

Video: Christine Coulson at Hudson River Museum

Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson

Podcast: Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Brian Bilston’s website and Twitter

And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems by Brian Bilston

You Took the Last Bus Home by Brian Bilston

Days Like These: An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems by Brian Bilston

Meet the Author: Brian Bilston (Suffolk Libraries)

Brian Bilston: the Poet Laureate of Twitter (The Irish Times)

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Whamageddon 2023

Video: Blame it on Christmas by Shea Diamond

Video: It Snowed by Meaghan Smith

Video: Think of Christmas by Anne-Marie

This Is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits by Annie Zaleski

Duran Duran’s Rio by Annie Zaleski

Lady Gaga: Applause by Annie Zaleski

Pink: Raise Your Glass by Annie Zaleski

The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths by Brad Fox

Video: The Final Frontier in a Little Ball

Beryl Shereshewsky’s YouTube Channe

Beryl Shereshewsky’s and Instagram

YouTube Playlist: Beryl Shereshewsky’s Toast Series

Video: What People From 5 Countries Are Eating on Christmas

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Christmas Party by Georgette Heyer

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

The Writer’s Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats by Travis Elborough

Our History of the 20th Century by Travis Elborough

A Traveller’s Year: 365 Days of Travel Writing in Diaries, Journals, and Letters by Travis Elborough

Atlas of the Unexpected by Travis Elborough

Atlas of Vanishing Places by Travis Elborough

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track by Melissa Joulwan

The Largehearted Boy Essential and Interesting ‘Best of 2023’ Book Lists

The Largehearted Boy List of Online ‘Best of 2022’ Book Lists

Video: Gosford Park trailer

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

Jean Meltzer’s website

The Matzo Ball website

What It’s Like to Attend a Jewish Singles Dance on Christmas Eve

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

Sigrid Nunez’s website

Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage

Video: Suspects Review - with Zee Garcia

Scout

Video: You Should Be Playing SCOUT!

Video: Scout - GameNight! How to Play and Playthrough

Ready Set Bet

Video: Ready, Set, Bet! Review: The Game Where Everyone is Shouting

Video: Ready Set Bet Review: An Experience Like No Other! Panic on Wall St & Camel Up Had a baby!

Chronicles of Crime

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watching the movie ‘Home for the Holidays’ is an annual Thanksgiving tradition in our house. The film is based on a brilliant short story by Chris Radant that is, sadly, out of print.

Both the story and the film tell the tale of a family Thanksgiving in all of its gluttonous, annoying, loving glory. It’s a celebration of affection, patience, and forgiveness.

Since you can’t get the story as an audiobook, Mel went into our blanket fort recording booth to read the story out loud, and then Dave worked some editing magic. Boom! We made our first homegrown ‘audiobook.’

We’re very grateful that you’ve all joined us on our Strong Sense of Place reading-traveling adventures. We hope you enjoy the story!

Read the short story by Chris Radant

Transcript of this episode

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson

A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson

Book club questions, cocktail recipes, and more Three Dahlias extras

World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music by Jeff Tweedy

Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy

How to Write One Song: Loving the Things We Create and How They Love Us Back by Jeff Tweedy

Listen to The Perks of Being a Book Lover podcast

The Perks of Being a Book Lover on Instagram

Our appearance on The Perks of Being a Book Lover

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

The Future by Naomi Alderman

Visit NaomiAlderman.com and Naomi on Instagram.

Naomi Alderman: ‘A writer’s job is courage. You’ve got to be as honest as you can.’

Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin

A New Graphic Novel Version of ‘Watership Down’ Aims to Temper Darkness With Hope

Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix

Meet the ‘Little Company’ Cast of Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Short Films

Listen to The Perks of Being a Book Lover podcast

The Perks of Being a Book Lover on Instagram

Our appearance on The Perks of Being a Book Lover

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

Isabel Ibañez website and Instagram

The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris

Website for The First Cat in Space

Video: The live cartoons that inspired the book The First Cat in Space

The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris

Video: Train ride through the snow in St. Moritz

YouTube channel: Nomadic Ambience

YouTube channel: Watched Walker

YouTube channel: Keezi Walks

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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Links

The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Our review of Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George

What is Goth?

