60th out of 1,455 books
—
1,414 voters
Almost Like Being in Love
by
Steve Kluger (Goodreads Author)
A high school jock and nerd fall in love senior year, only to part after an amazing summer of discovery to attend their respective colleges. They keep in touch at first, but then slowly drift apart.
Flash forward twenty years.
Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing .... Travis is the first to figure it out. He's still in love wit...more
Flash forward twenty years.
Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing .... Travis is the first to figure it out. He's still in love wit...more
Paperback, 354 pages
Published
May 11th 2004
by William Morrow Paperbacks
(first published January 1st 2004)
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March 16, 2013
Doing a quick re-read...just wanted (needed) some Travis bits to make me smile...
***************************
4.5 stars
“Being Travis was a full-time job, yet that never kept him from teaching me how to be Craig.”
This book is about first love, true love, forever love…
Damn this book.
Charming, witty, funny, original…and almost 100% quotable. This book made me laugh and cry and hope and hurt and hope and smile. Travis (me, if I was a 38 yr-old gay man) and Craig (my soulmate if I was a...more
I didn't know that funny can be boring. DNF. I will refrain from rating this book.

No offense, Rowan…bye!
There are enough good reviews on GR that you can check out. Let's just say that Almost Like Being in Love is not my cuppa at all. In fact, the writing did not suit me and even though there are some laugh-out-loud moments, most of the time I felt bored out of my mind. Also, this book is weird to read. There are plenty of e-mails, memos, journal entries, notes etc. and it felt like I was consta...more

No offense, Rowan…bye!
There are enough good reviews on GR that you can check out. Let's just say that Almost Like Being in Love is not my cuppa at all. In fact, the writing did not suit me and even though there are some laugh-out-loud moments, most of the time I felt bored out of my mind. Also, this book is weird to read. There are plenty of e-mails, memos, journal entries, notes etc. and it felt like I was consta...more
4.5
Almost Like Being in Love uses a very standard trope as its jumping-off point, boy meets boy or in this case, nerd meets jock and they fall in love. And despite this, it manages to be an effervescent, charming and exceedingly hilarious not quiet romantic comedy by putting its own spin on this completely overdone cliché. The obvious hook of the book is that it’s written in the epistolary form and told via school assignments, emails, transcripts, menus, memos, journal entries, notes and whatnot...more
Almost Like Being in Love uses a very standard trope as its jumping-off point, boy meets boy or in this case, nerd meets jock and they fall in love. And despite this, it manages to be an effervescent, charming and exceedingly hilarious not quiet romantic comedy by putting its own spin on this completely overdone cliché. The obvious hook of the book is that it’s written in the epistolary form and told via school assignments, emails, transcripts, menus, memos, journal entries, notes and whatnot...more
This is one of those times I can't do a proper review. Mostly because there are so many things I want to say about this book, I don't know where to begin.
So I'll just say that I loved it. It made me smile, laugh out loud even. It made my heart ache and jump and swell in my chest. It made me love and root for the main characters, and it also introduced me to a set of remarkable side characters. Travis, I admit I liked you a teeny tiny more than Craig, and your best friend Gordo was fun, but Crai...more
So I'll just say that I loved it. It made me smile, laugh out loud even. It made my heart ache and jump and swell in my chest. It made me love and root for the main characters, and it also introduced me to a set of remarkable side characters. Travis, I admit I liked you a teeny tiny more than Craig, and your best friend Gordo was fun, but Crai...more
Not sure how i feel about this book. i admit i came to this with high hopes and a great deal of excitement. It was nice to hold a paperback in my hands again!
This is more of a personal journey than traditional romance. The characters are well written in the beginning, but i still managed to get bored. The cross country journey lost me completely.
The Harvard years felt to real to me as i spent a ton of time there in the late 80s through the mid nineties. I ate at the same restaurants, drank at...more
This is more of a personal journey than traditional romance. The characters are well written in the beginning, but i still managed to get bored. The cross country journey lost me completely.
The Harvard years felt to real to me as i spent a ton of time there in the late 80s through the mid nineties. I ate at the same restaurants, drank at...more
Jan 15, 2013
Jen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE EVER
Recommended to Jen by:
A lot of people, and I love you all forever
A quick note before you read my sappy-ass review: do yourself a favor, and read this as an actual book, and not as an e-book. I’ve heard the e-book is not formatted correctly, and trust me… you want the correctly formatted version!
Anyway…
I want to give this book a million stars, I loved it so much. I literally hugged this book when I finished it… and how ridiculous is that?!
