Fram's Voyages
Books 2020-2022
The Odyssey By Homer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We come back to this book every sailing season, refreshing our memories. We have seen Circe's island and passed through Scilla and Cherybdis in the Messina straits so feels very relevant. It's fascinating and very good reading even after all these years. I recount many of the stories to children and grandchildren on dark evenings in FRAM's cockpit while we sip our drinks and look out over some Greek island:) The Cyclops is a favorite of the little boys.
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, the life of William Dampier; Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer By Diana and Michael Preston ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the Kingdom of Ice, The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette in the late 19th century. By Hampton Sides ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Indifferent Stars Above; The harrowing saga of the Donner party of pioneers traveling from Illinois to California. By Daniel J Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We, the Drowned By Carsten Jensen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is one of the best books we've read this summer. Jensen gives a historic account in novel form of the seafaring people who lived on the Danish island of Ærø south of Funen. The town of Marstal, situated on the northeast end of the island was entirely made up of seamen, ship builders and their families. We follow four generations starting in the 1890's and up to about 1960's; first with sailing ships and later steam and engine propelled ships. Marstal seamen had a reputation for being competent sailors the world over. We follow the Madsen family as the red thread of the story. We bought this book at the seamen's museum in Marstal and read it while we waited for the fresh water pump for the engine to arrive from the mainland. This gave us the distinct advantage of being able to walk the streets mentioned in the book and to sit in the Marstal church, gazing at the altarpiece that the people of the town paid a local artist to paint, the ships models hanging from the rafters and generally soak up the ambience of the church. We found most of the landmarks and are pretty sure of the house that the horrible teacher Mr Isager who was so cruel to his students. Great read!
Seglaren Havet Kärleken By Uno Hylén ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unfortunately this book is only available in Swedish. If you are lucky enough to speak and read Swedish you will love this book. Uno Hylén is from Skanör and in 1973 he took 2 years off to sail his 25-foot sailboat Amigo from Skanör to Peru where he met the love of his life, Nelly, a Peruvian girl, married her and brought her back to Sweden via the Panama Canal, Caribbean and across the Atlantic. He tells the story himself and one is struck by the modesty and innocence of this young man who braved ferocious seas without a motor, GPS, using charts that were regularly soaked in salt water, a compass that leaked, a faulty radio, and a leaking dinghy that he had to blow up manually with his own lung power. This book is riveting, exciting and hilarious.
Spillover, Animal infections and the next human pandemic by David Quammen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Saladdin, Hero of Islam By Geoffrey Hindley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Isaac's Storm, A man, a Time and a Deadly Hurricane in 1900 By Erik Larson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Blind Assassin By Margaret Atwood ⭐⭐ I found this book very difficult to get into. It was too slow and meandering.
In the Heart of the Sea, By Nathaniel Philbrick ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The book is much better than the movie, lots of interesting information about the American whaling industry in the 18th century
American Nations, a History of the 11 rival regional cultures of North America By Colin Woodard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent