Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

[Everyone welcome back Mandi from her blogging break! HI MANDI!]

My Throwback this week is…

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

This book is an anomaly for me. It’s nonfiction, and I don’t generally read nonfiction. Plus, it’s about the Holocaust, and I don’t generally read about the Holocaust.  Too sad and emotionally gutting for me. I honestly can’t take it. I have a very hard time reading about suffering and cruelty on that level, knowing that it actually happened.

But a friend recommended this book as her favorite book, saying she loves it so much she keeps extra copies on hand to give away to people who hadn’t read it. And with a recommendation like that from a friend I respect, I knew I needed to give it a try.

The Hiding Place is the true story of the Ten Boom family, as told by daughter Corrie, a humble watchmaking family living in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II. Although the Ten Booms were Christians, and therefore not a direct target of the Nazis, they couldn’t bear to stand idly by and watch as their Jewish neighbors were seized and sent to concentration camps. So they constructed a secret wall in their home that they used to shelter Jews from prying Nazi eyes.

Ultimately, they were discovered and several members of the family, including Corrie, were sent to concentration camps, where they were faced with horrors and evil beyond imagining. But Corrie eventually came through it, and the story of how she survived is amazing.

The Hiding Place is unapologetically about faith in God, so if you have strong feelings against reading something with a spiritual focus, then it may not be for you. More than that, though, I found it to be a book about love. Love for family, love for neighbors who don’t share your views, and even love for those who would seek to do you harm. I’ve never read a book — especially one based on true events — where the people involved so beautifully represented the kind of love and respect I wish all people had for one another.

Yes, there is a lot of intense and troubling content, since the book spends a great deal of time in a concentration camp,  which were hellish places. It is about a horrible, dark period of human history. It will break your heart and disturb your soul. But if you’re like me, it will also give you hope that sometimes, even during periods of darkness, people can shine.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!