Exploring My Bookshelves is a weekly meme co-hosted by Shannon @ For the Love of Words and Victoria @ Addlepates and Book Nerds. Each week we’re given a new theme and we get to feature one book on our shelves and talk about it for a bit. It’s really fun and a good way to slowly explore someone’s books. I highly recommend heading over to the official page to explore everyone else’s posts via the link-up.
This week’s theme is:
An Historical Novel (in honor of presidents’ day in the USA)
Which is awesome! Who doesn’t love history?! There are copious amounts of books that I could choose on my shelf for this one so I’m going to try to pick the most interesting one I can think of.
And now, for the shelfie:
Reader, please meet . . .
The Railway Man by Eric Lomax
Genre: Historical, Memoir
Author: Eric Lomax
Published: January 2014 {1st pub. 1995}
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 336
This story is heartbreaking. It’s the memoirs of Eric Lomax and his experience during WWII. He fought for England but was captured at Singapore early on. From there, he experience many ordeals within Japanese Prisoner of War camps and brutal prisons. It’s a terrifying glimpse into war experiences and is very emotional.
A movie adaptation does exist and I highly recommend checking it out. It’s also called The Railway Man and stars Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. The movie covers but a fraction of the content of book but gets across everything you need to know about the story. It’s impossible to conceive that this man was able to return home and live a life after everything he’d been through.
If you’re interested in learning more about WWII and POWs then read this.
I love historical non-fiction and fiction books, I find them very good for opening my eyes to the past and a good way to understand someone else’s experiences in a culture or place foreign to me. I don’t think I will ever stop reading these genres as I think they have so much to offer and are so worth the time they take to read.
If anyone has books like these ALWAYS suggest them to me because I will be eternally grateful and shower you with virtual flowers. On the other hand, I love to discuss these books and am happy to share suggestions and chat about them with YOU.
What’s your favourite memoir?
Upside-Down Books 
If you like historical fiction and memoirs in general I recommend The Narrow road to the Deep North by Flanagan. Very apt and crude descriptions of war. Not as romanticised as All the light we cannot see. I liked both.
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Excellent!! I’ve seen that title floating around for a bit so I’ll add it on Goodreads 🙂 thanks!!
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