I read Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

What a book to read at the current moment, and not just because of the PTA movie (which I had complicated feelings on). While the backdrop of military and cops deployed to clear out cities amid conservative revanchism and increasingly stupid moral panics taking over a brainless culture is precise and kind of politically if not emotionally reassuring in the "so long as we can say this is the worst" way, what struck me most about this book (and what I ended up missing about the film, I think) is that the structure of it is just an unfolding parade of people telling shaggy dog stories to this 14 year old who's trying to figure out what to believe about her mom.