Corinne's Page

What struck me first about this book is the quality of the art - National Geographic quality photographs that are poignant, fascinating and provocative. The pictures give an emotional punch to text that absolutely intends to make you feel something. Sometimes the pictures can add depth, like a picture of a child's hands holding one small fish - that somehow helped to feed the 5,000. Pictures of poverty and of those people who have tried to make positive changes in this world also help to illustr… Continue

I am going out on a limb by writing this up. I have never yet written a review for a book I haven't actually finished. I feel like I am stirring the pot a bit, since this book is getting rave reviews all over the Internet - but I feel like I need to voice my own alternate opinion.

First of all, let's get this point out in the open: I am a member The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yes, that makes me a Mormon. Thus stems my interest in the book, since the 19th Wife was one of the wi… Continue

rating: 5/5

This is the first novel I've read whose protagonist is, actually, a giant, and not in the fairy tale way. Truly Plaice (LOVE the name) is born huge and grows even more huge. Her early years are taut and miserable, living with an alcoholic father in a tiny town where being anything extreme is discouraged. Her older sister, a model of beauty and decorum, only serves to set Truly off as even more vast and unacceptable. As the years go by and things only seem to get harder, Truly has to… Continue

As one who absolutely devoured Katherine Neville's The Eight (back when I was in high school), I was floored when an unexpected copy of The Fire arrived on my doorstep. Thrilled, really, yet I couldn't imagine how she could possibly pull off a book as complex and riveting as The Eight.

Even if you have never read The Eight, the plot of The Fire grabs you from the first chapter. Alexandra, a genius twelve year old chess player, has arrived in Russia with her father for a tournament. The results… Continue

This is the first novel I've read in the Christian Young Adult genre - and what a breath of fresh air it was.

Ana's parents have moved her to Half Moon Bay - into a huge house that feels like its all for show. Her relationship with her parents is strained at best. Her first weeks at her new school are lonely and she manages to make enemies, just not any friends. Oen fateful mistake, however, lands her among three classmates she would never have chosen as friends - but they find out that htey al… Continue