Gothic Literature: Basics of the Genre & Key Elements

Gothic: An Illustrated History by Roger Luckhurst

YouTube: Tristan and the Classics

Video: Gothic Literature — Teach Yourself Course

Video: 8 Aspects of Gothic Books

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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Links

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope by José Andrés

I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country by Elena Kostyuchenko

World Central Kitchen website

World Central Kitchen’s Chicken Chili Verde recipe

‘You May Have Been Poisoned’: How an Independent Russian Journalist Became a Target

2023 Nominees for Public Library of the Year

Barcelona Library Named Best New Public Library in the World

Jay-Z limited edition library cards

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Links

The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey

The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey

The Pale House Devil: Excerpt and Cover Reveal

Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post by Martin Baron

What Should I Read Next? podcast with Anne Bogel

Anne’s Modern Mrs. Darcy website

Anne Bogel on Instagram and Twitter

What Should I Read Next? on Instagram and Twitter

Alison Roman’s cookbooks and Substack

The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer

Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love To Eat by Melissa Joulwan

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty

Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi

Thai Street Food: Authentic Recipes, Vibrant Traditions by David Thompson

Turkey and The Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans by Mason Hereford

12 Inspiring Cookbooks That Will Transport You Around the World

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Links

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

How the Haunting of Hill House Rewrote Horror’s Rules

Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand

SSoP Podcast — Amusement Parks: Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Murder Most Royal by SJ Bennett

The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett

A Three Dog Problem (UK) / All the Queen’s Men (US) by SJ Bennett

The Museum at FIT

The Museum at FIT online archive

Food and Fashion by Melissa Marra-Alvarez & Elizabeth Way

Exhibit — Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse

Exhibit — Paris, Capital of Fashion

Exhibit — The Corset: Fashioning the Body

Exhibit — Gothic: Dark Glamour

Exhibit — A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

Chuck Wendig’s website Terrible Minds

Chuck Wendig’s book tour schedule

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

Slow Horses series by Mick Herron

Video: Slow Horses trailer

Connections on New York Times Games

The New York Times Finds a Match With the Word Game Connections

Listen to the Overdue Podcast

Twitter: Overdue Podcast

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close by Hannah Carlson

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki

What Should I Read Next podcast: Strong Sense of Summer

How the Humble Pocket Came to Signify Feminist Liberation

Take a look at the art in Roaming

Hermanus Whale Festival

30 Best Things to do in Hermanus

Video: Why Everyone Wants to Visit Hermanus

Seeing Whales for the First Time in Hermanus

Hermanus Whale Festival: The Only Eco-Marine Festival in the World

Whale-watchers and animal lovers, the Hermanus Whale Festival is here

Video: Hermanus - South Africa

South Africa Street Food

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison
• Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
• Hear Dave talk about Rachel Harrison’s book Such Sharp Teeth
• The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game by Tim Brown and Erik Kratz
• Rollergirl: Totally True Tales From The Track by Melissa Joulwan
• 10 Reasons Why The Wheel Of Time Has Been Hailed As A Masterpiece
• How to Read The Wheel of Time Books in Order
• What to Know About The Wheel of Time Books Before Watching the Amazon Prime Series
• Video: The Wheel of Time Season 1 trailer
• Video: The Wheel of Time Season 2 trailer
• The Wheel of Time on Amazon
• Listen to the Overdue Podcast
• Twitter: Overdue Podcast, Andrew, Craig
• Overdue episode: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• Overdue episode: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Overdue episode: Where Are The Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen by Leah Koenig
• Website for cookbook author Lean Koenig
• Leah Koenig’s cookbooks
• The Food of Rome’s Longstanding Jewish Community Gets Its Due
• The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
• The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
• Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler
• The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food_ by Chris Van Tulleken
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Links

• Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias
• Podcast episode — Costa Rica: Cloud Forests, Coffee, and Capuchin Monkeys. 
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
• The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
• Pat’s King of Steaks
• Geno’s Steaks
• Pat’s vs. Geno’s Philly’s Cheesesteak Debate
• Everything You Knew About the Pat’s-Geno’s Rivalry Is a Lie
• Video: Pat’s vs. Geno’s: Philly Cheesesteak War!
• Video: Dr. Phil - Cheesesteak Wars
• Serious Eats: The Best Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia
• Jim’s South Street
• Tony Luke’s
• McNally’s Tavern Chestnut Hill
• Paesano’s Philly Style
• Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Links

• The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan
• The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush
• Our review of Christine Mangan’s Tangerine
• A refreshing Moroccan orange salad inspired by the book
• Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan]
• The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White
• Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
• Visit the website for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• Wikipedia: Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• The Guardian editorial on the Fringe
• Chriskirkpatrickmas: A Boy Band Christmas Musical Review
• Edinburgh Fringe Musicals: A Bedside View of Marriage, Covid Diaries, and Shamilton!
• Edinburgh Fringe 2023 Week One Roundup: Capote, Wilde and a Lovesick Angler
• Georgie Grier Offered Support After One Person Attends Her Edinburgh Show
• Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Links

• The Bookbinder by Pip Williams
• Tabula Rasa, Vol 1 by John McPhee
• Pip Williams on the Invisible History of Female Bookbinders.
• A New Novel That Captures the ‘Poetic Materiality’ of Books.
• Our review of The Crofter and the Laird by John McPhee.
• Hear Dave talk about ‘The Crofter and the Laird’ in our podcast episode Scotland: Wraiths, Rebels, and Royalty.
• The Long Now Foundation website.
• The Long Now Foundation YouTube channel.
• Radical Sharing event — 23 August
• Our podcast episode Amusement Parks: Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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Links

• Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman
• Speech Team: A Novel by Tim Murphy
• Visit Elinor Lipman’s website.
• Elinor Lipman is the new EM Forster. Fight me.
• Review of The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman.
• Review of The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman.
• Review of Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman.
• My Ride on the Concorde.
• What It Was Like to Fly Concorde in the ’70s.
• Concorde Stories: Remembering the ‘Pocket Rocket’.
• What Food & Drink Were Passengers Served On Concorde?
• Vintage Champagne on the Edge of Space: The Supersonic World of a Concorde Stewardess by Sally Armstrong
• Supersonic: The Design and Lifestyle of Concorde by Lawrence Azerrad
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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We were thrilled to talk to friend-of-the-podcast Tasha Sounart about her job as Creative Director in the Theme Parks group of Pixar.

In this delightful conversation, we talked to Tasha about what a day at Pixar is like, what inspires her creativity, and which Pixar world she’d like to visit.

For more on Tasha, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

• Find Tasha on Mastodon: @tashasounart@worldkey.io
• Tasha recommended the book Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths.
• Lauren Passell’s excellent podcast recommendation newsletter Podcast the Newsletter.
• Easy Homemade Caramel Popcorn.
• SSoP — Amusement Parks: Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Transcript of this episode.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

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Links

• Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Visit Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s website, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Gods of Jade and Shadow by by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale by Jon Klassen
• Follow Jon Klassen on Instagram.
• Jon Klassen’s Hat Box by Jon Klassen (the trilogy)
• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
• We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen
• This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
• The scoop on phantom islands from Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura, and Explorers Web.
• Andrew Peckler’s Phantom Islands — A Sonic Atlas.
• The album Sounds from Phantom Islands. (The vinyl is sold out, but mp3s are available.)
• Andrew Peckler’s new musical release Cue.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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And it’s been that way since the beginning. The first quasi-amusement park entertained revelers in 1133 with merry-go-rounds, extravagant stage shows, gingerbread, sausages, and dancing in the streets. All that merriment made it easy to forget it was all meant to honor St. Bartholomew.

Eventually, the rides got bigger (and faster and more hair-raising), the shows more over-the-top, and the spectacle more spectacular. Roller coasters! Carousels! Tilt-a-Whirls! Mickey and Donald and Cinderella! Legos! Quidditch! Funnel cakes! Turkey legs! And fireworks!

In this episode, we take a fast romp through the history of amusement parks, revel in an essay by Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and celebrate the magical world of Walt Disney. Then we recommend five books that took us to amusement parks on the page, including a comedy-thriller set in Helsinki, a nonfiction exploration of delight, a dystopian disaster tale, and historical mysteries set in 1915 Chicago and 1911 Coney Island.

