Remembering the books I read in 2011

The boys just went out to play some road hockey (they had better be careful with our 1 year old in tow!). I had a few minutes and was putting together a list of books I read in 2011. I've added the list to the blog in a tab at the top, although I know I've forgotten a bunch. The reason for my post was to highlight a few of my favourite reads of 2011. There are a couple of predictable ones, like "The Help" and "Sarah's Key", but here are a few possibly lesser known ones that were absolutely brilliant! Enjoy!

Under this Unbroken Sky - by Shandi Mitchell
City of Thieves - by David Benioff
Left Neglected - by Lisa Genova
The Shadow of the Wind - by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Book 12 of 52: Home Front

I had some hesitation picking up this book. It’s the first one I’ve read this year without a recommendation from anyone, but the author has had many bestsellers and I often see her books on the “Fast Lane” at the library. I was also looking for a “light” read as I’ve been dealing with a horrible sinus cold and not sleeping well this week.

The story is about a couple that’s been married 12 years (like my husband and I) and are facing the day to day chaos of children, careers, bills, and keeping everything together (I can relate!). Jolene, the wife, is a stay at home mom and a part-time helicopter pilot with the National Guard. She and her best friend, also a helicopter pilot, are unexpectedly deployed to Iraq and she leaves her husband, a hard-working defence attorney, to be a single parent to their two girls for the year she’s away. In her emails home, she paints a rose-colored version of life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But inevitably tragedy strikes and the war leaves both Jolene and Michael different people that they were before the deployment. They are left trying to make sense of their marriage and dealing with the toll the war has taken on them.

When I picked up the book from my bedside table and read the inside flap I realized it was about a woman going off to fight in Iraq. I’m not really interested in reading a fictional book about a war I don’t agree with, but I had signed it out from the “Fast Lane” of the library and it had to be returned in a week. I was sick in bed and didn't feel like searching out anything else. Well, once I picked it up on a Monday evening, I barely put it down until it was finished on Wednesday morning. The emotions that swirled through me while reading it left me exhausted with some puffy eyes. I went through an entire box of tissues (a combination of the book and my sinus cold). While it was a terrific emotional rollercoaster that I truly enjoyed I feel I have to take the time to review it not just with my heart, but my brain too.

I might classify this novel as formula fiction (I’m not saying this as a “good” or “bad” thing). The plot is predictable right from the start and there’s no doubt that the reader can figure out everything that’s going to happen ahead of time. This standard formula approach to storytelling may be unoriginal, but it’s also like putting on a soft well-worn sweater that’s stretched in just the right places.  If you need a cozy read for a rainy day, this is the one.