In 2011 I read 67 books.  This list remains up throughout the year with the monthly review staying up until I finish my first book of the succeeding month.

1. The Best of Me (Nicholas Sparks)
2. Secretariat's Meadow (Kate Chenery Tweedy)
3. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (Helen Simonson)
4. War Horse (Michael Morpurgo)
5. Two Wrongs Don't Make a Write (Cathy Wiley)
6. The Lost Van Gogh (A.J. Zerries)
7. Killing Mr. Griffin (Lois Duncan)
8. Chocolate Wars (Deborah Cadbury)
9. A Restless Spirit: The Story of Robert Frost (Natalie Bober)

JANUARY

The Best of Me is the first book by Nicholas Sparks I've ever read.  The only movie I've seen based on his novels is Message in a Bottle.  Both were bummers of endings.  I've never watched the movie again and I doubt I'll bother to pick up another Sparks book. I found the first half to be little more than sappy drivel and the whole book to pretty predictable.  I admit my first thought was that SPOILER ALERT! Amanda's alcoholic husband would get himself into a drunk driving accident and die, thereby paving the way for her to get back with her first love.  Then I remembered Message in a Bottle.  Though I knew exactly what was going to happen, Sparks had to drag it out for 30 or 40 more pages before revealing what was, by then, no surprise at all.  I'm not a fan of romance novels but I'm certainly less a fan of the "life sucks" endings Sparks seems to joy in providing.

What I liked best about Secretariat's Meadow is that it was not yet another rehashing of the wonder horse's career.  Certainly, the 1973 Triple Crown winner had a major part to play in this story, but it was really the story of the Chenery family and the Virginia land that was The Meadow.  I loved watching Penny Chenery's (owner of Secretariat) daughter recount the long history of the land, back to the 1700's, and how it came to the Chenery family.  She traced the different branches of the family before focusing on her grandfather's legacy of raising Thoroughbred racehorses.  The pictures of the farm, the family, and the horses they raised are beautiful and the story is lovely.  A very nice Christmas gift from my friend Judy.

A "pass along" recommendation from my friend Judy was Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  I admit I was well into the book and was feeling just a tiny bit bored and slightly confused about what was going on, not that the events were confusing but that I didn't know what the point was.  But in this subtle, quiet way the book and its characters just sucked me in.  There were quite a few moments of laugh out loud humor of the dry, British type.  The story was a love story without being at all sappy (which I hate) and kept me turning the pages, unsure if we'd get the happily ever after ending or not.

I tried last fall to get War Horse from the library but was unsuccessful.  It was written 30 years ago by a British author and until Spielberg's film (and the successful Broadway show) was probably little known.  But if you loved the movie, please get the book.  It was wonderful.  I have to say this one of those rare occasions in which the book and the film, though different in several aspects, were equally good.  The book has even more of a Black Beauty feel to it, as it is told in first person through the eyes of Joey the title character.  The "suspension of disbelief" issues I had with the movie did not occur in the book and while I realized they added a big hit of dramatic tension, I almost wish they had remained true to the book and not made me roll my eyes in disbelief.  Other changes from book to film didn't bother me and each medium had its selling points.

I enjoyed the second book in the Cassandra Ellis series, Two Wrongs Don't Make A Write, even more than the first.  The characters (primary, secondary, and one-time) are all very intriguing and I enjoy the relationships Cassie has with James, her father, and her best friend, even when they seem a bit too good to be truly believable.  The plot in this one really held my attention and kept me guessing throughout.  I turned pages quickly to find out what happened and finished the book in record time (the fact that I was having computer issues that kept me from being constantly distracted by the internet had nothing to do with it *g*).  There were a few things I found hard to swallow or a little too predictable and/or convenient, but that's pretty typical of the cozy mystery genre, in my opinion.  I'm not generally a fan of the cozies, but this is a very enjoyable series and I look forward to the next one!

I really wanted to put The Lost Van Gogh down, but I was over 200 pages into it and finally decided I had invested too much time to give up on it.  It actually did pick up in the last half and was pretty exciting, but overall I still found the plot to be far too unnecessarily complicated with too many characters.  Even when the action began to pick up and get interesting, I found myself not understanding what was going on many times or, definitely worse yet, not able to believe things that happened.  I hate it when I say, "Well, why didn't he just...?" when I'm reading a book of this type.  Glad I finished it, but it was a struggle.

I re-read a couple of Lois Duncan books a few years ago, remembering that I liked her novels when I was a teenager.  I didn't care much for the two that I read (I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Third Eye) but I thought Killing Mr. Griffin was one of my favorites, so I decided, what the heck, I'd give it a revisit.  Bad idea.  Not only was the story itself disappointing, but the dialogue was stilted and didn't ring true.  And worst of all, it was decided that the book should be "updated", which only meant the random, and completely unnecessary, additions of cell phones, iPods, and Google.  I won't be reading any more of the Duncan books.

Chocolate Wars was an enjoyable history of the great chocolate companies (Cadbury, Nestle, Hershey, Mars) from their beginnings in the mid-19th century to the present day. It was especially interesting reading how the Cadbury family's Quaker roots influenced how they did their business, and kind of sad to see it end in the multi-billion dollar takeover by those looking almost exclusively at the money. A little dry at times (please don't try to make me understand the stock market) but overall interesting and enjoyable.

A Restless Spirit was a pick-up at a library sale a couple of years ago that I finally got around to reading.  It's a Young Adult non-fiction book about my favorite poet, Robert Frost.  I really liked the way this story was told, in that it didn't talk down to younger readers but didn't go into depth with things that could be confusing like poetry interpretation and analysis.  Throughout the book Frost's poetry is sprinkled and each chapter is a line from one of his poems (Hey, what a great idea! *g*).  Like Frost's poetry, the story of Frost's life is a beautiful mix of humor and adventure and sadness.  I enjoyed this book very much.