I really love Yann Martel's writing. My reader's journal racked up quite a few entries from his Life of Pi. Mr. Martel commands a formidable vocabulary, and he uses it well--which is to say sparingly, but to great effect.

Far too many of the "great" literati use their vocabulary more as an ego boost than an art form, but Martel's writing encompasses a highly effective blend of the esoteric and the mundane, making his work oh so delightfully readable. Take a look at this beautifully descriptive passage from page one:

I had the great luck one summer of studying the three-toed sloth in situ in the equatorial jungles of Brazil. It is a highly intriguing creature. Its only real habit is indolence. ... The sloth is at its busiest at sunset, using the word busy here in the most relaxed sense. It moves along the bough of a tree in its characteristic upside-down position at the speed of roughly 400 metres an hour. On the ground, it crawls to its next tree at the rate of 250 metres an hour, when motivated, which is 440 times slower than a motivated cheetah. Unmotivated, it covers four to five metres in an hour.

I love this passage not only for its obvious descriptive talent but also for its ability to tell the reader so much about the narrator while ostensibly talking about sloths. There's so much personality packed into less than half a page.

I feel obliged to mention the fact that the book is not for the squeamish. I have no interest in divulging the plot, so enough said. But if you're interested in some wonderful writing (and a fascinating story), pick up Life of Pi and read the first few pages. I was hooked in two paragraphs.