The Best Book of 2008 (So Far)

I haven't read every book published in 2008... yet... and Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls may change my mind... but right now, I've read this book three times in two months and that's a good sign. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart is an incredible book by a stunning author. Anything by E. Lockhart is worth buying. She's smart and sarcastic and observant. She makes you think as you laugh.

Most of her books so far can be sort-of classified as "chick lit," roughly. With titles like The Boyfriend List you may think this is a mindless hot-dude book, when it's really an exploration of the complexities of teen relationships (and ceramic frogs.) But Frankie breaks the sound barrier. It's so subtle and yet every observation Lockhart makes about the way we view women and men and teenagers, I find myself agreeing with. You fall in love with this book.

The biggest candidate for throwing E. Lockhart off my personal pedestal is Stephenie Meyer and Breaking Dawn on August 2. But that's a long time away.