The word “survival” is often associated with bravery, hardships, and pain. In literature, several stories revolve around it, which also highlight the main character’s courage and other defining values. Most of these tales are based on the author’s real experiences, historical figure, or significant person that can inspire, educate, and warm the hearts of the readers.
Why do many are drawn into books that center on courage and survival? It is because they can relate to the featured human experience and have also been surviving their struggles. So, if you are a fan of these kinds of stories, here are some of the best books that you might want to check out to relate to and learn from.
The Innocent Eyes of a Child: Everyone’s Little Girl, But Nobody’s Child by Trea Jackson
The Innocent Eyes of a Child: Everyone’s Little Girl, But Nobody’s Child is a promising book that tackles significant themes, such as child abuse, foster care system, undying hope, and love. The story revolves around a girl by the name of Brighteyes. She was raised in an undesirable environment with a dysfunctional family. At such a young age, she already experienced abuse and abandonment. It leads her to be subjected to foster care. Hence, she grows up hopping from one house to another but never really finding the home, family, and love that she’d long for the longest time. With the years of mistreatment, pain, and heartbreaks, she still hopes and dreams for a home filled with love and care.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
The reprint edition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster was published by Anchor in 1999. The journalist-mountaineer author narrated his personal experiences when a horrible storm hit Mt. Everest in 1996 that put an end to five lives and left several more in a regretful mess. By turning his experiences into words, Krakauer may have wished to drive away some of his demons and put to rest some heartbreaking inquiries that still centers on the event. Apparently, the disaster still haunts him and makes him struggle to see things objectively regardless of the several situations that he relates his selfless acts.
All But My Life: A Memoir by Gerda Weissmann Klein
Gerda Weissman Klein pens down her account as a victim of the Nazi regime in her book titled All But My Life: A Memoir. Klein brings the readers on a journey of survival and freedom from her peaceful life in Poland to her remarkable liberation by the American soldiers in Czechoslovakia. Despite her awful experiences — loss of loved ones, property, possessions, and friends, she continues to show amazing spiritual strength and faith in humanity. Moreover, this book offers a significant message to the readers to find faith, love, friendship, and courage in the middle of your darkest and toughest times, which hatred cannot rise and dominate.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea is the recipient of the American Library Association’s 1998 Alex Award. This bestselling book is real-life suspense that ignites different intense emotions from the readers, such as helplessness and hopelessness amid nature’s strong and uncontrollable force in the middle of a vast ocean. The author looks into rich historical accounts of the history of fishing, the scientific background of storms, and the random tales of individuals whose lives were once threatened by this particular natural disaster.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
This book is recognized as one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, and other renowned platforms. It is also a #1 national bestseller. Moreover, it follows the story of the author on how she handled loss, heartbreak, and nothingness. But, she never thought an impulsive decision would turn her life around, which is to hike over thousands of miles of the Pacific Crest Trail solitarily. Thus, this book greatly showcases the fears and desires of a young woman pushing on all odds on a trip that exasperated, strengthened, and mended her.
Trina’s Travel 