winter reading

[jhwilson]

While my two contributions are about water travel they are not the type of water travel that can be accomplished by C-Dorys.

The first is River by Colin Fletcher. Fletcher is the author of many backpacking books. This one is about his trek from the source of the Colorado River in the mountains of Wyoming to where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico 1,700 miles later. He makes most of the journey by rubber raft.

The second is a novel entitled Journey by James Michener. This book tells of a party attempting to make its way by water to the Klondike gold fields in 1897.

I agree with CW that River Horse looked at the world through a negative cloud. The best water reading have done is right here on this site. El and Bill on Halcyon, Jay and Jolee on Hunkydory, and of course Jim and Joan with Wild Blue top my list of favorites.

[terraplane]

I agree that our "local" writers are superb and can really relate the C Dory experience best. I'll be sure they are on our list of "reading from C Dory"
Let me add James Michener's CHESAPEAKE...it is a flawed book to those of us who live here but it is also a spellbinding and comprehensive chronicle of the Bay.

[jhwilson]

Allow me to correct my geographical mistatement in my post above. The Colorado River empties into the Gulf of California in Mexico, not into the Gulf of Mexico.

Harper

[snal]

"Three men in a boat...(to say nothing of the dog)" Published in 1889...quite funny!

[ppriest]

Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban is an interesting reprise of his sail up the Inside Passage from Seattle in 1996. He mingles an interest in Northwest Indian culture, Captain Vancouver's expedition of discovery, and a good bit of his personal history as a English emigre to the area with his love of boats and his family while satisfying a yen for adventure.
His vessel of choice is a Swedish-built 35-foot cruising ketch which he uses principally as "...a comfortably down-at-heel floating cottage, cluttered with books and pictures, two manual typewriters, photographic stuff, dead ballpoint pens, and all the rest of the impedimenta of a singularly untidy writer's life."
Verla found Raban's shifts of context a little disconcerting; I rather enjoyed his "weaving" of threads.

Paul Priest
Sequim, WA

[breausaw]

My all time favorites by Author William McCloskey retired Coastguard.

Highliners: The Classic Novel about the Commercial Fishermen of Alaska
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1585740284/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

BREAKERS:
http://www.amazon.com/Breakers-Novel-Commercial-Fishermen-Alaska/dp/1592284140/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196452139&sr=1-1

And all novels by William McCloskey:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/105-4942049-0806849?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=William%20McCloskey

Also, by Spike Walker

Working on the Edge: Surviving In the World's Most Dangerous Profession: King Crab Fishing on Alaska's HighSeas

http://www.amazon.com/Working-Edge-Surviving-Dangerous-Profession/dp/0312089244/ref=pd_sim_b_title_2

[terraplane]

Let's hear a bit more from our "right coast" readers...
What a great list we are building..I definitely plan on making a personal list and peck away at it...
Let me add another...by the writer and poet Gilbert Byron.."The Lord's Oysters"....great story of living along the Chester River, our river.

[Chuckpacific]

Sailing Back in Time – Maria Coffey and Dag Goering

Maria Coffey and Dag Goering embark on a three-month journey by wooden boat along Canada's spectacular west coast. Leading the way are legendary boat builders and sailors Allen and Sharie Farrell on their last voyage aboard the China Cloud. Powered only by wind and sculling oars, they take Coffey and Goering to their old haunts, places where they homesteaded, fished, and built boats. Years roll away as the Farrells recount decades of memories with passion, insight and humour.

This book is a must for current and aspiring boat builders....Allen Farrell built over 40 boats from salvaged materials....some more than 40 feet long including the China Cloud, a Chinese Junk made out of cedar. Amazon has it used for $13.22.

[Papillon]

For our C-Brats with I-Pod's let me suggest you check out http://www.furledsails.com/ Noel & Christy publish a new 1 hour podcast every Sunday and they have a list of over 90 shows on their website and you can subscribe thru ITunes for free. They interview folks from the sailing world....Yea , I know, but stinkpots are welcome too and will find a lot of enjoyment listening to their interviews as well.

