What I’m reading now: Twisted Tree, by Kent Meyers, which explores how a single death – the murder of a young anorexic girl – connects the lives of everyone who knew her. Each chapter is a different person’s “story” – everyone from the town recluse to the supermarket checkout girl – and while I usually shy away from books written in this vein (I find it frustrating to have to abandon a character just when you’re getting wrapped up in their life), the device totally works with this book. Each vignette is complete and satisfying, and you’re drawn into the start of each new tale by the need to figure out exactly how this new person’s life is tied to the slain girl’s. It’s one of those books that is even more fascinating than its description.

P.S. I knitted that blanket myself as a gift for my parents. Impressed? You should be. It took me my entire life.