Read any good (sailing) books lately?

[alcodiesel]

Humorless, huh. I guess he doesn't appreciate OCD descriptions to the nth detail and history. It cracks me up!
My wife is that way and I understand and love that quirk.

 

[Bepi]

Allow me to point to the best cheap edition of Moby Dick i have found. I had four versions lost in the fire, one a first edition, but this was the one I turned to.

It was produced by Easton Press as part of a sort of book-of-the-month club pitch, and is now available used from various sources, Ebay and others. May take a bit of searching but there are scores for sale in the $30-50 range.

Leather bound, handsome and legible font and type size, attractive illustrations (not too many) and gilded page edges.

There is a no better gift, to yourself or for any loved one.

And as an amusement factor, there is the tone-deaf introduction by the fart Clifton Fadiman, whose analysis finds Melville humorless and a doomsday pessimist--this of a work that begins with a sitcom of young innocent in bed with a tattooed headshrinker, and throughout sings with love of life and buoyant marvel.

View attachment 53242View attachment 53243

That coughin' was nothing to sneeze at. May we all be so lucky.

 

[nquigley]

I just read an excellent sailing/cruising book, "The Curve of Time', by M. Wylie Blanchet. (I got a good used copy on eBay for about $5)
The author documents in detail, and with a wonderful voice, the cruises she and her 5 young kids took all up and down the Canadian west coast over 5 successive summers in a ~28-ft boat, ... wait for it ... in the late 1920s and early 1930s!
She was obviously an extremely competent sailor and navigator, and provided her kids and herself amazing cruising adventures of all kinds. Plus, she describes their interactions with the isolated 'off-gridders' they met in isolated coves, individual fishermen, and other sparsely spread individuals. When not out cruising, they lived in a small house on Vancouver Island. It seems that her husband was lost at sea from their sailboat while out by himself a year or so after their youngest child was born - the boat was recovered and that's what she sailed with her kids.

 

[Jim Picerno]

In addition to trashy detective and SciFi books, I've started reading some of my old college reading list. I've just started reading Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" which is something of a sailing book. On Christian's suggestion I did purchase that Easton Press edition of "Moby Dick". It intimidated me 50 years ago and still does so I haven't started it yet. I did finish re-reading Hemingways "The Sun Also Rises" last month. Spoiled Millennials. Though like Mike I do find I'm going broke gradually so I expect the suddenly part any day now.

 

[Rosco]

I just read an excellent sailing/cruising book, "The Curve of Time', by M. Wylie Blanchet. (I got a good used copy on eBay for about $5)
The author documents in detail, and with a wonderful voice, the cruises she and her 5 young kids took all up and down the Canadian west coast over 5 successive summers in a ~28-ft boat, ... wait for it ... in the late 1920s and early 1930s!
She was obviously an extremely competent sailor and navigator, and provided her kids and herself amazing cruising adventures of all kinds. Plus, she describes their interactions with the isolated 'off-gridders' they met in isolated coves, individual fishermen, and other sparsely spread individuals. When not out cruising, they lived in a small house on Vancouver Island. It seems that her husband was lost at sea from their sailboat while out by himself a year or so after their youngest child was born - the boat was recovered and that's what she sailed with her kids.

It's is a classic and a must have on board boats in the Pacific Northwest. Her home was a stones throw from the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal in Sidney BC. The proximity to Haro Strait provides very cold water...even for BC. Her husband likely went for a dip off of Salt Spring Island, a short boat ride from home, sadly due to already poor heart condition perished in nearby waters. She died at her typewriter after completing the book that we all enjoy. Capi was amazing.

 

[AK67]

Not strictly sailing, but I am currently in The Fort, a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell about the disastrous Penobscot Expedition of 1779. The US' greatest naval defeat until Pearl Harbor. It played out in and around Castine at the head of Penobscot Bay, so it's fun to visualize the action playing out in an area just across the head of the bay from our home port (especially when 2 schooners anchored just behind us in a cove where parts of the battle/siege took place). The ramparts of Fort George still stand. Not classic literature, and not quite to the standard of Patrick O'Brian, but in that vein; well researched and enjoyable.

 

[bgary]

Also not a sailing book, per se, but just read "Soundings", biography of Marie Tharp who - in the 40s - picked apart a metric ton of sonar data and generated the first accurate map of the Atlantic floor. Along the way, discovering a "rift" along the center of the mid-Atlantic ridge and, in doing so, proved the long-disputed theory of continental drift. Pretty good read.

 

[AK67]

Also not a sailing book, per se, but just read "Soundings", biography of Marie Tharp who - in the 40s - picked apart a metric ton of sonar data and generated the first accurate map of the Atlantic floor. Along the way, discovering a "rift" along the center of the mid-Atlantic ridge and, in doing so, proved the long-disputed theory of continental drift. Pretty good read.

Just read her Wiki. Fascinating, thank you. Will have to check out the book.

 

[Angel D.]

This one I have enjoyed a lot . The sad part is that I'm reaching the end , that's how I know is good.

 

[Bepi]

This one I have enjoyed a lot . The sad part is that I'm reaching the end , that's how I know is good. View attachment 53649

Great title.

 

[jschaum]

I have fond memories of reading books by Hammond Innes. He was a British author who wrote a number of sea/boating themed adventure books including Wreck of the Mary Deare (1956) and Atlantic Fury (1962). Wikipedia summarizes his style as follows:

“Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.”

He also wrote nonfiction including Sea and Islands (1967), about his own voyages.

 

[nquigley]

This one I have enjoyed a lot . The sad part is that I'm reaching the end , that's how I know is good. View attachment 53649

Thanks for suggesting this book.
I just ordered a 1930 3rd edition copy on eBay for about $10. I love reading old sailing-related books because I am reading something that others were physically holding in their hands, and enjoying, a long time ago - this copy will be 95 years old when I start reading it.

 

[Angel D.]

Thanks for suggesting this book.
I just ordered a 1930 3rd edition copy on eBay for about $10. I love reading old sailing-related books because I am reading something that others were physically holding in their hands, and enjoying, a long time ago - this copy will be 95 years old when I start reading it.

That's great you found that copy.Nothing like an old book . Really hope you find it enjoyable like I have .