random thoughts – Day 1,358 – (Tuesday) – book club and hotel

I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about Boozy Book Club on Tuesday nights instead of Thursdays. The restaurant/bar we meet at felt surprisingly busy for so early in the week, but saying that makes it sound like I’ve been there early in the week more than twice, and I have not. Thursday was always a great night to be out for a beer and book chat, but so far, the Tuesday timing just feels a little confusing. The Fuggly Sweater beer by Ithaca Beer Company was pretty good. 

Half the book club group tonight was new people and it was fun, but also weird, because the longer-term club members arrived earlier and sat at one end of the table. The new folks ended up together at the other end. The book was The Book Club Hotel, a lighthearted novel about three friends who met in college and have their own little book club and take a trip each year. In the book, they are at an inn in Vermont. I would classify the book as the "holiday fluff genre," which is probably not an official book category. The hotel in the book has a cozy library and sounds delightful.

During the pre-meeting conversation at my end of the table (longer-term book clubbers), Amy mentioned she had recently booked a reservation for January at Library Hotel in mid-town New York City. The floors are based on the Dewey Decimal System and there are packages that come with wine and classic novels.  Clearly, now that I know about it, I need to go there. It sounds like a dream and really exists, so now I have a travel goal for 2024. 

Part of a hot mess.

Of course, the space in my head will debate if it makes sense for me to go all the way to NYC to stay in a hotel that I would likely not want to leave. It might go as well as “I want to go to Cuba at the first legal possible chance.” I still haven’t been, or even begun to formulate a plan to go. 

Realistically, I could book a budget-friendly week-long vacation at The BungaLowell and start reading through the piles of books waiting to be read. Travel would be a breeze, but maid and room service would be seriously lacking. And the ambiance would be better if someone could come and organize my books. Any system would work – by genre, by author, by color of the book spine. Really, any system will do, along with an extra bookcase, because all four bookcases and the built-in shelves in the alcove near the bed are a hot mess and getting worse.