That’s Freedom
Updated July 26, 2026, at approximately 3:30pm.
Currently reading:
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
Sky Daddy by Kate Folk [audiobook]
Yes, I’m rereading Sky Daddy. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.
Books finished this week: 2
★★★★★
Where this book came from: Audiobook purchased via my new best friend, Libro.fm.
Why this book: I read and enjoyed Daisy Jones in print way back in the olden days of 2019, but I’ve seen a ton of praise for the audiobook, so I figured I’d give it a shot for myself.
Thoughts: Oh my god, the production! The performances!! Listening to this was a fantastic experience, start to finish, and I can’t recommend it highly enough——even if you’ve already read the book. I’m a sucker for anything with a big cast, plenty of drama, and set in the 1970s, so I always knew Daisy Jones and the Six was going to be a winner of a book for me, and I’m really glad I got to experience it in this new format. I truly couldn’t stop listening, and added a whole star to my review just because I had such a great time.
★★☆☆☆
Where this book came from: Another audiobook from Libro.fm!
Why this book: I saw the sequel on a table at a bookstore——maybe a Barnes & Noble?——a few months back, then when I realized there was a first book in the series, I figured I should start at the start and that also the book might be easy enough to follow in audio to give it a shot.
Thoughts: This was certainly easy to follow——because almost everything was just told to us, with the reveal laid out like an even villain’s plan and even the most mundane tasks told in excruciating detail. This book was boring, y’all, and full of the stupidest and most useless similes known to man. And what’s worse, they were repetitive!! Both frogs and bees are described as “meth-addled” at two different points, and for what? Plus, we get absolutely inane technology explanations, including . . . how cloud backups work. This book has such a fun premise, sure, and I thought it would be a solid three-star “it was fine!” rating, but the more the book went on, the more bored and annoyed I got, until I was literally yelling back at the book while stuck in traffic on my drive back from New Jersey earlier today. (Full disclosure, the traffic may have contributed to the lower rating . . .)
Library updates:
The way my mental illness manifests——part anxiety, part self-esteem that’s still, honestly, in the shitter a lot of the time——I find it hard to trust my own decisions. Oddly, most big decisions don’t seem to get me. Going to grad school felt right; changing jobs has always been more of a leap of faith and a prayer for something better, rather than worry that I did the wrong thing. It’s the smaller decisions that always nag at me: “You skipped going to this event you planned to attend (and probably paid for), so you’re a bad person”; “You spent all day in pajamas, but did you really need to ‘rest,’ or whatever it is you’re calling it to make yourself feel better?” Even if my brain, my body, my heart, and my soul all come together to tell me, eh, I don’t feel like going out, I worry it’s my anxiety telling me to back out, or some other shitty little piece of my brain lying to me and making me make a decision I’ll regret.
I’ve skipped out on a lot of things in my time, and especially this month. But even with a pounding headache from seesawing weather and terrible air quality, that part of me that makes me feel like shit had to say, “Ugh, again? You’re awful.” For some reason, my brain puts a moral judgment on decisions that are truly not that deep. Skipping one event or social outing doesn’t mean I’ll never go again; taking one sick day doesn’t mean I’m a degenerate who will never leave the house again.
Obviously, this has been on my mind a lot, so, naturally, it came up in therapy this past week. I finally came to the conclusion that my decisions are morally neutral, and that I’m privileged to exist in a life where I can decide what I want to do, that I have the resources to make plans and to take care of myself. And as my therapist very kindly and helpfully reminded me, having the ability to make those decisions is not just about being an adult; it’s freedom. And that’s actually super fucking rad.
So, I’m working on being kinder to myself, all around, and on making the decision to read and write more often than I decide not to. I’m falling a little out of those grooves again, but I know I’ll get back to it. Because I have the freedom to decide, and I always decide to try it again.
Closing thoughts:
Fly free!!
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 221
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 468)
Had to buy a couple treasures after the excellent book club run by Yellow Peril Books at Good Home Pet Adoptions<3
Also grabbed this free ARC when I went to the Sky Daddy book club at the Union Square Barnes & Noble this week.
And, of course, I couldn’t go on a weekend trip and not check out a local bookstore. (These beauties were purchased from Asbury Book Cooperative in Asbury Park, and I also spent a good portion of my morning reading and enjoying an excellent latte at A Cup of Literature!)
