Eleanor and Park – An unconventional romance that had me, NOT at hello, but 1/4 of the way through.

The Lover’s Dictionary – Another unconventional romance that functions more as a series of prose poems than as a cohesive narrative, though it is also that.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Classic Alexie, and perfect in every way. I love the way he lets his characters laugh at tragedy and welcomes us into that tension.

Does Jesus Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America – This was my “extra” book–it wasn’t not originally on my list.  But after hearing Jeff Chu read at Prairie Lights a few weeks back, I bought a copy and started in on it.  It reads like the New Yorker–really excellent journalism, mixed with memoir in so far as the narrator’s story touches on the story under discussion.  While my own pilgrimage from a relatively conservative theological position to a much more liberal one happened long before this book, it was interesting to go back and visit some of the haunts I had inhabited (mentally) during that evolution.