Winger by Andrew Smith

Junior year is going to be different, Ryan Dean West has decided; he's been working out, he's got his eye on dating his gorgeous best friend Annie, and he's got big plans on diverting his boarding school classmate's focus away from the fact that he's only 14 years old.

It's a book about relationships and figuring things out as a teen. Rugby plays a central role, and the author does an excellent job explaining just enough about the sport but also keeps the story moving along. RD is a typical twisted teen - wonderfully insightful about a teammate's homosexuality, and then bullishly idiotic with his own hormones.

The text is liberally decorated with Ryan Dean's doodles (illustrations by Sam Bosma), which allow us to see into his head a bit. The book's a little gross, a lot horny, and overall excellent. Actually, the whole time I was reading I kept thinking it was a great book, and then at the end it became an AMAZING book. You'll have to figure out why on your own.

Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott

Steve Abbott gave his daughter an unusual life; he was a devoted and loving only parent, a struggling full-time poet and writer, and on the front line of the 1980s AIDS epidemic as an out gay man in San Francisco.

It's a good book, and Alysia's honest in a way many might have glossed over. She didn't always behave well - often demanding her father's full attention to the detriment of the rest of his life. But it's overall a loving look at a nontraditional life, and the kind of story we've not heard much; since the AIDS epidemic primarily claimed gay men, most of its history has been written about the community of friends that grew up around sick men and their partners. This is a look at a marginalized group that's just beginning to speak out: children and wives of AIDS victims.

God Believes in Love by Gene Robinson

Subtitled "Straight Talk About Gay Marriage," this book was written by an openly gay, American Episcopalian bishop. Using personal stories and theological insights, Robinson attempts to answer the 10 most-commonly asked questions about homosexuality and Christianity.

His religious discussion is simply stated and well defined. Robinson analyzes the Bible verses most often quoted, then discusses their historical and theological influences. This type of biblical analysis was game-changing for me when I first encountered it in college, and is still fascinating and exciting to me 20 years later. It's really a way of looking at things that I'd never encountered at church.

While the book specifically addresses the religious opposition to gay marriage, there are larger political topics that cannot be ignored: civil rights, separation of church and state, and legal ethics to name a few. Robinson does a nice job drawing parallels from the 1960's civil rights movement, the 1970's women's liberation movement, and the 1980's disabilities movement.

I liked the book's format - laid out question by question - where each chapter could be a stand-alone essay addressing a specific topic of concern. Reading the book from start to finish, though, this style forces the repetition of some integral theory and verse. I didn't really mind that - the repetition sometimes allows a new facet to appear, and for me helped emphasize the most important elements - but it could be irritating.

I picked up the book and put it down again several times over the course of a couple weeks; it's a slim volume, but packs a lot into a small space. I found I needed time to step away and absorb before returning for more.

Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin

Lucas dreams of grand gestures and Hollywood endings: He edits a yearbook spread and borrows the sale billboard out front of the grocery store to invite Tessa to prom. Meanwhile, helping her brother order his prom tux, Tessa falls in love with a fitted and slightly feminine tux and on impulse, buys it; she dreams of going to prom dressed in something comfortable and appropriate (not a big frilly dress - that idea gives her hives). She also dreams of asking her sorta-girlfriend/crush Josie to be her date.

Each is devastated their best friend hasn't notice the biggest thing in their lives: that Lucas loves Tessa, and that Tessa likes girls. Neither teen reacts well to the big news - and neither does the community as a whole, once the news gets out. Funny how something so personal can become a nation-wide news event.

I liked this book - there's a lot of "issue" in it and moral dilemmas to wrestle with, but it's handled in a pretty light and approachable manner. The book cover is INCREDIBLE in its simplicity, and is the whole reason I picked up the book in the first place. These teens are fairly normal - family, work, school - and their actions have far-reaching repercussions they never considered. It's maybe a little "down pat" in the end, but perhaps times a happy ending can be good, too.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Paul's an "out" gay sophomore in a high school where gay and straight don't matter; parents, on the other hand, aren't always quite as accepting - except Paul's, who are cool. Between Paul's ex having second thoughts, his best girlfriend dating a jerk, the cute new artist kid at school, and the drag queen quarterback, it's just another high school soap opera/high-drama situation.

I'll admit that I expect a lot from David Levithan, and this one left me cold; it's a little too unrealistically accepting to be truly believable, yet not unrealistic enough to become a fantasy.

But I have to admit that opinion may have been jaded by the audiobook. Full cast audio are either excellent or bad, and I thought this one fell in the latter category. Compounded with the overly melodramatic music interludes, and it just felt over-wrought and lame.

Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan

This book is told in alternating chapters by twin teens: one girl, one boy, one gay, one straight, both looking for a boyfriend. They're in the center of seven kids in their family, and it's a typically strange kind of normal family.

When there are nine people in the house, what's one more? So the family takes in another teen for the last month of school, so he can finish out the year before moving with his family. He's quiet, artsy, very goth, and says he's a vampire. Both Kyle and Judy are intrigued by this addition to the family - he's their same age and mysterious, both off-putting and also strangely attractive.

Really, this is at heart a teen discovery novel - a bunch of young adults feeling out the edges of their world to figure out where they fit in and who they will become. Nearly everyone's different in one way or another by the end of the book, and while there is some drama involved, it's not a tacky "after-school special" lesson.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson is a morose teen with one friend: big, gay Tiny. He's trying to survive by two rules: shut up, and don't care. Tiny, on the other hand, never shuts up and cares way too much about everything.

will grayson is a clinically depressed loner teen with a secret online boyfriend, isaac, and one i.r.l. frenemy, maura. he's trying to keep his head above the dark water, and isaac's the only one helping.

Two teen boys - one name: two awesome writers - one book.

I love, love, love both of these writers - and their resulting partnership is all good. I've joked that this book is really "An Abundance of Nick & Noras" - and if you get that joke, you probably don't need me to tell you how good this book is.

If you don't get that joke ... I've got a killer reading list for you to start on. Call me.

Gay America by Linas Alsenas

This juvenile nonfiction book came to our library highly recommended as not just niche "Gay History" but as simply American History. I agree, and the book is well done.

But the first half of the book - the "history" history section - is much, much stronger than the "current" history section. I understand that it's always a challenge to look at your own times and determine what will become important to history. But it seems to me that at a certain point the author decided to just throw in references to a bunch of people, just to make sure everybody was covered in case something becomes critical.

The sections dealing with the Victorian era, the Depression, and the early days of AIDS were certainly the strongest and most interesting. It really does help to frame current news items when you understand the origins of the struggle.

Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne

Like Phoebe's life doesn't suck enough, then Leonard moves in.

Phoebe Hertle is pretty wrapped up in the drama of her own life - he parents' divorce, her sister's strange behavior, her mom's beauty shop customers, and even her own dramatic haircolor(s). And then one day this weird loser cousin she's never met shows up at the door to live with them. Leonard marches to the beat of his own conga line, and while he's an outcast at school, he's mister popularity at the beauty shop where he wins hearts and gradually improves the lives of all the regulars. And while Phoebe thinks he's a pest - and worse - she also wonders why he's never tried to "fix" her.

And then one day, Leonard disappears. And that's where this book really gets interesting.

I really enjoyed the personal discoveries and growth that Phoebe experiences during this book. They're real, and not always pretty - just like in real life.