gone but not gone and back again

I read a book. A good book. A very good book. You should read it, too.

That's where I've been for the last day or two. Enmeshed in How Long Has This Been Going On? It's a novel, and a compelling set of stories at that. 

When I get swept up in a good story, or an adventure, or a personal crisis, or whatever captures my attention I tend to focus on it. This is one of those books that pulled me in and didn't let me go. I hardly slept, barely ate, and didn't bathe the whole time I read the thing. That shower last night felt really good! :) Maybe it isn't so good to hyper-focus on stuff like that. Other things get neglected. I have that kind of passion. But I'm done with the book now and ready for some of life again. 

Right before I started How Long... I read a history of the Stonewall riots. It also was a very good book, but not nearly as compelling a read as the novel. It took me nearly a month to get through that one, just because I kept coming over here to blog and stuff. My point, though, is that it's good to read up on the social sea change of the 60s era to get a good perspective of what the culture was like for gays in the mid 20th century compared to what it's like today. The novel How Long... covers that time span. I feel as though I had a good background knowledge to appreciate the novel. I have been wanting to read up on Stonewall anyhow, since I really didn't know too much about it. 

Now I'm ready to get to the next book in my HUGE stack of books I want to read. :)