A Certain Slant of Light

My journey into young adult fiction continues.

I just finished A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. The plot centers around a couple of ghosts who find each other and decide to recapture life by inhabiting the bodies of two troubled teens.

From the moment I first picked up this book, I couldn’t stop reading it. It was completely engrossing from the first paragraph:

Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you’re dead. I was with my teacher, Mr. Brown. As usual, we were in our classroom, that safe and wooden-walled box–the windows opening onto the grassy field to the west, the fading flag standing in the chalk dust corner, the television mounted above the bulletin board like a sleeping eye, and Mr. Brown’s princely table keeping watch over a regiment of student desks. At that moment I was scribbling invisible comments in the margins of a paper left in Mr. Brown’s tray, though my words were never read by the students. Sometimes Mr. Brown quoted me, all the same, while writing his own comments. Perhaps I couldn’t tickle the inside of his ear, but I could reach the mysterious curves of his mind.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Available at Amazon.com

The Delicate Art of Cameos

Sweet, dainty, subtle, exquiste craftsmanship. The art of cameo carving is still alive and well in Italy.

Cameo: a technique of engraving upon a gem or other stone in such a way that an underlying stone of one color is exposed as a background for a low-relief design of another color.

Here are some fine examples by Del Gatto of Naples:

Young Woman Agate Stone Cameo Pendant – $238

The Italian Del Gatto family has been working in the shell cameo and coral art for over five generations. This beautiful cameo in an 18K gold frame, is part of the Agata collection which uses particular Brasilian stones.

Loving Mother Agate 18k Gold Cameo Pendant – $215

This beautiful agate cameo by Del Gatto uses age old artisan techniques to sculp the marvelous image of mother and child. The intense blue background and exquisite detailing adeptly conveys the mother’s pure joy – a perfect gift for mothers of all ages.

Young Woman Cornelian Cameo Pendant / Pin – $215

The Italian Del Gatto family has been working in the shell cameo and coral art for over five generations, selecting every shell and crafting them with a unique carving technique. This beautiful cameo, in a wavy 18K gold frame, is part of the Corniola collection which uses particular South-East Africa sea shells. This creation shows a beautiful profile of a young woman with her hair pulled up with flowers.

Another beautiful idea for Mother’s Day or perhaps a gift to yourself.

Available at forzieri.com