Here are the books about amusement parks we recommend on the show:

• The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen, David Hackston (translator)
• Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand
• Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau
• Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson
• Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of Amusement Parks: Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

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BOOKS

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

https://bit.ly/3RBg1dW

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

https://bit.ly/3AVh01I

DISTRACTION OF THE WEEK

The Library of Lost Time

https://bit.ly/3PIqMd8

NeSpoon on Instagram

https://bit.ly/3ql5GHj

NeSpoon on YouTube

https://bit.ly/3BeS6M8

NeSpoon website

https://nespoon.art

Video of the mural at the Museum of Lace and Fashion

https://youtu.be/XeFNYiYC0VE

More about the square in Belorado, Spain

https://bit.ly/3RmCL1s

German video (with some English) featuring NeSpoon's various works

https://youtu.be/ehh5A0AW-p4

Colossal magazine

https://bit.ly/3etn6PC

Five questions with NeSpoon

https://bit.ly/3euaeZD

Transcript of this episode

https://bit.ly/3cNqmoy

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production!https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside -https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LINKS

• The Only One Left by Riley Sager.
• Visit Riley Sager’s website and Instagram.
• Riley talked about his book in this video from The Poisoned Pen bookshop.
• Smithsonian magazine: Why 19th-Century Axe Murderer Lizzie Borden Was Found Not Guilty.
• The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel.
• Our podcast episode Maine: Lighthouses, Lobster Rolls, and the King of Horror.
• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel.
• Smithsonian magazine on Ida Wood: Everything Was Fake but Her Wealth.
• Wikipedia entires for Ida Wood and her husband Benjamin Wood.
• A personal essay: My Crazy Aunt Ida.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LINKS

• 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings.
• Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings.
• Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings
• What the Dead Know: Learning about Life as a New York City Death Investigator by Barbara Butcher.
• Visit the Postcrossing.com website, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A blend of old-world Europe — Buenos Aires is known as the ‘Paris of South America’ — and local flair, Argentina is like nowhere else. City skylines boast neoclassical, art nouveau, art deco, and baroque architecture. The streets are filled with the seductive melodies of cumbia and tango. Cafés buzz with conversations in Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic. And the food! Empanadas and dulce de leche and milanesa and the best beef in the world drizzled with chimichurri.

There are breathtaking waterfalls, shockingly blue lakes, steppes, volcanoes, and glaciers that invite you to jump on a horse or bicycle, lace up your hiking boots, or bundle up for an ice climb. There are whales, seals, penguins, and the Train at the End of the World.

In this episode, we talk about all the adventures that await in Argentina’s various geographical regions and learn the secret past of one of the most famous Argentines. Then we recommend five books that took us there on the page, including a historical novel set in the world of tango, a spy novel with feelings, a noir thriller set in 1950 Buenos Aires, an eerie short story collection, and a modern crime novel about the Buenos Aires elite.

Here are the books about bookshops we recommend on the show:

• The Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis
• Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht
• A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
• Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin
• Betty Boo by Claudia Piñeiro, Miranda France (translator)

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of Argentina.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

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LINKS

• Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith.
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith.
• Strong Sense of Place podcast: Museums: A Gathering of Muses, A Clutch of Curators.
• National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen.
• Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya Von Bremzen.
• The CrashCourse YouTube Channel.
• Video: Hank Green talks about the Big Bang.
• Reina del Cid’s website, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Video: Reina del Cid reciting her poem ‘Big Bang’.
• Strong Sense of Place podcast: New Orleans: Pass a Good Time.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LINKS

• Unpacking for Greece by Sally Jane Smith.
• Sally Jane Smith’s website, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Europe by Train by DL Eyewitness.
• The super-handy train travel website The Man in Seat Sixty-One.
• Lonely Planet’s Guide to Train Travel in Europe.
• 80 Days website.
• Video: Why 80 Days is a perfect game.
• Around the World in 80 Days TV show and the show trailer.
• Strong Sense of Place podcast: Newsroom: From Clacking Typewriters to Viral Video.
• Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman.
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The capital city of Nairobi sits on a plateau between the Indian Ocean (hello, picturesque beaches!) and the Great Rift Valley (lush green hills, blue lakes, hot pink flamingoes). Nairobi hums with energy and everything you’d expect in a major capital. The city also gets a little wild — literally — with Nairobi National Park inside the city limits.

