Hey! I normally read whatever I feel like reading at the time, but I recently realized that I absolutely love books about sea and sailing. I don't exactly know what I'm looking for or how I can properly describe the feeling, so I'll simply give some examples of the books I like a lot.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Martin Eden by Jack London
Sea and sailing doesn't even have to be at the centre. I want to see it as part of a culture, if possible, like the seafarers in the Mediterranean.
Looking forward to read your recs! Thank you.
by Ornery_Ad_907
19 Comments
Aubrey & Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian – first one is Master and Commander
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. The true story that inspired Herman Melville for Moby Dick.
Much different to your recs as this is a Megan Lally YA thriller called What We Did to Survive. They are on a boat and a storm is coming in. Many things happen and there’s an unexpected physcological plot twist at the end you won’t be expecting.
The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr!
*The Wager*, by David Grann: historical fiction.
Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana is another cornerstone of this genre.
I prefer all of Melville like White Jacket, Redburn, Typee. If you really want to challenge yourself check out Mardi: and a Voyage Thither which very few people read.
“Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Tragedy, and Survival at the Edge of the World” by Eric Jay Dolin
It’s a true story a group of Americans in the Falkland Islands in 1812 that “rescued” some shipwrecked Britons but then 5 Americans were left on the islands by the British. It’s a kinda complicated story…
Sailing Alone around the World by Joshua Slocum
The grey seas under- Mowat
I love the Patrick O’Brien Master and Commander novels.
Philip Hoare writes interesting books that are part natural history, part literary criticism and part biography. So in his book *Leviathan* he focuses on a social history of whales and man, Moby Dick, and his travels to Nantucket, cape Verde etc. He’s got four or so books about different aspects of the sea. *The Sea Inside* is really good too.
*Passage to Juneau* by Jonathan Raban is an excellent book. Biographical/travel book in which Raban sails from Seattle to Juneau in Alaska and uses his journey as a backdrop for musings on history, art, myth, and philosophy.
I’m not into sailing but still enjoyed it.
I read *the Sea-Wolf* by Jack London recently. That was excellent.
This is Joseph Conrad’s favorite setting.
* Almayer’s Folly
* Lord Jim
* Narcissus
* The Shadow Line
Also, Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf, an author you already mentioned.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. Historical fiction and incredibly important imo
Seven-Tenths by James Hamilton-Patterson
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
Wild dark shore. Not about sailing but about the sea and an island and climate change
*Sociology*: ***Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition*** by B.R. Burg all about how queer pirates were
*Fantasy*: **The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi** by S. A. Chakraborty
*Memoir*: **The Long Way** by Bernard Moitessier
*History*: **The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean** by David Abulafia
*History*: **Sea Rovers, Silver, and Samurai: Maritime East Asia in Global History, 1550–1700** by Tonio Andrade and Xing Hang
*Sci-Fi*: **Tress of the Emerald Sea** by Brandon Sanderson
The Perfect Storm. As a movie, meh. As a book, absolutely engrossing.