Nautical Reads

Adult Summer Reading Bingo Challenge ‘23, a Deep Dive into NAUTICAL READS – “Under the Sea”

Are you working on the Adult Summer Reading Bingo Challenge ‘23? Looking for inspiration for titles that will cover the square: “Book About the Ocean”? If so, read on and let’s dive “under the sea” together! (Disney’s Little Mermaid reference 100% intended). 🙂

Feel free to also reference this earlier list, but be warned: there is some overlap…

Below is a list of 6 nautical topics/themes (in no particular order) under which I’ve categorized a number of books held here at MML and/or available through Minerva. Also, some of these categories overlap such as Sea Life and Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing. Just giving you a heads up!

NOTE: All lists are alphabetical by author last name!

Topics:

• Shipwrecks
• Sea Life 
• Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing 
• Resorts & Beach Vacations 
• Pirates
• Mermaids and Sirens

Shipwrecks: Beyond the infamous Titanic…

FICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Stranger In the Lifeboat (2021)	ALBOM, MITCH	ALB
Life of Pi (2001)	MARTEL, YANN	MAR
The Glass Ocean (2018)	WILLIAMS, BEATRIZ	WIL

NONFICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (2023)	GRANN, DAVID	910.9164 GRA (New)
In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (2000)	PHILBRICK, NATHANIEL	910.9164 PHI *2 copies*
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of the El Faro (2018)	SLADE, RACHEL	910.452 SLA

Sea Life: From coral reefs to sharks and dolphins

FICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Mountain in the Sea (2022)	NAYLER, RAY	11 Minerva copies
The Dolphin House (2022)	SCHULMAN, AUDREY	SCH
Sharks in the Time of Saviors (2020)	WASHBURN, KAWAI STRONG	WAS (New)

NONFICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
Life on the Rocks : Building a Future for Coral Reefs (2022)	BERWALD, JULI	333.95 BER
Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins (2015)	CASEY, SUSAN	599.53 CAS
Emperors of the Deep : Sharks– the Ocean’s Most Mysterious, Most Misunderstood, and Most Important Guardians (2019)	MCKEEVER, WILLIAM	5 Minerva copies

Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing*

*This category is NONFICTION only.

NONFICTION (6 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Underworld : Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean (2023)	CASEY, SUSAN	551.46 CAS (New)
Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves (2014)	NESTOR, JAMES	797.23 NES
The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea (2012)	ROBERTS, CALLUM	13 Minerva copies
The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean and the Looming Threat that Imperils It (2021)	SCALES, HELEN	20 Minerva copies
Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean (2017)	WHITE, JONATHAN	551.464 WHI
Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea (2021)	WIDDER, EDITH	18 Minerva copies

Resorts & Beach Vacations: Beyond Emily Henry and Elin Hilderbrand.

FICTION (4 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
East Coast Girls (2020)	KLETTER, KERRY	5 Minerva copies
The Celebrants (2023)	ROWLEY, STEVEN	ROW (New)
One Italian Summer (2022)	SERLE, REBECCA	SER
The Vacationers (2014)	STRAUB, EMMA	STR

NONFICTION (2 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Lure of the Beach: A Global History (2021)	RITCHIE, ROBERT C.	306.4 RIT
The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach (2022)	STODOLA, SARAH	333.784 STO

Pirates: Bring your flask and enjoy some rum!

FICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (2023)	CHAKRABORTY, SHANNON	CHA (New)
Djibouti (2010)	LEONARD, ELMORE	LEO
We Are Pirates (2015)	HANDLER, DAVID	HAN

NONFICTION (3 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas (2017)	DUNCOMBE, LAURA SOOK	3 Minerva copies
The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd (2022)	GEANACOPOULOS, DAPHNE PALMER	910.45 GEA (New)
Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune (2022)	THOMPSON, KEITH	972.8702 THO (New)

Mermaids and Sirens: Folklore and fairy tales from the sea

FICTION (5 titles)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Mermaid’s Daughter (2017)	CLAYCOMB, ANN	5 Minerva copies
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock: A History in Three Volumes (2018)	GOWAR, IMOGEN HERMES	GOW
American Mermaid (2023)	LANGBEIN, JULIA	LAN (New)
The Deep (2019)	SOLOMON, RIVERS	SOL
Chlorine (2023)	SONG, JADE	8 Minerva copies

NONFICTION (1 title)

TITLE (Pub. Year)	AUTHOR	CALL #/LOCATION
The Penguin Book of Mermaids (2019)	BACCHILEGA, CRISTINA & MARIE ALOHALANI BROWN (eds.)	4 Minerva copies

Finally, as a bonus, if you want to read about oceans that are literally out of this world (or at least off of this planet), check out this recent scholarly publication (through Oxford University Press). This title was co-authored by a geologist and a paleobiologist about ocean worlds that may exist elsewhere in our galaxy and beyond.

Happy reading adventures!

-Courtney Kleftis

Adult Services Librarian