I’m still reading Wolf Hall, but my library is now open on Sundays!  and with concern that the federal government shutdown will continue beyond the point at which the District can remain open, I took a break from working on my independent study on Sunday as I figured I should get to the library, pronto.

With nothing on my immediate to-read list, I decided to play the biography game. I read this idea somewhere, and like most ideas, I remembered it without remembering its source. The biography game works as follows: go to the biography section of the library. Go to where your biography would be (if you had one), and read the biographies on either side of your name. That’s it. When I got to the correct shelf, it turned out that on either side of my name were memoirs. (Girl, Interrupted, and The Liars’ Club.) I didn’t want to read memoirs, so I kept going. In one direction I had success: a biography of Elia Kazan. In the other direction? Memoir, memoir, memoir, memoir, essays about Franz Kafka. So I broke my rule, and I checked out a memoir. I expect to learn a good deal from it, though. It’s “a true spy thriller” by Reza Kahlili.

Who knew I was so bad at following simple rules?

What games have you played to find books in the library?