Karl's Reading List

Published by Armada Classics, 1989. This is the true story of an escape from the "escape-resistant" Stalag 2 prisoner of war camp in World War 2. Eric Williams - one of the escapees - tells the story himself, about how they hid their tunnel under a wooden vaulting horse and avoided detection by implementing a fitness routine with a large number of other prisoners. Like any good escape story it has its highs and lows, successes and failures, but knowing it was true and is being told by one of the main participants adds an extra thrill to the proceedings. Completed 22 February 2019. Previous Book ~ Next Book

Published by Fourth Estate: London, 2014 (2010). This is such an incredible book, and such an incredible story as well.  Unbroken tells the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American growing up in the early 20th century. Louie starts off on "the wrong side of the tracks", but goes on to become an Olympic athlete, running in the Berlin Olympics and meeting Hitler as a result. When the USA joins the war, Louie becomes a bombardier, in charge of releasing bombs from his plane at the right moment. Eventually his bomber crashes and Louie (along with two others) is left in a small life-raft, adrift at sea for 46 days before getting rescued (and subsequently imprisoned) by the Japanese. I can skim over this partial synopsis in a single paragraph, but to actually read the book is to get far more into the reality of living through these events. Angelina Jolie - who was neighbours with Louie in his old age - directed the movie based on this book and although it is...