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UPDATE (3/1): Thank you all for entering! This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced tomorrow!

THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY is the story of a relationship told in the form of dictionary entries, it's a 2012 Alex Award winner, and we have 20 hardcover copies to give away to our cleverest commenters here on the blog!

In THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY each page is a dictionary entry that describes one couple's relationship from the intimate, day-to-day minutiae to the deepest joys and fears of their lives together.

Booklist gave THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY a starred review and said, "Levithan demonstrates, intimacy is sometimes enigmatic and, as he notes under ineffable, 'No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough.'"

Here are a few of the entries:

autonomy, n.

"I want my books to have their own shelves," you said, and that’s how I knew it would be okay to live together.

dumbfounded, adj. 

And still, for all the jealousy, all the doubt, sometimes I will be struck with a kind of awe that we’re together. That someone like me could find someone like you--it renders me wordless. Because surely words would conspire against such luck, would protest the unlikelihood of such a turn of events.

I didn't tell any of my friends about our first date. I waited until after the second, because I wanted to make sure it was real. I wouldn’t believe it had happened until it had happened again. Then, later on, I would be overwhelmed by the evidence, by all the lines connecting you to me, and us to love.

yearning, n. and adj.

At the core of this desire is the belief that everything can be perfect.

How to enter:

Leave a comment below in the style of a dictionary entry. Include one word and an unexpected definition for that word. 

On March 1st Talia and I will pick our 20 favorite entries (be they silly, sassy, or heartbreaking). The winners will each receive one copy of THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY!

This sweepstakes is open to librarians in the United States. More eligibility details below!

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