Here is a list of my favorite inspirational books. All of these books are about surviving terrible true lifetime periods, seeing better days in the end, becoming stronger human beings because of these terrible events and are very educational to read. I think about these true life stories when I am going through hard times in my life and find hope that my life events are temporary and I will see better days.

1. Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown. This is a book I read as a child. Since I was also growing up in a similar ghetto environment as Claude and he became a successful lawyer, it inspired me to dream big like he did. I did pretty well as I am now a successful college professor these days.

2. Mayada, Daughter of Iraq by Jean Sasson. I recently read this one and I now appreciate this country so much more. Whenever I get stressed out these days, I think of what she went through and the many people in Iraq and all of a sudden my life looks and feels so much better.

3. A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer. This one also gives me lots of hope when things are going wrong in my life. It also re-affirms that people can overcome terrible past life events, even abuse and still become productive members of society. He wrote this book to make people more aware of what the signs of child abuse are and where to get help.

4. Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia by Ingrid Betancourt This was the most inspiring book I have ever read. Wow, Ingrid is a real life hero. This women did so much to make things better for her country and put this priority ahead of her marriage and children. She was close to winning a presidential election when she finished writing this book.

Epilogue:

After this book was published, Ingrid got abducted in real life on Feb. 23, 2002 by a political terrorist group in Columbia and still remains in captivity to this day. I think of her and the family she left behind every day.

Update:

Ingrid and 14 other hostages were rescued on July, 2nd, 2008. The Colombian military tricked the terrorist group into giving up the hostages and at the same time, took two terrorist camp leaders with them and turned them over to the Colombian police. I am just ecstatic about this!!

5. Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir . Malika was almost royalty but one day something went very wrong and her and her entire family were thrown into an old castle which was converted as a prison never to be seen or heard from again. Fortunately, a member of her family escapes and thus this book was written. Because of this book, a lot has changed as far as how Morroco now treats its criminals.

6. Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America by Francis Bok This is a very inspiring book about the atrocities that are happening to people in Sudan and the story of a person who escaped. Because of Francis Bok, the United States is now aware that slavery has never ended in that part of the world and is doing something to help.

7. Sickened : The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory, This story was so educational. It explains everything about this terrible mental disease and why it is so hard for doctors to notice when these cases are happening. Again, this is a story about a survivor that is now trying to change things for the better, trying to bring more awareness about this condition so that people can intervene and hopefully save more children from being victims of this syndrome.

So, what are some of your favorite inspirational books? Have any one of them inspired you to live your life differently?