BOOK: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan, 211 pages

adorable: a book written completely in dictionary entries, alphabetized, about a love story

charming: told from the male perspective, and not in the order that it occurs. One of the entries discusses how we gradually tell the story of our lives with new partners, not in the order they occur, but as they occur to us. They eventually fill in the biography of our lives, layer by layer.

favorite: Levithan has written several books with Rachel Cohn, including one of my favorite reads of this year, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. Although he has written many young adult books, I don't think this should be classified as YA. Not that teens wouldn't like it, but it follows two twenty-somethings who meet through an on-line dating service.

poetic: with brief entries, the piece takes on a poetic-ness. Some are funny, some serious, some profound, some philosophical. The reader has to construct the characters, and the timeline, into a narrative

recommendation: a realistic love story, with warts and hurt, written in a unique style. With one entry on each page, the read was very quick, perfect for a readathon. In many ways I wanted it to last longer, to tell me more, to get a deeper look at the characters. I wanted to know them better.

summary: sweet, love story, charming, short, impressive