JF AIK (c1966)

Sarah P’s comments:  Once in while I am going to deviate and include a children’s book. For years I was a children’s librarian so it’s bound to happen…

This year we sailed to Nantucket and I biked to Sankaty Head. This lighthouse has been on my bucket list ever since I first read Nightbirds on Nantucket many years ago. Written by Joan Aiken (Conrad Aiken’s daughter), the first third of the book takes place on a whaling ship from Nantucket. It’s fun, it’s authentic, and it makes a great read-aloud if you’re trying to get small fry interested in sailing and ships…

Quotes:

‘Oh, fierce is the ocean and wild is the sound,
But the isle of Nantucket is where I am bound-
Sweet isle of Nantucket! where the grapes are so red,
And the light flashes nightly on Sankaty Head!’

 

Me @ Sankaty Head, Nantucket, summer 2018

F Tol (c2017)

Sarah P’s comments:  This blog mainly focuses on true, non-fiction sailing tales. Not because I don’t like sailing fiction but because, other than the classics (Moby Dick, Captains Courageous, etc.), I haven’t found much current stuff worthy of reading. This book is exceptional in the way that this author captures the ‘feel’ of sailing and water; both river and sea.

BOOK TRAILER

Caro Oresteia spent her life waiting to be called by the river god, as those in her family had been for generations. But when she’s swept away on an adventure to save the Akhaian royal prince, Markos, her destiny is sealed by the sea god instead.

“Caro’s description of her boat home, the Cormorant, will make even readers unfamiliar with sailing feel as though they belong on the water with her. Tolcser blends the right amount of epic fantasy, sea voyage, and romance for a rollicking, swashbuckling adventure. – Kirkus (starred review)

Favorite Quotes:

A fair day with a fresh wind has a magic all its own.

To a captain, a ship is more than just something that carries cargo from place to place…you understand the life in her, and it calls out to you…

In spite of everything, my heavy mood lifted as the wind filled Cormorant’s sail.

From the author:

To go forward, sometimes you have to go back. I went back to the folk songs and the sailing adventures I loved, the ones that inspired a girl with dreams of being a pirate.