I am a long-time lover of sea books, and you listed some good ones. I have to list the best of the “old” 20th century ones: The Horatio Hornblower novels by CS Forester, along with his delicious “African Queen”! And Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series, I adored all 20. Then there’s Jay Worrell, and William C Hammond, S. Thomas Russell, JD Davies, James Nelson and Alexander Kent, all writing series of fighting ships, mostly in the Napoleonic era, but Nelson writes of the first Revolutionary ships in America. And they’re good, REALLY good stories, with great captain heroes!
I second “I Cheerfully Refuse” by Leif Enger, and add “The Last One” by Will Dean, a thriller about a cruise ship, and “Dove”, by Robin Graham, the original “sailing alone around the world by a teenager” book, and there’s the dystopian book, “After the Flood” by Kassandra Montag, about a world all flooded, only the tops of the mountains remain, so most people are on boats. And a Middle-grade series, but liked by all ages, is the Bloody Jack series by LA Meyer. “Bloody Jack” is actually 12 yr old Mary Faber, an orphan in London in the early 19th century, who pretends to be Jack to get a place on board a ship as a “ship’s boy”. The adventures are soooo fun! Great on audio. Oh, and don’t forget “The Perfect Storm”! (Sebastian Junger)