[stevej]

The Boat Who Wouldn't Float by Farley Mowat (never cry wolf)

http://www.amazon.com/Boat-Who-Wouldnt-Float/dp/055327788X

One of my favorite boat books

stevej

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Here's another vote for Mowat's classic.

I also recommend that you do not track down and consume the "Newfoundland Skreech" that is referred to in the book. It's as bad as it sounds, and the customs regarding it don't make it any better.

If you do buy a bottle, don't set it on the table because then you have to take the cork out.

If you take the cork out, you have to consume it then and there otherwise it will go bad (and it really does).

Shortly after getting out of the Marine Corps, and still influenced by my experiences there, I had to have a bottle when I visited BC. When I finally found a bottle in Campbell River, the clerk at the wicket asked me if I was going to drink it or wash my feet in it. The latter is the appropriate choice.

Steve

[Dreamer]

Normally, I am not much of a reader. During a six week cruise in the Broughtons, however, I devoured quite a few books. My favorite was " In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick. The true story that inspired "Moby Dick". Here's a review I found.

Subtitled "The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" and published
in 2000 to critical acclaim, this true story was written by Nathaniel Philbrick, a leading authority on the history of Nantucket. Carefully researched, and extremely well written, this early 19th century incident has been brought to life with exquisite descriptions. Not only does Philbrick tell the long sad tale of the Essex's tragic sinking in 1820 and the sufferings of the few survivors who were forced to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive, it is also the story of the whaling industry, the social and religious community of Nantucket, and the influence this incident had on Herman Melville in the writing of Moby Dick some 20 years after the event.

[Robbi]

Some great reads on this growing list. I will add a few. Endurance by Alfred Lansing, about Ernest Shackleton's doomed voyage to the South Pole and the improbable rescue. Also, South, a book by Shackleton about the voyage. Cod:A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky. This is a very interesting read about how sailors were able to take long voyages, and why they took long voyages. And last, I must add, Boat Who Wouldn't Float by Farley Mowat. I just re-read this little gem.
Thanks to those who have recommend some interesting books.

Robbi

[CW]

Three more nonfictions (isn't it funny how our group gravitates to that?):

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. An excellent, readable account of Lewis and Clark's journey across the continent. He quotes their journals extensively and also interweaves commentary that helps the reader understand the context and import of this momentous, historic boating exploration of the American West in 1803 with the benefit of two hundred years of hindsight. It is well researched, insightful and the typical polished work Ambrose is so good at.

Cook : The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook by Nicholas Thomas is the latest account about this famous explorer and his exploits, good and bad and the impact they had on his several journeys throughout the world's oceans. Big stuff. Excellent analysis of Euro//polynesian "first contacts" and the clashes of the cultures.

Guns, Germs & Steel by Jarod Diamond. Not about boating, but it does include the influence of ships in explaining why Europeans, ended up having all of the power in modern human history compared to the rest of the world. What had been explained by many in the past as "racial superiority" Diamond theorizes is due to the effects of the orientation of the continents on the animals and plants people have come to rely on. 17,000 years ago, all humans were at about the same point in the development of their cultures and tools (stone age, hunters/gatherers). What happened to accel some and not others since then?. Okay, I'm done. Alright.... see William Shakespeare too, esp. King Lear (Forgive a simple English Lit. major). C.W.

[Hunkydory]

I will only add one due to many of my favorites already being listed. The one is Nunaga by Duncan Pryde. This is a true story of a young man from Scotland who goes to work as a Trader with the Eskimos in the arctic regions of Canada in the mid l950's working for the Hudson Bay Company. He completely emerses himself in there culture before it changed. Included is a description of a 1400 mile freighter canoe trip starting in Bathurst Inlet and ending close to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The canoe was 20 feet long and powered by a 20 hp motor. He had planned on going up the Mackenzie to Yellowknife but ice stopped there voyage prematurely due to his getting a late start on the voyage in September. This would have been a remarkable voyage even in the summer with a larger enclosed boat. He did this in a open canoe in 76 days ending in November.

CW, I know this is heresy but totally agree with your critique of Riverhorse. If the c-dory hadn't been in the story I would have tossed it before half way through.

Jay