Unbroken

Laura Hillenbrand's book, Unbroken, is my latest "favorite biography." It's the story of Louis Zamperini and chronicles his life from willful toddler, to juvenile delinquent, to Olympic athlete, to WWII airman, to POW, to husband and father, to alcoholic, to - finally - a man redeemed and able to forgive his captors. I started it Saturday night while watching the LSU-Alabama game and within minutes the game was unable to compete with this book for my attention. Had I not had to go to sleep - and to church the following morning - I would have read it straight through. As it is, I finished it after church. It was unputdownable and the best read I've enjoyed in many months.

I have to admit that I knew about this book and have read several good reviews by other readers, so I knew it was good before I read it. But what prompted me to go ahead and finally crack open the cover was a new service by Goodreads. They recommend books for you based on your ratings of other books you've read. I think their system is the best and most accurate one I've yet to encounter, so when Unbroken was suggested as a book I'd enjoy, based on my rating of other books, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. I'm so glad I did!