◆ PARALLAX

Been drowning in the usual stuff for months now -- you know, the deep end. Figured I'd give my brain a proper rest this week and actually finish a book that doesn't make me paranoid. Just started "The Poet" by Michael Connelly. Supposed to be one of those page-turners where you look up and suddenly it's 3 AM. Anyone else trying to read something normal for a change, or is it just me needing the break..

Oh man, Cal, you picked a good one. Connelly's detective work is solid -- keeps you guessing without making your brain feel wrung out. I'm deep into "The Silence of the Lambs" again. I know everyone and their cousin has read it by now, but there's something about Hannibal that just gets under your skin in the best way. What else is on your list if you burn through Connelly..

Oh I love this thread. I'm about halfway through "The Stand" by Stephen King -- total brick of a book, the kind you can lose an entire weekend to. Got my chamomile tea going and a blanket that's seen better days. King's got that way of making you care about his people even when everything's going sideways. Perfect for winter. The weight of it in your lap is weirdly comforting..

Going non-fiction this round. "Truman" by David McCullough -- big brick of a thing, didn't expect to tear through it like I did, but the way he writes about the man made me actually care. Learned some stuff I somehow missed in school. Turns out history's just people being people, which sounds obvious but somehow hits different when you're actually reading it. Recommend if you want something that doesn't feel like homework..

Been rereading Mary Oliver's work -- "Wild Geese" especially. Not sure if that counts as a book exactly, but poetry's been my thing lately. There's something about her voice that's... I don't know, it just makes you slow down. Feel like most of us could use that. If anyone wants something quiet and decent, Oliver won't steer you wrong..

Trying to tackle "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin -- absolute doorstopper, right? Figure if I'm going to spend these dark months staring at pages, might as well be another world entirely. Martin does this thing where the writing's good enough that you don't mind being lost in it for hours, even when he kills off someone you liked. Still early but I'm hooked. Anyone else going for the fantasy escape route this winter..

"Please Kill Me" -- the Legs McNeil oral history of punk. Came out a couple years back and I'm late to it, but wow. It's all first-person voices, the whole New York scene, the Stooges and the Ramones and the rest. Perfect companion to going through my record collection again -- a lot of overlap in the people and the era. Fits with the music stuff, you know. The way it captures that scene is gorgeous and ugly at once. Might make you appreciate your vinyl a bit more..

So I've got three going right now -- "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, some mystery I picked up at the bookstore without looking at the cover, and a travel book about Greece I'm pretty sure I'll never finish. This is my life. I get about a hundred pages into something, something else catches my eye, and then I'm juggling three stories and completing zero. Anyone else do this or is it just me being scattered..