Booze and Books

“I am simply a ‘book drunkard.’ Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them.”
—L. M. Montgomery

Pictured is NoMad Hotel’s Library Bar. A place where real people go to read real books and drink (and be seen doing it). A place I would have loved back in the day.

I once lived on the same block as the Commodore Hotel in St. Paul—of F. Scott Fitzgerald fame. I was a nanny at the time, and hanging out in the rundown deco bar reinserted me in a grown-up world. I wasn’t much of a drinker, could nurse a Smith and Kearns for an entire evening, but like Ms. Montgomery, I was crazy for books. I didn’t think it strange then to read while I drank. And people-watch. It seemed a perfect way to unwind.