Have you read this book?

This section will have the books I recommend. I have not read many books and whenever i read one I try to read something that lets me gather something from it. I read papillion at a time when I was going through some hard phase in life and the character in this book really let me draw some strength out of it. The odds the main character goes through in this book and this being a real story really inspired me. It lets you realise no matter how the odds are stacked against you there is always a way out as long as you keep your inner strength strong. This was made into a movie with Steve Mcqueen and Dustin hoffman in it. But i like the book better as it lets u have a close insight into the mind of the characters and the very wonderfully narrated adventures. It is superbly paced and flows so well that it's almost impossible to find a point where it can be put down

Synopsis:
Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantastic adventures while on the run - including a sojourn with South American Indians whose women Papillon found welcomely free of European restraints! "Papillon" is filled with tension, adventure and high excitement. It is also one of the most vivid stories of human endurance ever written. Henri Charriere died in 1973 at the age of 66.

Charriere really became a elebrity after this book and was seen with the likes of Frank Sinatra and all. But an earth quake at the place where he lived robbed him off his wealth and he got some of it back by coming up with the sequel Banco.If you folks are interested you guys can also take a look at the sequel. But I must say that it is not as exciting as Papillion.