The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Title: The Lover's Dictionary
Author: David Levithan
Pages: 224
Published: 2011 Farrar, Straus and Giroux
My Rating: 5 stars

Technically I should be reviewing other books before getting to this one...I'm usually pretty good about reviewing books in the order I read them. (And with that sentence I've declared to the world one of my obsessive-compulsive-personality-trait idiosyncrasies.  Oh well, you probably already assumed as much.)  I couldn't wait to talk about this one though. I want everyone to get their hands on it so we can chat about it!

Reading this small description was all it took to make me know I needed to get my hands on this book:

A sweet and modern love story, told through dictionary entries.

Dictionary entries?  Really? Amazing!  And the book is amazing.  It's addictive, actually.  The entries aren't long, they range from a sentence or two to just over a page.  Due to that, as well as the thoughtfulness and humor that is laced through each definition, this book reads almost more like a collection of prose poetry than a novel.  But a collection that you can't stop reading.  There isn't the traditional story arc or dialogue found in most novels, but what is contained between "aberrant" and "zenith" is so absorbing, fun, and honest that traditional isn't at all missed.

stanchion, n.

I don't want to be the strong one, but I don't want to be the weak one, either.  Why does it feel like it's always one or the other?  When we embrace, one of us is always holding the other a little tighter.

I found it to be a little sad at times, but there were so many things I identified with that I couldn't help but be charmed.  What relationship has not experienced uncertainty, fascination, irritation?  This is a book worth owning, and not simply because you will want to show it to every person who walks through your door.  This is a book you will see on your shelf and pull it down to read an entry or two, just to get a taste of that full-to-bursting feeling that goes hand in hand with falling in love.

aloof, adj.

It has always been my habit, ever since junior high school, to ask that question:

"What are you thinking?"

It is always an act of desperation, and I keep on asking, even though I know it will never work the way I want it to.