I really love reading and I really love the sea… so I’ve collected some wonderful books for sea-lovers of all kinds right here. Find some inspiration for yourself, and to give as gifts – books for surfers, coastal hikers, swimmers, adventurers, curious thinkers, and for kids who care about the sea.
If I’m not actually in the sea, I love getting lost in a book on the beach. Or reading at home, wrapped up warm, but transported to ocean wilds somewhere in my imagination.
I don’t own any ‘single use’ books: they’re made to be shared. I love passing my favourites on to family and friends, or giving them away to charity.
Where to buy your books
Support your local bookseller (you’ll have a much more positive impact on the world than buying from Amazon). Our local bookshops are precious – and most booksellers would be more than happy to order any book in for you (I love doing that via our local Penzance bookshop: Edge of the World).
Alternatively, you could try second hand book suppliers with a sustainable ethos like World of Books.
If you buy new, you also get to support the amazing creative authors and their families – there are few writers who actually make their entire living from their books, and every purchase helps them to create more wonderful books for us to read.
If money is tight, use your local library and browse charity shops. To reduce the impact of print and production on the environment, you could buy audio books instead.
I’d love to know the books that YOU love. Let me know your favourite books for sea-lovers, and I’ll come back to update this post with your recommendations too…
1. BOOKS FOR EVERY SEA-LOVING WOMAN:
Gift from the Sea – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
This little book is a classic. Every time I read it – whatever time of life I’m living through – I get something more from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s observations. Her words are so beautiful, and strangely timeless.
I actually have two copies, which is maybe a little excessive! One that I brought for myself, and one that was gifted to me by someone else who loves it – which is actually perfect, because now I get to keep one AND have the pleasure of loaning this one out on a regular basis…
It was written when Anne was on a precious seaside writing break, away from her husband and five children many years ago, yet her wise words on life, love, motherhood, the modern world, ageing and solitude still ring true today.
Her thoughts on love and marriage are so honest and beautiful, and have such meaning for me personally, that we shared a reading from this book when we got married by the sea ourselves…
2. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO LOVE TO WALK:
The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
I was loaned this book by a fellow swimmer soon after it came out – when I really wasn’t in the mood for reading. Yet, somehow, the bittersweet charm of this beautiful book quickly drew me in.
It’s the true story of Raynor and her partner Moth’s walk along the South West Coastpath – a mad/brave response to their life having recently crumbled away beneath their feet. Soon after losing their family home, they received news of Moth’s terminal illness – and with nowhere else to go, they started walking.
It’s a beautiful love story, a wonderful description of the coast I adore, and an impactful insight into the experience of being homeless and outcast.
Since then, Raynor has also written another wonderful follow-up to the Salt Path: The Wild Silence – which I also heartily recommend (although it doesn’t have as much time by the sea…) and I can’t wait to read her third book, Landlines.
3. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO ADVENTURE:
The Sea Journal: Seafarer’s Sketchbooks – Huw Lewis-Jones
Everyone in our family absolutely loved The Explorers’ Sketchbook which Huw wrote with his wife Kari Herbert (confession: Kari’s one of my best friends, and hugely talented – check out her current book, We are Artists: Women Who Made Their Mark on the World, which has nothing to do with the sea, but is awesome nonetheless…).
Like this one, The Explorers’ Sketchbook was a true work of love, stuffed full of incredible diaries and drawings from all sorts of explorers’ adventures.
The Sea Journal focuses on the wonders of the sea: there are peeks into journals and log books, excerpts from diaries and letters, and sketches and art created by mariners, ship captains, explorers and adventurers from all over the world. As we learn about their lives and journeys, we get to see how they captured their experiences, the mystery and magic of their ocean voyages on the page – bringing those journeys to life.
4. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO SWIM (or are wannabe swimmers):
Now, there are so many wonderful books for wild swimmers in the UK that I’ve had to expand my list to fit some of my favourites in …
Taking the Plunge: The Healing Power of Wild Swimming for Mind, Body and Soul – Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan
Full of inspiring, moving, well-researched, and beautifully-told stories of pain healed and lives changed for the better by wild swimming and the wonderful community of swimmers that come together in the water.
It also includes advice on how to get started – so if I haven’t inspired you yet with Sea Soul Blessings and my own swimming stories, there’s a good chance this book will get you in the water!
Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan have also brought out three wonderful Wild Swimming books – The Art of Wild Swimming Scotland, England & Wales, and Ireland. Each of these beauties contains over 100 special swimming spots, shared by seasoned swimmers who are happy to share their favourite places to swim – and also serve as a guide to becoming an awesome, joyful and responsible swimmer.
A Guide To Wild Swimming in Cornwall, by Bethany Allen, Max Campbell and Lydia Paleschi
As you may know already, I live in Penzance, in Cornwall – and swim here almost every morning.
So of course I’m pretty sure that this is the best place in the world to swim, and I would highly recommend it.
But there are lots of other amazing places to explore and swim in Cornwall too.
