High Tide
July 28, 2022
Colorado may be a landlocked state, but we can still enjoy the ocean in our reading. To earn this badge, read a book that features the ocean. We’ll get you started with a few ideas!
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Unexpectedly finding themselves homeless in the aftermath of a bad investment while in their 50s, Raynor and Moth Winn decide they have nothing else left to lose and begin walking the 630 mile sea-swept West Coast Path with just a couple of rucksacks, very little money and a dire medical diagnosis for Moth. The ensuing memoir details their experience which is both harrowing and life-affirming. The story fortunately has a happy ending. You can catch up with Raynor and Moth on social media!
The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owour
Off the coast of Kenya on Pate Island, a mother and daughter live a solitary life, a life interrupted by the arrival of a sailor, an outsider like themselves. The man becomes a father figure to the young woman, Ayaana. These relationships shape her journey toward adulthood. A seductive coming-of-age novel that has it all: sensuous prose, beguiling locales, adventure and daring, and compelling characters—not your typical beach read but very satisfying if you’re game for something different.
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard about David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the world’s fish in his time, she initially dismissed his dogged and near obsessional determination to recover what he could of his extensive collection ravaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Thinking him either a fool or in denial, she subsequently became intrigued by his efforts to reinstate order in a world of chaos through his collection as she began to see her own life unravel at the seams. Part memoir, part natural history, this story does not disappoint.
The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina
While recent jaw-dropping images have been relayed to us from the edges of the known universe via the James Webb Telescope, there is another frontier here on earth that is still largely a mystery—our planet’s oceans. Journalist Ian Urbina spent five perilous years chronicling this wild and dangerous landscape that is “home” to traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways.
Into the Planet by Jill Heinerth
Some people love climbing really high mountains while others thrive exploring very deep caves. Author and thrill-seeker Jill Heinreth falls into the latter category. As the first person in history to deep dive into an Antarctic iceberg and lead a team to explore the watery remains of ancient Mayan ruins, Heinreth not only writes about some incredible adventures exploring the planet’s final frontier but also writes of the challenges of being one of few women in the field of cave diving. An intense and riveting read on all accounts.
Book / eBook / Audio eBook
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
Clare is seven years old when her older sister disappears one night and turns up dead during a family vacation in the Caribbean on the beautiful, imaginary island of Saint X. Every parent’s worse nightmare unfolds as the family returns home to face grief and loss. Not your typical thriller, this novel is a character-driven slow burn that also grapples with issues of race , privilege and class.
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
Published in 1951, this timeless classic is Rachel Carson at her best, with her uncanny ability to combine scientific insight with stunningly beautiful prose. It received both the 1962 National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal in addition to remaining at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list for 31 consecutive weeks. Her work is as fresh today as it was nearly 70 years ago as she celebrates the enduring mystery and allure of the sea, making the environmental burden we have placed upon it all the more distressing to contemporary readers.
Book / eBook / CD Audiobook / Audio eBook
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
If you liked the 2020 Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, you’ll love this book. Naturalist Sy Montgomery befriended several octopuses at the New England Aquarium, each with very unique personalities. The book explores the relationships she develops between each of them. Keenly intelligent, they play, tease, and even “hug” in their own way the humans that are fascinated by them.
Spying on Whales by Nick Pyenson
Although they occupy a near-mythological place in our collective imaginations, we actually know very little about whales. Author and paleontologist and curator at the Smithsonian Institute, Nick Pyenson helps readers better understand these mysterious creatures that evolved from land-roaming, dog-like creatures into massive mammals that can live for up to 200 years navigating entire ocean basins.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Fans of author Lisa See will enjoy this luminous story of the decades-long friendship between two women who are part of a long history of women divers on the Korean Island of JeJu. The novel follows the women and their friendship from the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 40s, WWII, the Korean War up to the modern day. Casts light on the unique culture of these women divers who engage in dangerous and physical demanding work while their husbands stay home to care for the children.