Saturday, December 5, 2009

Share-A-Book Saturday (14)

This is something I found over on Just Another Book Addict =), and I thought I'd do my own. There are so many great books out there that get overlooked (especially if they've been out for a while)!

Every Saturday, you share (recommend) a book, preferably one that you haven't reviewed yet. It's just a way to get other books out into the blogging world. This is NOT a review.

Today I'm going to recommend A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb.

In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen—terrified, but intrigued—is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess. (Product description from Amazon.com.)

I rarely get fangirly about books, but if I were going to, this book might be a catalyst for such a reaction. It wasn't just that the story was good. It was the writing that really sucked me into this one. From the very first page, the author treats her readers to some absolutely luscious prose. Maybe it was because I'd recently read Breaking Dawn, but Laura Whitcomb's writing made me feel like I was eating a gourmet meal... instead of twice-warmed fast food.

A Certain Slant of Light is a dead-narrator tale with a twist. Instead of being confined to the spirit world and unable to interact with the physical world, Helen takes on the human body of a teenage girl so that she can experience life once more. While on some levels this book seems like a simple love story between two people, it is also explores some much deeper themes: family, guilt, and forgiveness.

This book is best suited to older teens and adults, and would probably appeal to readers who enjoyed books like Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

4 comments:

  1. Okay, so i havent read the lovley bones, but it is high on my tbr list! :) This one sounds very good and gets a place on the list. :)

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  2. Excellent choice! I read this in tenth grade and I still adore it. :D

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  3. I read this book and loved it. I often think about it still, it was such a beautiful and unusual ghost story!

    This share-a-book feature is genius! I would love to join the fun... I'm sure this book would pop on the list at some point too!

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  4. Such a great book. Haunting really. Good choice :)

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