Our Bookshelf

NORTH IN A NUTSHELL Rozelle Raynes: 60s sailing exploration in a Norwegian folkboat, going across the channel from Dover, then along the Belgian coast, through the Dutch canals to Heligoland, the Kiel Canal, Danish Islands and then North to Bergen. Beautifully written and observed.

COASTING Jonathan Raban : A single-handed 4000 mile voyage around Britain in 1982, musing not just on the coastline but on the current state of Britain (under Thatcher).

ISLAND GOING Robert Atkinson : The author spent 12 years from July 1935 on an ornithological search for the rare Leach’s Fork-tailed Petrel. The search took him and his partner to many of the remote and deserted islands in the Hebrides, including North Uist, the Monarch Isles, St Kilda and North Rona. The book is an incredibly detailed and emotive description of the wildlife and landscapes of these beautiful places.

SEA ROOM Adam Nicolson : The author inherited the wild Shiant islands off the coast of Lewis when he was 21. This book is his love letter to the islands, their history and the half a million puffins that live there.

THE SILVER DARLINGS Neil M Gunn : A tale about the dawning of the herring fisheries in North Eastern Scotland

Antarctica

ANTARCTICA: A GUIDE TO THE WILDLIFE Tony Soper : A small and handy booklet on the most common birds, seals, whales and penguins.

SOUTH Sir Ernest Shackleton : The astonishing memoir of Shackleton’s last voyage from 1914 to 1917.

ANTARCTIC OASIS: UNDER THE SPELL OF SOUTH GEORGIA Tim & Pauline Carr : A travel account of South Georgia with excellent maps and photographs.

Greenland

TOPSAIL & BATTLEAXE: A VOYAGE IN THE WAKE OF THE VIKINGS Tom Cunliffe : English sailors follow the Viking route from Norway to Newfoundland with sagas in between.

THE GREENLANDERS Jane Smiley : A wonderful novel about the mysterious disappearance of the Medieval Norse settlements in Greenland.

GREEN SEAS & WHITE ICE Miriam MacMillan : The wife of Arctic explorer Donald MacMillan voyages to Labrador and Greenland with him.

Iceland

THE SAGAS OF THE ICELANDERS Jane Smiley : Packed full of exciting tales to add to the Icelandic experience.

INDEPENDENT PEOPLE Halldor Laxness : A portrait of the eerie Icelandic landscape by a Nobel prize winner.

TO THE BALTIC WITH BOB, AN EPIC MISADVENTURE Griff Rhys Jones : Amusing account of three middle-aged amateur sailors setting out for Russia. Funny and heartfelt, and a great holiday read.

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE V S Naipaul : A portrait of Trinidad and the surrounding islands full of history, society, personality and vividness.

A CARIBBEAN DOZEN John Agard & Grace Nichols: A glorious anthology of poetry featuring thirteen Caribbean poets.

VOYAGING SOUTHWARDS FROM THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN Rockwell Kent : the memoir of sailing a small boat in Tierra del Fuego by an adventurous American artist in the 1920s.

LAST OF THE WIND SHIPS Alan Villers : One of Debbie’s favourites to get you in the mood for sailing a tall ship in the Southern Ocean.

HISTORIA, HISTORIA: TWO YEARS IN THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS Eleanor Stanford : A beautiful ode to this Atlantic archipelago from a young poet in the Peace Corps.

BETWEEN THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SEA Gill Kimber : Memories of a childhood on Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island.

SAILING THE PACIFIC Miles Hordern : An inspirational (and often hilarious) account of sailing a 28-foot Twister from New Zealand to Chile, followed by cruising through the archipelagos and making for Easter Island.