Is it possible to feel completely shattered and completely blissfully happy all at the same time? Because that’s what I f...more
Anyway…
I want to give this book a million stars, I loved it so much. I literally hugged this book when I finished it… and how ridiculous is that?!
Is it possible to feel completely shattered and completely blissfully happy all at the same time? Because that’s what I f...more
What can I say, brilliant, engaging and funny. It made my day, loved it.
If you like hilarious gay stories, then this one is just the book you were looking for. It's not written in the usual "book-ish" style, it's like looking into someone's life through their Post-It notes, emails, journal entries etc. It's new and totally refreshing but it takes some time to get used to.
And I haven never encountered two characters that would simply fit like Craig McKenna and Travis Puckett. Travis is the guy who counts his pop-corn and lines up the peas and asparagus on his plate a...more
And I haven never encountered two characters that would simply fit like Craig McKenna and Travis Puckett. Travis is the guy who counts his pop-corn and lines up the peas and asparagus on his plate a...more
Soulmate treasure hunt.
Once you truly give your heart away, you never get it back. Hop on to this hilarious journey of two separated souls destined to be together. Tag along and see if it’s possible to slip into the empty space lingering after 2 decades apart.
Young love. First love. True love.
Seniors Travis and Craig fall into each other’s arms (literally) and give their hearts away without hesitation. They have ‘perfect’ love and look forward to their happily-ever-after future together. Unfor...more
Once you truly give your heart away, you never get it back. Hop on to this hilarious journey of two separated souls destined to be together. Tag along and see if it’s possible to slip into the empty space lingering after 2 decades apart.
Young love. First love. True love.
Seniors Travis and Craig fall into each other’s arms (literally) and give their hearts away without hesitation. They have ‘perfect’ love and look forward to their happily-ever-after future together. Unfor...more
If there was ever a book that deserved more than 5 stars this is it. Not only was it one of the sweetest love stories ever but so funny I was laughing out loud through out the whole book. I could rave about this book so much but I could never do it justice. If you haven't read it yet then your missing out. It is so worth the time and money.
This is one of those classic great books that makes the blog review rounds almost every year as more and more readers discover its greatness. I’ve had the paperback on my shelf for a lamentably long time and finally picked it up to highlight for those few readers who haven’t indulged in the fabulousness that makes up this book. Almost Like Being in Love is a tour de force of wit, charm, and cultural references. A large cast of incredible characters immediately delights and entertains even if the...more
I bought the Kindle version and I do think part of my issue had to do with the snafus which might had hindered my pace.
This is probably one of the most interesting formats I've ever read in my reading career. It works though. Written in almost entirely in memo format it WILL take you awhile to get into the book. I struggled with wanting my traditional dialogue and POV but I hung in there and really enjoyed this story. The beginning is a bit rough and I almost gave up, glad I didn't because the a...more
This is probably one of the most interesting formats I've ever read in my reading career. It works though. Written in almost entirely in memo format it WILL take you awhile to get into the book. I struggled with wanting my traditional dialogue and POV but I hung in there and really enjoyed this story. The beginning is a bit rough and I almost gave up, glad I didn't because the a...more
Nov 07, 2011
L-D
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE who loves M/M
Recommended to L-D by:
Deeze
5+ stars for me.
I'm in shell shock right now. I just finished this book and I jumped on GRs to immediately spill to my friends. Some of my friends on GR (to remain nameless) like to recommend angsty books even though they know I will put them on my read-rage shelf. I thought for sure that this book was going to destroy me. I LOVED this book. This book is going straight to my favorites shelf - do not pass go - do not collect $200.
Travis and Craig were first loves from HS. It is the typical jock...more
I'm in shell shock right now. I just finished this book and I jumped on GRs to immediately spill to my friends. Some of my friends on GR (to remain nameless) like to recommend angsty books even though they know I will put them on my read-rage shelf. I thought for sure that this book was going to destroy me. I LOVED this book. This book is going straight to my favorites shelf - do not pass go - do not collect $200.
Travis and Craig were first loves from HS. It is the typical jock...more
The story is, from a romantic point of view, very conventional: two boys fall in love, college (for some reason) takes them apart, and after almost 20 years one of them - the former nerd and now history professor Travis - realizes that the other one - the former jock and now civil rights lawyer Craig - was the only love of his life.
It would be a perfect romantic movie, with a bit of road trip, goofy moments and some drama. What's different, even if not original, is that the story is told through...more
It would be a perfect romantic movie, with a bit of road trip, goofy moments and some drama. What's different, even if not original, is that the story is told through...more
This review was previously posted at All About Romance: http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/boo...