As you might expect in Africa, Kenyan history is basically two big buckets: before colonialism and after. The rich influences that led to the Swahili culture — Arab, Persian, Indian, and African — are all on display in cities like Mombasa. Wander the narrow alleys and take in the romantic architecture, then cruise on a white-sailed dhow to the nearby island of Zanzibar. 

Outside the cities, get ready for outdoor adventures with a jeep safari, a hike on Mt. Kenya, a cycling tour through Hell’s Gate (!), or a visit to a Maasai village to experience their traditional lifestyle.

In this episode, we daydream about safari animals, listen to African music, and explore why Kenyans are such fantastic runners. Then we recommend five great books that transported us to Kenya on the page.

Here are the books about Kenya we recommend on the show:

• Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
• West with the Night by Beryl Markham
• The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o — and the audiobook
• When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed — and the audiobook
• A Guide to the Birds of East Africa: A Novel by Nicholas Drayson

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of Kenya: Hurrying Has No Blessing.

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Do you want access to awesome bonus content? 

Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

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LINKS

• The Power of Saying No by Vanessa Patrick
• Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
• SSoP Podcast Episode 53 — Theater: Act One, Scene I, Lights Up.
• Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s First Folio.
• Video: Unboxing Shakespeare’s First Folio.
• The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins.
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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LINKS

• The Tumbling Girl by Bridge Walsh
• The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives by Naoíse Mac Sweeney
• Pulitzer Prize website
• All the winners organized by year.
• Herbert Bayard Swope’s Wikipedia page
• See photos of his mansion on Long Island here and here.
• Julia Ward Howe’s Wikipedia page.
• Josef Pulitzer and the Crowdfunding Campaign That Saved the Statue of Liberty.
• SSoP Podcast Episode 27 — Newsroom: From Clacking Typewriters to Viral Video.
• An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
• Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
• The Crofter and the Laird by John McPhee
• _Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer
• Middlesex: A Novel_ by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Shipping News: A Novel by Annie Proulx
• So Big by Edna Ferber
• Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And that’s accurate. But it’s also missing the dramatic developments in storytelling techniques happening in other parts of the world — Japan, China, Indonesia, India — at the same time. While European peasants learned to walk the straight and narrow via morality plays, Asian theater-goers explored mythology via shadow puppets, dance, and dramatic masks.

In this episode, we travel the world (and through time) for a make-believe theater festival that takes us from Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London to the lights of Broadway, then to South America and Indonesia. We drop in on the premier of Fiddler on the Roof, learn about an avant-garde approach to theater meant to build empathy, and are dazzled by puppets that bring kings and demons to life.

Then we recommend five great books that took us straight to our seats in the theater, including a novel about a very bad actor making his Broadway debut, a lively retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a peek inside the creative minds behind beloved musicals, historical fiction about Bram Stoker’s time at London’s legendary Lyceum Theatre, and an unputdownable slice of dark academia with tender theater kids at its heart.

Here are the books about theater we recommend on the show:

• Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor
• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
• A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke
• Audiobook: A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke
• The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built by Jack Viertel
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Audiobook: If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of Theater: Act One, Scene I, Lights Up.

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In this episode, we get excited about two books: 'Tasting History' by Max Miller and 'This Isn't Going to End Well' by Daniel Wallace. Then Mel transports us to a street in Vilnius, Lithuania that’s made for book lovers. 

LINKS

• Tasting History by Max Miller
• This Isn’t Going to End Well by Daniel Wallace
• Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace
• Video: Big Fish movie trailer.
• Tasting History with Max Miller on YouTube
• Atlas Obscura: Literature Street in Vilnius, Lithuania
• Video: Tour of Literature Street
• The wild ride of Adam Mickiewicz’s Wikipedia page
• Pan Tadeusz; or, The last foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz on Gutenberg.org
• Video: The Origin of Pan Tadeusz
• Video: Pan Taduesz movie trailer
• Mel’s Bigos recipe
• Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maine’s 5000 miles (8000 km) of coastline mean there are dozens of lighthouses, ample excuses to get out in a boat (kayaking along the Maine Island trail, anyone?), and opportunities to see puffins, seals, and whales in their natural habitat.

