I've been picking up award winning books and this one made the "to read" list. So I start reading it and the very first story is quite gay. I thought, "Oh crap, no wonder it's an award winner." I have it in my head that book, art and movie awards have a gay bias. That may be true, but in this case, there really is good writing.

I kept reading.

Turns out, Benjamin Alire Saenz is a good writer. The short stories within this book may have breached topics I'm not so interested in reading about, but the style, plot and dialogue kept me interested. I wanted to find out what happens next.

You've got a good book when you are anxious to find out what happens next in the story.