Grade: A-
Sensuality: Subtle
When I find a book I truly enjoy, I often end up hunting down my husband and reading passages to him. Some books are so good that a reader must really just share to enjoy them fully. Almost Like Being in Love, with its laugh-out-loud joie de vivre me looking for my husband multiple times a day just to share the bubbling joy I was feeling.
Travis and Craig found each other i...more
Grade: A-
Sensuality: Subtle
When I find a book I truly enjoy, I often end up hunting down my husband and reading passages to him. Some books are so good that a reader must really just share to enjoy them fully. Almost Like Being in Love, with its laugh-out-loud joie de vivre me looking for my husband multiple times a day just to share the bubbling joy I was feeling.
Travis and Craig found each other i...more
As you can see I have read this book several years ago. Usually I do not review the books I have read more than several days ago, if I did not review them right away - with the amount of books (especially gay romances) that I read every week, the details even of the best books fade from your memory and fast. Not so with this book, granted I have reread it couple of times, but it had been more than a year since my last reread and I still remember it so clearly.
This book is a book I want to point...more
This book is a book I want to point...more
NOTE: If you are going to read this, read the physical copy, not the ebook due to rumored formatting concerns.
KLUGER HITS A GRAND SLAM!
This is one of my few all time favorite books I've read numerous times, loaned numerous times, and will probably be getting another copy of in the future, once I get Kluger to sign my original copy. I am partial to this book for several reasons, I'm a huge baseball fan as well as a musical theatre fan. Part of it also takes place in my hometown of St. Louis, MO w...more
KLUGER HITS A GRAND SLAM!
This is one of my few all time favorite books I've read numerous times, loaned numerous times, and will probably be getting another copy of in the future, once I get Kluger to sign my original copy. I am partial to this book for several reasons, I'm a huge baseball fan as well as a musical theatre fan. Part of it also takes place in my hometown of St. Louis, MO w...more
This is not your typical novel, as most (if not all) of it is written in the form of journal entries, faxes, memos, text messages and emails, so it does take a little getting used to (in fact, I had to change to a different ereader app on my iPad, as Stanza didn't deal with the layout very well, making it difficult to determine who was writing what). But once I did, I couldn't help but fall in to the story of these two very different people finding their way through life and love. Travis is the...more
I’ll probably re-read this about once a year for the rest of my life
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- I found this to be one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. If I wasn’t laughing out loud or at least smiling while reading 100% of the pages, it was at least 90%.
- The storytelling techniques are, if not totally novel, unusual and tons of fun to read. The emails and newspaper articles and such that are thrown in are both humorous and in...more
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- I found this to be one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. If I wasn’t laughing out loud or at least smiling while reading 100% of the pages, it was at least 90%.
- The storytelling techniques are, if not totally novel, unusual and tons of fun to read. The emails and newspaper articles and such that are thrown in are both humorous and in...more
This is by the same guy who wrote My Most Excellent Year, which I read back in September. I recently wrote two 15 page papers on that novel, and just for the heck of it, emailed the author to tell him how much I dug it. He wrote back, which was awesome, and I decided to try out his others.
So, I thought this was YA, since the others are. Nope. It's an adult wolf walking around in YA sheep's clothing, which is ok. Most of the book is about the two protagonists at age 37, even though it starts wit...more
So, I thought this was YA, since the others are. Nope. It's an adult wolf walking around in YA sheep's clothing, which is ok. Most of the book is about the two protagonists at age 37, even though it starts wit...more
I have been considering reading kluger for a while, but always thought better of it. But when I saw it on Karen's "you might be gay if" table or perhaps "If you are gay you may like" I'm not completely clear on the subtext of the table. I decided to be appreciated by being like dana and reading about gay boys. Dana wouldn't like this book there are no amputees**. also no pirates and it's stupid cute.
This is a very american version of One Day to the point of pukey, stupid, cute, american, but fu...more
This is a very american version of One Day to the point of pukey, stupid, cute, american, but fu...more
Presented in the form of faxes, emails, journal entries, and other formats, this novel presents a romantic comedy about two guys who fell in love in high school and grew apart once they headed off to college. Craig McKenna is a star athlete in his high school in New York state. He ends up befriend Travis Puckett, who is full of spit and vinegar as well as being a major fan of Broadway. Over the course of the senior year, they friendship grows into something more. Then college life drags them to...more
Are you kidding me? I loved this book so freaking much.