Or set your sights on the forest! The Pine Tree State is perfect for honing your Disney princess skills with moose, black bears, white-tailed deer, river otters, foxes, and other furry forest creatures.

When you’re ready to get cozy with a book, there’s the poetry of Longfellow, the delight of Charlotte’s Web, and the malevolent Pennywise, who is the terrifying and brilliant invention of Maine’s number one literary hero, Stephen King. 

In this episode, we get hungry for lobster rolls and Maine blueberries, learn some funny island names, and honor a delightful ambassador to Maine. Then we recommend five books that took us to Maine on the page, including a Gothic coming-of-age story, two vastly different (but unputdownable) memoirs, a literary crime novel, and a sweet story about the magical power of love and the Northern Lights.

Here are the books about Maine we recommend on the show:

• Grange House by Sarah Blake
• The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
• The Midcoast by Adam White
• Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman
• Almost, Maine by John Cariani

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of Maine: Lighthouses, Lobster Rolls, and the King of Horror.

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Please support our work on Patreon!

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LINKS

• The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin
• The Partisan by Patrick Worrall
• Video: The history of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
• Video: A tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
• An Explosive Netflix Documentary About the $500 Million Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist.
• Netflix: This is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist.
• Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner by John Singer Sargent.
• Isabella Stewart Gardner ‘Come to Tea’ mug.
• Jeremy Anderberg’s Read More Books, The Big Read, and Instagram.
• Shepherd.com
• Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LINKS

Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith’s website and Twitter

Legal Design Podcast: Fighting Crime by Design with Lorraine Gamman

Wikipedia: Shirley Pitts

Wikipedia: Alice Diamond

Gone Shopping: The Story of Shirley Pitts, Queen of Thieves by Lorraine Gamman

The Guardian: Girl Gang’s Grip on London Underworld Revealed

Criminal Secret Society: The Story of Forty Elephants

Video: Diamond Annie and the Forty Elephants — The All-Female Gang That Terrorized London

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, it's as well known for its Indian food (try the restaurants in Brick Lane) and Middle Eastern cuisine (visit Edgeware Road) as it is for a proper afternoon tea (finger sandwiches, scones, pastries, and endless pots of tea).

It's also a book lover's paradise with museums dedicated to literary classics — Hello, Sherlock Holmes! Good day, Mr. Dickens! – along with the British Library (don't miss the tour), Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, and Shakespeare's Globe where you can watch a play in a faithful reproduction of the Bard's theater.

In this episode, we clear up any confusion about London's main bridges, make a case for why you should visit the Tower's Ravenmaster (and his six raven friends), and learn about the mad skills of London cab drivers. Then we recommend five great books that took us there on the page, including a twisty courtroom drama, a time-traveling guidebook, a murder mystery set in London's North End, a beloved urban fantasy, and a modern classic with an unlikely hero.

Here are the books about London we recommend on the show:

Something to Hide by Elizabeth George

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

London: A Travel Guide Through Time by Matthew Green

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit our show notes.

Transcript of London: The Tower, Tudors, and a Nice Cuppa Tea.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want access to awesome bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon! Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LINKS

• Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
• A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
• J. Ryan Stradal’s website, Instagram, and Twitter
• The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
• Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland
• Our podcast episode Hotels: The Liminal Space with M&Ms in the Mini-Bar
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Emma Brown: A Novel From the Unfinished Manuscript by Emma Boylan & Charlotte Brontë
• Wikipedia entry: Emma Brown
• The New York Times’ review of Emma Brown by Emma Boylan
• Librivox recording of the Emma fragment (Pro tip: skip the Preface and go directly to Chapter 1.)
• Emma Brown by Clare Boylan on Internet Archive

Transcript of this episode

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

• Our site
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Patreon

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices