Idlewild Magic for Away Violet Commitment

AA Gill Is Away, by AA Gill
I started this a few months ago, but had to put it down because it was too depressing. Coming back to it in a better mood, I found that while still caustic, it was also funny and deeply felt. Which made everything better. Travel essays that tend to come in two sorts: a) whirlwind bitchfest/tour/elegy or b) very precise depiction of a specific place at a specific moment in time. Often found myself protesting violently against what I felt to be mischaracterizations of something; enjoyed iconoclastic frankness of said characterizations nonetheless.
(102/250)

Violet and Claire, by Francesca Lia Block
It's short and dark and not very difficult at all. Which was pretty much what I was looking for when I started reading it.
(103/250)

The Commitment, by Dan Savage
This book is written in the present tense, as Savage works out (in the sometimes hilarious company of various family members) his own feelings about marrying his partner, while tackling the broader issues of gay marriage and a historical overview of marriage-as-institution. I liked this book a lot, and kept reading bits of it out loud to my longsuffering spouse.
(104/250)

Magic for Beginners, by Kelly Link
In my review of Ms. Link's last book, I likened her stories to dreams. After the first story or two from this collection, I realized these ones were different - less like dreams I might have had, and more like bedtime stories someone might have told me. But not the stories a parent tells a child - these are stories one adult might tell another adult, were it late, and they both tired, and all defenses down..... and the teller brilliant. Later in the collection, in what was actually the most dreamlike of these stories, the author explicitly takes up the theme of adult bedtime stories, so I don't think my fancy was too far off. I think the difference between this collection and the last is that these ones are more about what is between two or more people, that hoary word 'relationship', and that's what moors them. They don't float like the dreamy ones. Also, if I had to guess, I think they mostly have more words per story than the last batch. Whatever, they were wonderful stories and I devoured this book.
(105/250)

Idlewild, by Nick Sagan
Fun story with lots of satisfying parts. Liked the people in it. Was amused to find several of my little twitches during reading turning out to be accurate (either plot-foreshadowings or 'hm, this bit reminds me of X - oh look, author worked on X'), made me feel teh SMRT. I'm glad he's written more, and that raisinbottom lent me this one.
(106/250)