It's been so long since I've read a book that could just be called charming, but that's exactly what Almost Like Being in Love is. It's charming. It charmed the ever-loving crap out of me. Also, it's been quite a while since I've read anything where I felt so completely emotionally invested in the characters. I couldn't put the book down, because if I did, I'd worry about what was happening to these characters that I love so damn much.
I lo...more
It's been so long since I've read a book that could just be called charming, but that's exactly what Almost Like Being in Love is. It's charming. It charmed the ever-loving crap out of me. Also, it's been quite a while since I've read anything where I felt so completely emotionally invested in the characters. I couldn't put the book down, because if I did, I'd worry about what was happening to these characters that I love so damn much.
I lo...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Feb 23, 2010
Elisa Ramblings
added it
If someone wants to read the best funny romance ever, than they has to read Almost Like Being in Love. I really don’t know why I didn’t read it sooner, it was a book that many people recommend to me, but there was a little voice inside me that was murmuring, “it’s not possible that a book that is so liked from so many people, it’s actually a good romance, people don’t really like romance”. And so I waited and waited, and then, when I finally bought the book, I left it in my reading list, and wee...more
Almost Like Being In Love is as addictive as chocolate, it’s that good and it’s one of those books which I hated when it ended because I loved, loved this story so much. The book is epic without being 600 pages long, and it’s about a man’s journey to find his soul, his lost love from 20 years before, how he abandoned everything else in his life in his quest, and the people in his life and those he met along the way.
The story is told epistolary style and if you’re put off at the thought of readin...more
The story is told epistolary style and if you’re put off at the thought of readin...more
Steve Kluger is one of my favorite authors. However, this was not one of my favorite Kluger books. Maybe because I have read several of his books lately, I found this one to be just a bit repetitive and predictable. His work, I am finding, is somewhat formulaic. Again, Kluger employs a multi-genre, epistolary writing style in which the characters all tell the story from their perspective through memos, scripts, letters, etc. I also felt that the humor was kind of unnecessarily raunchy at times -...more
This reminds me of a high concept (homage?) to the letter novels from the 18th century like Les Liaisons Dangereuses which is fun to read if you're in the book to read between the lines because it is a rare letter writer that tells the whole story instead of whatever makes them look good to the reader.
This story unfolds in a series of lists, essays, depositions, journals and conversations (the debates are really a funny great part of the story). If a nontraditional nonexistent narrator voice bot...more
This story unfolds in a series of lists, essays, depositions, journals and conversations (the debates are really a funny great part of the story). If a nontraditional nonexistent narrator voice bot...more
Almost like being tortured (in a good way though)
I'm not going to recap the story, that's what blurbs are for:-) So I was up reading this until 3 AM by which point I was bawling like a baby, convinced there wasn't going to be a happy ending, and who likes crying at 3 AM on a weekday, but I have to say I absolutely loved the book (especially the characters) despite the sheer emotional torture it put me through.
The book has a very unusual way of storytelling, it's basically all conveyed through co...more
I'm not going to recap the story, that's what blurbs are for:-) So I was up reading this until 3 AM by which point I was bawling like a baby, convinced there wasn't going to be a happy ending, and who likes crying at 3 AM on a weekday, but I have to say I absolutely loved the book (especially the characters) despite the sheer emotional torture it put me through.
The book has a very unusual way of storytelling, it's basically all conveyed through co...more
This book made me both laugh out loud and cry while reading it. It's not a book where you'll find explicit sexual scenes, instead you'll find love -- all types of love. Love between couples, but also friendships that last years without wavering, between people who know how to give and take, and love and friendships that are born out of a sense of immediate connection.
The story is told in narrative form from different points of view, but mostly by Travis and Craig. We know what's happening in bot...more
The story is told in narrative form from different points of view, but mostly by Travis and Craig. We know what's happening in bot...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introductions | 48 | 39 | Sep 12, 2011 02:27pm |
Steve Kluger is an author and playwright, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1952, who grew up with only two heroes: Tom Seaver and Ethel Merman. Few were able to grasp the concept. A veteran of "Casablanca" and a graduate of "The Graduate," he has written extensively on subjects as far ranging as World War II, rock and roll, and the Titanic, and as close to the heart as baseball and the Boston Red S...more
More about Steve Kluger...
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“It doesn't matter what people thinks of you as long as you know that your heart and head are in the right place.”
—
17 people liked it
“Falling hard for somebody makes you do things you never thought you'd do before. Like pulling off an A in History or finally facing the truth about yourself”
—
16 people liked it
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