If you’re planning a trip to Cornwall, then these two books should definitely be added to your backpack or suitcase, along with your swim gear…
If you’re exploring wild swimming in Cornwall, you might also love A Guide To Wild Swimming in Cornwall, by Bethany Allen, Max Campbell and Lydia Paleschi which includes 54 swim locations (pictured here) and Wild Swimming Walks Cornwall, by Matt Newbury, which combines 28 coast, lake and river days out with swims – so there’s something for everyone (even those of you who don’t fancy getting wet…)
5. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO SURF:
The Stormrider Guide – Oliver Fitzjones
I think this book has probably been opened and read more times than any other book in our household…
It’s a vital guide for any surfer to the best surf breaks across Europe – all you need to know when planning a dawn patrol, a surf trip or a family adventure.
My husband seems to get happily lost in this book on a regular basis, planning imaginary surf trips. I’m sure it’s what inspired him to get so good at speaking Spanish…
We’ve also been lucky enough to visit a lot of the amazing surf spots mentioned in the book as a family. We’ve used this book’s wise advice to keep ourselves safe too – by staying away from all those it warns are not all that friendly from either a human or environmental point of view…
6. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS IN SEARCH OF PEACE:
Sea Soul Blessings – the mini book – Pippa Best
I made a book too! Each box set of beautiful Sea Soul Blessings cards is accompanied by a pocket-sized book: a standalone treat in its own right.
Sea Soul Blessings: May the Sea be your Guide is just 60 pages long, yet each page offers the reader an immediate mindful connection to the sea – a wave of encouraging words that allow you to soak up the magic of the sea. It offers gentle encouragement to listen, wherever you are in the world.
Along with my personal story, the book offers ideas for using Sea Soul Blessings as a tool to build self compassion, make time for yourself, and find greater clarity and peace. You can also use the book without any cards at all – by simply turning the pages until a particular message draws your attention. May the sea be your guide.
7. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY LOVE IT:
Blue Mind – Wallace J Nichols
This book made sense of everything that I’ve felt about being in the water – and everything that I’d witnessed in my husband’s passion for surfing.
In Blue Mind, J brings together all sorts of research from around the world (including lots from the University of Exeter, not far from us here…) to explain why water has such a profound and transformative impact on us all.
Blue Mind provides the science and personal stories to explain why water calms us, inspires us to be more creative, sends us into a positive meditative state – amongst many other benefits.
J’s writing is always engaging – he makes complex ideas accessible, and reminds us of the importance of protecting and preserving our blue spaces.
I was very honoured to be able to send some Sea Soul Blessings over to J at the last Blue Mind conference, which rather aptly, looked at ‘Blue Mindfulness’ – and I so love the idea that our seas have connected through those cards and this book!
If you like this, you’ll also like Blue Spaces by Dr Catherine Kennedy. A memoir style book that pulls together some of the more recent research, and provides examples and exercises to integrate blue mind practices into our lives – that anyone can use to enhance their mental health.
8. BOOKS FOR SEA-LOVERS WHO ALSO LOVE CORNWALL
The Draw of the Sea – Wyl Menmuir
Winner of the Roger Deakin Award, this wonderful book explores Wyl’s own relationship with the sea, and some of the many different ways that we find ourselves drawn to the sea here in the far South West.
Wyl shares the stories and passions of those in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly whose lives revolve around the sea, and explores its power to inexplicably draw us towards it. He beautifully captures diverse communities of sea-lovers – including beach-comber, ‘wreckers’, gig rowers, surfers, fishers, free divers, mermaids and more.
It’s an evocative journey into Cornwall’s rock pools, secret coves and communities. And most excitingly for me, I discovered while reading the book that he was also part of the gig crew that launched our very first adventures as Out of Sink in 2021. He describes our first performance in Jubilee Pool as part of COP26 in 2021, and captures the essence of it absolutely perfectly. What a delicious surprise!
9: BOOKS FOR LITTLE SEA-LOVERS:
The Snail and the Whale and Tiddler – both books are by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
I’m cheating and including two by Julia Donaldson, because I LOVED reading both of these books to my kids: beautifully illustrated tales that roll off the tongue…
The Snail and the Whale tells the story of a snail who wants to travel the world – in search of adventure, she befriends a humpback whale and together they head off on wild sea adventures. But when the whale is beached, the tiny little snail has to find a way to save her friend.
It reminds the reader that the smallest of us can have a powerful impact, illustrates the beauty of kindness and friendship, and the importance of following our dreams – and of course, it teaches respect and appreciation of this beautiful planet we live on, together, and its seas.
I never get bored of reading Tiddler aloud, and I must have read it hundreds and hundreds of times…!
Tiddler is a little fish who is always late for school – he always has a wonderful story to tell about why – that absolutely no one believes. But one day, he is caught up in a fishing net and really does go on a big adventure…
Set in an underwater world of imagined and real adventures and connections between a wild diversity of creatures, this is a beautiful book about the power of stories and or storytelling to connect us all.
If you liked this article, you might also like my gift guide for sea-lovers…
Thanks for reading and I hope this has given you some great ideas for sea-reads for you and your loved ones.
And please share your favourite sea-related books in the comments below so that we can all find new books to read.
I am a sea lover too. I have a quite strong connection with Cornwall since the first time I have visited it. 🙂 My parents live in a beach city, Santos, in Brazil. I love the sea and I think it’s so inspiring. Thanks for sharing those amazing books!
It’s wonderful that we can all connect through our love for the sea – from Cornwall to Brazil! Thank you Simone.
Thanks Pippa. I can really feel it <3