I know its not going to be a pleasant read, but I'd like to read a book on the subject before we go. Preferably 'ones person/family's story’ type of book. I've googled but the choices are endless.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

Survival in The Killing Fields - Dr Haing S Ngor & Roger Warner
also

First they Killed our Father - Loung Ung ( I believe there is now a sequel - After They Killed our Father

both are excellent, if very disturbing, accounts of that period in history

When Broken Glass Floats - Chanrithy Him (Subtitle 'Growing up Under the Khmer Rouge'.

I also found 'When the War Was Over' by Elizabeth Becker very informative. However, its a history of modern day Cambodia not a memoir.

You will be offered numerous pirated books from street sellers in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. A lot of these are the type of book you are looking for. (Support the land mine victims where possible.)

I too read the books that Crellston has mentioned and would agree very good ( if very sad but then given the subject matter....)

The Gate by Francois Bizot is excellent - he was an ethnologist who had been living and working in Cambodia for 11 years before the Khmer Rouge took over, and ended up working as an interpreter for the French embassy with the Khmer Rouge because of his fluency in the language. It is an excellent book.

Also, you might be interested to know that the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek (near Phonm Penh) are not actually the worst ones in the country. There are over 20,000 mass graves throughout Cambodia, and some have over 50,000 people. Basically everywhere you go you will be in the presence of mass graves, especially in the rural areas.

As an addendum to the last comment, it is also worth if you can getting hold of 'We want [U] to know', a film by Ella Pugliese (www.we-want-u-to-know.com, an amazing documentary film about remembrance at the time of the Khmer Rouge trials.

Awesome thanks all, looks like I'd better start reading.

Our guide in Phenom Penh told us that he had to read several books to learn about the Killing FIelds and the genocide of 25% of Cambodia's population. In school, only the dates are given for Pol Pot's regime and even his tourism classes did not discuss this horrific era.When he asked his parents questions about it, they would break down and cry as many family members had been killed. I do not know what books he read but there were several for sale in the Genocide Museum' shop. Visiting this sites was chilling..