Amsterdam Reads 2012 has a winner! With all the votes counted, UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand takes first place with 197 votes. This is the book the Amsterdam community will read and discuss during the coming year. AN AFFINITY FOR MURDER (A Lake George Mystery) by Anne White finishes in second place with 166 votes. Kathleen Grissom’s THE KITCHEN HOUSE places third with 149 votes followed by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s THE GREAT GATSBY with 92 votes, and HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford with 73 votes.

UNBROKEN, still on the best seller list after 47 weeks, is the inspiring true story of Louis Zamperini whose teenage years were spent brawling, breaking into homes, and running from police. Eventually, his talent for running led him to the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and within sight of conquering the four-minute mile.

Then World War II broke out. Zamperini enlisted and became an airman. In 1943 an Army Air Force bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, but a young lieutenant, Zamperini, struggled to the surface and pulled himself aboard a life raft. This begins his horrific journey on a treacherous ocean complete with leaping sharks, thirst, starvation, and enemy aircraft. After 47 days, he was captured by the Japanese and landed in a POW camp.

Zamperini’s story is one of character, fortitude, and survival that keeps the readers glued to its pages.
Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken’s author, also wrote the highly acclaimed book, Seabiscuit.

Read UNBROKEN and stay tuned for its related events that will take place throughout the year.