Riding in Logs with Strangers

Currently reading:

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

Look at me, being on top of a trending title for once!

Books finished this week: 1

★★★★☆

Where this book came from: I have absolutely no idea where I got this book. The hardcover was first published in 2014, so I imagine I bought the paperwork sometime in 2015 or 2016, which would coincide nicely with the real start of my obsession with spies.
Why this book: Spies. Specifically, lady spies.
Thoughts: I grabbed Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy off my shelf because it felt like too long since I last read a spy book. I love spies. But I did hesitate over this one for a beat, and even when I started reading it, because the Civil War is not one of my historical hyperfixations. World War II? The Cold War? The Iranian hostage crisis? Yes to all of those. But the Civil War was never one of the major events that grabbed me. Though I won’t be joining any Civil War reenactment groups any time soon, this book definitely changed my opinion. It covers four very different women——two Unionists and two Confederates (yikes)——who all spied for their governments during the war. My favorite story was probably the one about Emma Edmondson, a Canadian woman who took on a male persona (Frank Thompson) after coming to America and eventually enlisted in the Union army to fight for her adopted country. Spoiler alert, none of these women’s stories end well. But I enjoyed getting to know them, and once I got a few chapters into the book, I found it hard to put down.

Library updates:

I forget if I warned you that there wouldn’t be a missive last week. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss much——I didn’t finish any books.

What I did do was travel to a different state to see Bruce Springsteen, while also holding tickets to see him in my home state next month. I am not ashamed; I am simply following in my fangirl-mother’s footsteps.

Anyway, I spent a long weekend in the Twin Cities, and, dang, but Minnesota was great! I had never been before, so it was exciting to get to check another state off the list. One night, lying in our truly enormous shared bed, my friend Tess (hi, Tess!) and I counted up all the states we’ve been to. To me, “been to” means “went to the state specifically for a trip, to see something in that state,” so that time I went to Annapolis, Maryland for an afternoon totally counts. Tess had me beat, but I’m proud that my number now stands at seventeen. I’m equally proud that I still remember the fifty states in alphabetical order (thanks, elementary school song that was drilled into my spongy brain instead of, idk, a foreign language!!).

Bruce was amazing, I ate so much good food (Jucy Lucys!! Pickles wrapped in ham and cream cheese! An incredible meal at Owamni!!), and we rode so many rides at the Mall of America. I also made my first Hot Topic purchase in probably fifteen years and got an enormous drink from Margaritaville served to me in a faux blender. Stopping in at Electric Fetus was an unexpected delight, and I bought some of my most prized possessions there (see below).

**We had a great time on the Log Chute with the strangers up front.**

We went to bookstores, too, because of course we did. But I only bought one book, at Moon Palace Books. We also stopped in at the Book House, and it was very difficult to walk out of there without purchasing the entire “Vintage Smut” box. Black Letter Books in Stillwater was gorgeous, too, especially their collection of vintage Nancy Drew books.

I did a lot of traveling in late February and early March, and I’m incredibly grateful for those opportunities and the memories they gave me. But I’m also very tired and spent all day yesterday, Saturday, sleeping, laying on my couch in my pajamas, and finally watching the first six episodes of Daisy Jones and the Six. Life is about balance.

Closing thoughts:

Do the things that make you happy, whether that’s getting on an airplane every weekend or watching TV in your pajamas. Your body knows what you need; therapy and medication will help your brain get with the program, too.

Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 31

(Total books added to the Library: 42)

I bought Our Share of Night at Moon Palace, and restrained myself from buying Oscar Wars until I got home to my sweet, sweet Barnes & Noble gift cards, though I did see it on a display at Moon Palace, too, and I considered it for a few minutes. But I had the Margaritaville blender already in my carry-on and I knew space was at a premium.

Camp Damascus doesn’t count as an addition, because I got it for free in a PR mailing. I just wanted to brag about my Chuck Tingle.

A few weeks back, Britt (hi, Britt!) and I also went to a suburban Barnes & Noble and had a whale of a time! I restrained myself to a single book purchase——The Girls Are All So Nice Here——which I neglected to note at the time, but am rectifying right here, right now, to keep myself and the Moratorium Library honest. (Please don’t hate me.)