Book locker: Holiday Reads
Nov 23, 2023
Stuffed full of holiday delights? Time to fall into the LaZBoy and crack open some nautical reading. This crop has a few thrillers, and a lot of adventure. Happy (lethargic) Holidays.
Arrow’s Fall
by Scott, Joel
CAD $18.95
Rumours of an 18th-century shipwreck with a fortune in gold still aboard send Arrow and her crew off to investigate. Danger surfaces when they attract the attention of the flamboyant owner of Golden Dragon, a 240-foot sailing machine crewed by ex-marine Lord Barclay Summers and a band of mercenaries. When Arrow is viciously attacked, the crew seeks shelter in the treacherous Great Sea Reef–but soon they’re ensnared in a life-and-death sailing match against Golden Dragon. A follow-up to Scott’s 2018 thriller, Arrow’s Flight.
Maelstrom
by Llewellyn, Sam
CAD $18.95
Seventy-eight year old Ernie Johnson, yachtsman, and shipowner, is stopped and searched by Customs as he sails towards Ireland. When they find an arms cache on board, he claims he has been framed. His nephew Fred, who is a charter skipper, and has a reputation as an ecoterrorist, investigates. Fred finds himself in the icy Norwegian Sea, heading for quite a tangle that involves nasty weather and even nastier people.
The Wager
by Grann, David
CAD $39.95
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel washed up on the coast of Brazil with thirty emaciated British soldiers inside. Barely alive, they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were the survivors of the HMS Wager, which had set sail from England in 1740 on a secret wartime mission. Grann’s recreation of the below-decks world of a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing, and his account of the subsequent court martial has all the savvy and suspense of a Scott Turow thriller. A real page-turner.
Searching for Franklin
by McGoogan, Ken
CAD $38.95
With the discovery of the Erebus and Terror, the revelations about what really happened to Sir John Franklin and his men–and why–continue to emerge and to fascinate. Ken McGoogan’s sixth book about Arctic exploration explodes several familiar “truths” about the man and his sacrifices. Through his own research and drawing on Inuit oral accounts, the author expertly examines what was known and what is now being uncovered, presenting fascinating details about Franklin’s expeditions and probing how the man’s inability to accept expert advice from the Dene leader Akaitcho played a fateful role in his final voyage.
How to Read Water
by Gooley, Tristan
CAD $25.95
Tristan Gooley is an expert in navigating using only the natural world itself. In this book, he turns his attention to techniques to use on or near water–which he learned by sailing solo across the Atlantic, navigating with Omani tribespeople, canoeing in Borneo, and walking in his own backyard. Anglers, sailors, swimmers–all can learn how to find north using puddles, forecast the weather from waves, decode the colours of ponds, spot dangerous water in the dark, and more.
Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History
by Graham, Ian
CAD $19.95
Beginning with the Egyptian “solar barge” of Pharaoh Khufu (aka King Cheops)–which dates to circa 2560 BCE–Ian Graham presents fifty amazing history-shaping vessels. His fleet includes simple craft that were used to harvest food, vessels designed for trade, exploration, or conquest, and ships sailed for war or pleasure, including one of the largest passenger ships ever built, the MS Allure of the Seas.
The Book Locker is curated by:
Nautical Mind Bookstore
249 Queen’s Quay West, Unit 108
Toronto, ON M5J 2N5 Canada
Phone: 416-203-1163
Canada/US: 1-800-463-9951
Email: books@nauticalmind.com
Web: www.nauticalmind.com
