# Book Recommendations



## pwillems (Feb 8, 2010)

Hi All,

My wife and I are both dreaming of the cruising lifestyle later on in life. We are both complete newbies and have 15 to 20 years to make it all the way from where we are now, to seasoned sailors ready to take on a big ocean. I have been devouring books and have learned a fair bit, however, these books have generally been the kind about the technicalities of sailing, navigation and how to select and prepare a bluewater vessel (Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook has been on my bedside table for a while now).

My wife has started enquiring about what she can read. As much as I enjoy learning about the nitty gritty of owning and maintaining a boat, I am sure she would far prefer something formatted more like a novel. I believe she would prefer to start with something about someone else's adventures at sea and the cruising lifestyle before getting down into the more technical stuff.

Can anyone recommend some good books she might enjoy?

Thanks


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## eryka (Mar 16, 2006)

Try Tania Abei's "Maiden Voyage" or Ann Vanderhoof (sp?) "An Embarassment of Mangoes." And congrats on planning to live the dream (it's worth it! Took us almost 10 years from first exposure to living aboard with no permanent address  )


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

North to the Night by Alvah Simon
Flirting with Mermaids by John Kretschmer
The Coast of Summer by Anthony Bailey
My Old Man and the Sea by Daniel and David Hays


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## christianvargas1982 (Oct 16, 2009)

I'm currently reading Lin and Larry Pardey's Capable Cruiser, it is not a novel, but it definitely has many short stories and anecdotes, some of them if not most, written by Lin, your wife might like to read these things coming from the woman's point of view.

I haven't finished the book but I would totally recommend it. I've learned a whole lot just on the first half...

Good Luck!


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## pwillems (Feb 8, 2010)

eryka said:


> Try Tania Abei's "Maiden Voyage" or Ann Vanderhoof (sp?) "An Embarassment of Mangoes." And congrats on planning to live the dream (it's worth it! Took us almost 10 years from first exposure to living aboard with no permanent address  )


Thanks guys. Just ordered "An Embarassment of Mangoes" from Amazon.

Eryka, just read your blog... Looks amazing. Tell me, what are your long term plans with the cruising life? Are you and your husband setup to be able to do this indefinitely or do you expect to have to re-integrate into "normal" life at one point or another?


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## eryka (Mar 16, 2006)

pwillems said:


> Eryka, just read your blog... Looks amazing. Tell me, what are your long term plans with the cruising life? Are you and your husband setup to be able to do this indefinitely or do you expect to have to re-integrate into "normal" life at one point or another?


Pwillems, thanx for reading! As for our long-term plans: financially, we're set up to go indefinitely - that's what the 10 years to get ready was all about. Psychologically, we planned for this first cruise to go away for the winter and come back to annapolis in the spring. We're both newly retired and new to fulltime cruising and we didn't want to lock ourselves into anything until we knew how the trip would change us, what we'd want in the future (and I still don't know!) but the longer I'm away from owning a house, the more I know I don't need/want one again any time soon.


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## GEO42 (Aug 18, 2003)

*Women Aboard*

Ther is a great organization called WOMEN ABOARD that is wonderful to help women get intosailing. I,m sure the must have a web site that might help your wife.


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## tjvanginkel (Sep 26, 2006)

*more books*

"The motion of the Ocean" by Janna Cawrse Essary(sp?) is a great read!

"A shimmer on the horizon" by Phillip Teece is a gem of a story about small boat cruising in the Pacific Northwest.

And I am sure you will hear about many more!

Tanya


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

I would throw in "Sailing Grace" by John Ottenbacher.
It is a great read filled more with life's lessons and dealing with health issues as well as sailing.


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## LandLocked66c (Dec 5, 2009)

Here's a thread I started that may have some other titles to help...

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/61402-must-read-books.html


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## justified (Jun 14, 2007)

I don't remember the author but the title is "Changing Course" . You will want to leave a lot sooner. When I bought it for my wife she wanted to go ASAP. unfortunately the boat is not quite ready.

Peter


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## mobilchuckje (Oct 2, 2009)

"Three's a Crew" is a very girl friendly novel about cruising in the PNW in the early 1900's.

Amazon.com: Three's a crew (9780920663110): Kathrene Sutherland (Gedney) Pinkerton: Books


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## damies (Jul 8, 2009)

*The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow*

Ok here's one I just read, will help put the whole world in perspective.

Compared to a mirror any boat you are planing to live aboard should be more comfortable 

Warning, it's very hard to put this one down once you start it.

Dave.

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow | Black Inc. Publishing

P.S. search for the title "The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow" on amazon if you can't find it in your local book shop.


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

pwillems said:


> (Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook has been on my bedside table for a while now).


That's a great book. I only know one that is as good. This one:

http://www.4-oceans.com/vagnon-voile.asp

If you read French, don't miss it. It's the French Bible about sailing and cruising.

There is also a very good classical one that had a new edition recently. The new edition has a lot of new contributions that made it a even better book:

http://www.amazon.com/Adlard-Coles-Heavy-Weather-Sailing/dp/0071592903/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267366218&sr=1-1-spell

Regards

Paulo


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## mccary (Feb 24, 2002)

A few regional books for my home cruising grounds, The Chesapeake Bay, would include: Beautiful Swimmers : Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner, The tidewater Tales by Barth John and of course Chesapeake by James A Michener. Those last 2 are big books and well worth the effort to finish. Links are to Amazon, but the names and titles are good any place. The first is not a novel, but instead a Pulitzer Prize nonfiction work about our most famous resident, the Blue Crab.


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## inshallamiami (Jan 2, 2004)

Steered by the Falling Stars by Daniel Spurr. Possibly the most poignant book about sailing ever written.


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## pwillems (Feb 8, 2010)

PCP said:


> That's a great book. I only know one that is as good. This one:
> 
> http://www.4-oceans.com/vagnon-voile.asp
> 
> If you read French, don't miss it. It's the French Bible about sailing and cruising.


As a matter of fact, I do read French... but already having enough trouble getting my head around all the English maritime terminology, not sure I need the extra confusion just now


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## pwillems (Feb 8, 2010)

Just finished devouring Ann Vanderhoof's "An Embarassment of Mangoes". Fantastic read, not so much about the sailing, but about taking a good look about what is important in life.


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## Lux (Mar 11, 2010)

Josh Slocum is oldschool but has a great sea-dog writing style and wonderful stories. I can't remember the name of his book exactly, but I think it's just called, Around the World Alone or something epic like that. If your wife likes the lit side of things, Joseph Conrad is good too


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## nailbunnySPU (Apr 8, 2009)

Lux said:


> Josh Slocum is oldschool but has a great sea-dog writing style and wonderful stories. I can't remember the name of his book exactly


Sailing Alone Around the World is the title and I highly recommend it as well. He was the first man ever to do as the title suggests, and had a great time of it over 3 years, as a writer with a book deal in advance. Very well written. I've read it twice, and it's free on the kindle if you know where to look.


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