Lakeland Public Library discussion

For this part of our Adult and Teen Summer Reading Challenge, we've asked you to imagine your story at sea. Because it is vast and formless, the sea can be a potent symbol of the chaos, mystery and struggles of life. Here are some titles that use water in different ways to tell their story. We've included fiction, non-fiction and YA fiction. If we missed a title you really enjoyed, and the sea or water is a major element, let us and other readers know in the comments sections.


FICTION:

The Hornblower series by C.S. Forester

Audrey & Maturin (Master & Commander) series by Patrick O'Brien

Life of Pi  by Yann Martel

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

The Oregon Files series by Clive Cussler

The Last Ship by William Brinkley

The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

Jaws by Peter Benchley

The Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

We the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
 
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Death on the Nile Agatha Christie

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro

Sphere by Michael Crichton

Atlantis by David Gibbins

The Starless Sea Erin Morgenstern

NON-FICTION:

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn

War of the Whales by Joshua Horowitz

Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves by James Nestor

Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City by Mark Adams

YA FICTION:

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

The Mermaid, The Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

The Siren by Kiera Cass

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks