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.

Monday's Question of the Day (10)

Monday's Question of the Day is hosted by Eleni at /-LA FEMME READERS-/

Question: Out of all the authors you've read, whose writing do you enjoy the most?

My Answer: If I'm going by just the writing itself, I'd have to say Laura Whitcomb (even though I've only read two of her books). I was struck by the beauty and quality of her writing when I read A Certain Slant of Light. (Her second book, The Fetch, was also written well... but I wasn't that crazy about the story.)

If we're talking about writing as in storytelling ability... well, then maybe I'd go with someone like Diana Wynne Jones. Some of my favourite stories come from her body of work.

Booking Through Thursday (2)

Booking Through Thursday asks:

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
(Tell me you didn’t see this one coming?)

It's been a while since I read a book that I really enjoyed. Last November, I read Laura Whitcomb's A Certain Slant of Light. I'd just come from reading Charles de Lint's Dingo (I usually love the author's work, but that book was just bad) and Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn (do I really need to explain?), so it was so refreshing to read something that was just... well, good.

The first thing that grabbed me was the cover. Doesn't this cover make you curious?

When I actually got my hands on the book, though, it was the writing that sucked me straight into the story and kept me reading. I thought the characters were interesting (even the supporting ones), and the story was compelling. My complaints were few and minor.