Best books of 2011

The Great or Very good:

1. A Monster Calls
2. Ender’s Game
3. Ship Breaker
4. Chime
5. Between Shades of Gray

A Monster Calls was a moving book that was more affecting than anything else I read this year. The tale of a boy struggling to deal with the impending death of his mother by calling on a fantastical monster to save her was on the top of my list.  Ender’s Game was as good as its been billed and I was glad to finally get to it.  There were so many issues raised like the best scifi always does: can our future be predetermined? at what point is it unethical to follow orders? are child soldiers better because they are easier to control and manipulate? and on and on.  Hopefully, they get the movie right.  Ship Breaker was a great dystopian novel to read at a time when I’ve been tiring of the genre.  It showed me that as long as the focus stays on character and not just plot, even an overused genre can breathe new life.  Chime mixed witches, dystopias, a Victorian/Steampunk setting with remarkable language to create a fully realized world that felt unlike any other world I read about last year.  Finally, Between Shades of Gray illuminated WWII era Lithuania when I thought I knew all I needed or wanted to know about the War and Eastern Europe.  I was wrong.  The incredible and disturbing heartbreak of WW2 certainly was felt in Lithuania as well and I’m glad that I am more aware of it now.