Reader Profile: Corinne

Corinne

She blogs about books here

Corinne on life:

First and foremost, I see myself as a mom. I love being a mom for many reasons, but probably my two favorite things to do with my children is reading together and traveling together. I really like to explore museums and national parks and I love photography and blogging. I have two blogs, one is more personal where I document my travels and the chaos that is being a mom of three. My other blog is a "book blog," where I participate in reading challenges and review the books I read. Mostly I like feeling like I am living the fullest life that I can, squeezing out every drop of experience available to me.

Corinne on reading:

I like so many different kinds of books. When I get to choose, young adult books are my favorite - fantasy or modern, historical fiction or coming of age. I appreciate the romance that is typically in these books - it's not graphic but there is nearly always some kind of love interest for the protagonist. I like that usually these stories have someone coming into some kind of power, there is a self-fulfilling journey that makes the protagonist realize that they have something special to offer, a pretty powerful idea.

Books that make me laugh usually are character driven, where the absurdity of a character's behavior (or a narrator's rendition of events) strikes me as wonderfully absurd (Jeeves or Cold Comfort Farm or The Princess Bride all have characters and narrators that have made me laugh out loud) Books that make me cry have characters that I really care about and when tragedy strikes them, it hurts me and it's hard to remove their pain from my own. Generally, my favorite books are fiction because when I read non-fiction (memoirs, etc) I usually spend too much thought wondering which parts are real and which parts the author made up (call me quirky, it's okay). I like to know when a story is just a story.

My dream LDS fiction book would have tight and superb writing. It would have characters that are flawed and yet powerful and not based on anyone real. It would probably historical fiction of some kind and would be very well researched. On the other hand, I'd also love to read a fiction book about a stay-at-home-Mormon-Mom like me, it mostly depends on how the book is written. I tried some books that are written to mock or poke fun at Mormon culture and those tend to turn me off. I don't want to read a caricature, I want the deep stuff, the real stuff. I don't typically buy "gift" books, and I'm not particularly into Christmas books. I think they seem to have a level of cheesiness in them that turns me off - I don't want to read something that is designed to make me cry - I want to just care enough about the characters that I cry all on my own because of my connection to the story.

Why Corinne reads:

I think I read to be entertained. I read to spend time in a world beyond my own. I read to learn. I read so I can write about a book afterward. I read to have something to talk about with my friends. I have become more particular about the books I choose to purchase, since my shelf space is limited :) A book I buy I would be comfortable having my children read someday. I would expect it to have writing so well done that I'd want to pick it up and read parts of it again. I would buy it because I want to be able to underline my favorite parts and write in the margins.

I have never checked out an LDS book from the library because I don't think my library has any and frankly, I wouldn't even know what to look for. I would love to read and support works by LDS authors, but I am picky about what kinds of books I read. Shannon Hale, for example, writes exactly the kinds of books I enjoy. The plots are intriguing and the writing is fantastic. There are no LDS elements, but the stories have moral underpinnings that I appreciate. Orson Scott Card is another example of an LDS author I really enjoy - but I think I like Hale and Card because I just like the kinds of stories they tell, the fact that they are LDS is superfluous. I would have read them anyway, if that makes sense. I have tried buying "LDS fiction" books online before, but I was a bit disappointed in the quality of writing, it felt more like a clean romance novel to me and I like my stories to have more depth than JUST the romance.

In all, the fact that an author or a publisher is LDS doesn't matter to me as much as the quality of the writing. I want a good story with strong characters and lyrical, thoughtful writing. If you find one, please pass it my way :)