Looking for a book that takes place near the ocean/on a seacoast

[baddoctor]

genre doesn't matter, but preferably drama/atmospheric thriller. the setting must be evocative (i.e the ocean) and must play a part in the story.

[Grim]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Tho ... er_the_Sea )
Ordeal by Ice - Farley Mowat
Moby Dick - Hermann Melville
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
Gulliver's Travels - Lemuel Gulliver

[wilde]

I like books that take place on the sea as well!


One of my favorites is "The Last Ship" by William Brinkley. It is a post-apocalyptic novel that follows the crew of a Navy ship after a nuclear apocalypse. It can be a bit slow-moving on occasion, but it's a really well-written book.

I've had trouble finding it in book stores though (as well as any other books by Brinkley), so you might see if it's at your library. I'm going to order it online... one of these days...


I've heard that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is also good, but I haven't quite gotten around to reading it yet.


Another series you might want to read is the "Bloody Jack" series by L.A. Meyer. They're young adult novels about a girl who becomes an orphan, then a pirate, as well as some other careers as the story progresses. They're very good, and not difficult to read.

[bleachededen]

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf?

[bleachededen]

Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell

Young Adult book from the 90s, yes, but an amazing book nonetheless. Beautiful and sad at the same time. Lovely.

[Joad]

A great book I read awhile ago that heavily features the ocean and takes place in New Foundland is "The Town The Forgot How To Breathe" by Kenneth Harvey. It's a ghost story, and the ocean plays a pivotal role in the book. What's also interesting in the book is that it deals a lot with the town, the people in it and how the ocean plays a part in their life -- i.e. the fish packing plant closing down etc.

I'd recommend it.

[farmgirlshelley]

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by Sebastian Junger

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Storm-Tru ... 466&sr=1-1

[WhimsicalWonder]

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominique Bauby changed my life. Although, the ocean doesn't play as significant a role as you might think, but it is ever present part of the theme.

A good movie, that may or may not have been adapated from a book, where the ocean plays a major role that you might be interested in is "Deeply". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218141/#comment

[stahrwe]

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe

After reading an 1836 newspaper account of a shipwreck and its two survivors, Edgar Allan Poe penned his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, the story of a stowaway on a Nantucket whaleship who finds himself enmeshed in the dark side of life at sea: mutiny, cannibalism, savagery—even death. As Jeffrey Meyers writes in his Introduction: "[Poe] remains contemporary because he appeals to basic human feelings and expresses universal themes common to all men in all languages: dreams, love, loss; grief, mourning, alienation; terror, revenge, murder; insanity, disease, and death." Within the pages of this novel, we encounter nearly all of them.

The main character in this book descends into madness and takes you along. It is as unsettling as it is masterfully written.

[stahrwe]

If you really are interested in a book that takes place both at and on the ocean, then you need to checkout: Alone, Orphaned on the Ocean. It is one of our books being discussed.

It is the true story of "Terry Jo Duperrault [who] was 11 when her family was murdered at sea aboard a chartered sailboat off the coast of Florida. She jumped overboard just in time to escape. Surviving four days on a cork float in the middle of the ocean, Terry Jo’s rescue pictures graced LIFE Magazine soon after she was found.

This is the first time Terry Jo, now known as Tere Duperrault Fassbender, has been able to fully tell her story. In September 1988 Oprah Winfrey reunited her with the freighter captain who saved her but, even then, she was not healed enough to reveal what it took to survive for four days adrift and alone at sea.

Co-authored by psychologist and survival expert Richard Logan, readers delve into the details of how a little girl survived the murder of her family; the gradual collapse of the small cork float she used to keep afloat while guarded by a small pod of whales; and the aftermath and the reclamation of life.

ALONE is the ultimate inspirational tale of good.

About the Author
Logan is a nationally recognized expert in the psychology of lone survival and has been a guest on A&E and Discovery Channel. An accomplished author, Logan had his first book published in 1993. Logan is a self-admitted adventurist and leads annual safaris in Kenya.

Tere Duperrault Fassbender was 11 when she was nearly swallowed by the ocean during four days at sea. Her rescue in 1961 was covered worldwide. She spent her life guarding the water that threatened her as a child. "

From Amazon.

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