Almost Like Being in Love

books

Continuing the trend of writing witty epistolary novels, Steve Kluger's third book, Almost Like Being in Love (Perennial), chronicles the romance between Travis Puckett and Craig McKenna through a series of letters, journal entries and e-mails. There is even a "boyfriend checklist" straight out of the single Kluger's life.

"It helps to establish an intimacy and an immediacy that you just can't get with traditional narrative," the author says in an e-mail about his distinctive writing style, which gets more complex with each book.

While his humor may derive from influences as diverse as "Lucille Ball and "unintentionally' Richard Nixon," Kluger features plenty of laughs in Love.

For example, "the story about faking a pain in an upper left molar in order to go in for a root canal he didn't need just to stare up into the big brown eyes of the dentist he has a crush on, is pure Travis," Kluger says. "It's also no fabrication; it happened in July of 1991, my dentist's name is Craig, and he's the reason that ever since then everything I've written has a Craig in it."

Steve Kluger reads from Almost Like Being in Love, Fri., June 11, 5:30 p.m., free, Giovanni's Room, 12th and Pine sts., 215-923-2960.

—Gary Kramer

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