Here are 60 books that From the Swamp to the Keys fans have personally recommended if you like
From the Swamp to the Keys.
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As a longtime outdoors editor of a Mississippi newspaper, I actually got paid to paddle local rivers. Over the decades, I expanded my territory to adjacent states, the South, the continent, and other countries. I parlayed my experiences into several books on rivers. As a paddler and writer, I naturally love to read about adventures on the water–not only classics like Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi River and Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania but also the many less-known but highly praiseworthy books like those listed here.
Scott and I started canoeing together back in the 1980s. Then he ventured into sea kayaking. After discovering how much he loved the vessel and how seaworthy it was, Scott–young and single at the time–decided to kayak across the Caribbean. I accompanied him on a shakedown cruise, but being happily married and gainfully employed, I let him go for the rest alone.
The result, recorded in this book, is a mind-boggling adventure: rammed by sharks, stormbound, stung by Portuguese man-o-war, camping on uninhabited islands, spearfishing, and more. He hitched rides on sailboats for the dangerously long passages but otherwise took his time exploring islands, concluding at a place aptly called Bitter End.
Tourists visit popular islands of the Caribbean by the planeload. What they don't see from their resort hotels are the hundreds of out-of-the-way, uninhabited islands sprinkled along the West Indies from Florida to South America. This alluring archipelago, strung with beaches accessible only by boat but spaced temptingly close together, led Mississippi adventurer Scott B. Williams to embark upon an open-ended quest to see how far south he could go in a seventeen-foot sea kayak. No one was willing to accompany him. He spent months working his way down the west coast of Florida, through the Bahamas, and on to…
As a longtime outdoors editor of a Mississippi newspaper, I actually got paid to paddle local rivers. Over the decades, I expanded my territory to adjacent states, the South, the continent, and other countries. I parlayed my experiences into several books on rivers. As a paddler and writer, I naturally love to read about adventures on the water–not only classics like Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi River and Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania but also the many less-known but highly praiseworthy books like those listed here.
I could have selected any of Don Jackson's four books for this list. Each is a collection of essays about his outdoor adventures spanning locations from Arkansas to Alaska to Borneo. Many, if not most, of the places he writes about involve rivers, which is unsurprising since he's a retired fisheries professor.
I met Don when I was researching a river for a newspaper article. We hit it off and made several canoe trips together. While his books reveal his considerable knowledge of biology, hunting, and fishing, what really sets them apart is a strong sense of the spiritual, as the subtitle of this book indicates.
In Deeper Currents, Donald C. Jackson guides us on a journey into the cathedrals of wild and lonely places, those sacred spaces where hunters and fishers connect with the rhythms of the earth and the spirit that resonates within us. Jackson explores hunting and fishing as frameworks - sacraments - for discovering, engaging, and finding meaning. He invites readers to consider connections with wilder realms of being.
Hunting squirrels on an autumn morning, probing the woods, rifle in hand, Jackson reveals an attention to nature too often neglected. Following a bird dog into the damp and mysterious places where woodcock…
As a longtime outdoors editor of a Mississippi newspaper, I actually got paid to paddle local rivers. Over the decades, I expanded my territory to adjacent states, the South, the continent, and other countries. I parlayed my experiences into several books on rivers. As a paddler and writer, I naturally love to read about adventures on the water–not only classics like Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi River and Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania but also the many less-known but highly praiseworthy books like those listed here.
Bill Mason was a legend in the world of paddling. He was old-school: red and black plaid wool shirt, wood-and-canvas canoe, canvas lean-to-style tent. His sojourns in the North Woods inspired me in my own explorations of the Deep South. When he paddled Lake Superior, I thought of Louisiana's Atchafalaya Swamp. When he canoed the Hood River, I thought of Mississippi's Pascagoula.
This book combines in-depth advice on wilderness travel with accounts of some of Bill's own journeys. He was also an artist and filmmaker. His documentary, Waterwalker, is a must-see classic for anyone who loves adventure on the water.
More than a how-to camping and paddling guide, Song of the Paddle is a philosophical guide to outdoor living. Written by the acclaimed paddler and outdoorsman, Bill Mason, the book leads readers on a journey of exploration and discovery.
Mason writes from an intensely subjective viewpoint and the advice is practical and sound. He emphasizes the difference in perception between camping (rough) and outdoor living (comfort). Each page is packed with hard-won tips and tricks for enjoying the great outdoors. No detail is ignored -- from keeping campfire smoke out of your eyes…
As a longtime outdoors editor of a Mississippi newspaper, I actually got paid to paddle local rivers. Over the decades, I expanded my territory to adjacent states, the South, the continent, and other countries. I parlayed my experiences into several books on rivers. As a paddler and writer, I naturally love to read about adventures on the water–not only classics like Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi River and Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania but also the many less-known but highly praiseworthy books like those listed here.
I grew up near the Mississippi River, and my father and older brother worked on it for many years, so I was thrilled to run across this in-depth look at the world they inhabited. As the wife of a riverboat pilot, Melody Golding had unparalleled access to the inner workings of river life.
Over the course of a decade, she interviewed more than 100 men and women and let them tell their own stories. An acclaimed photographer, she illustrated this project with fabulous color photos. Thanks to her, I got to ride along the vessels that ply the Mississippi and other waterways, just like my dad and brother once did.
Life Between the Levees is a chronicle of first-person reflections and folklore from pilots who have dedicated their lives to the river. The stories are as diverse as the storytellers themselves, and the volume is full of drama, suspense, and a way of life a "landlubber" could never imagine. Although waterways and ports in the Mississippi corridor move billions of dollars of products throughout the US and foreign markets, in today's world those who live and work on land have little knowledge of the river and the people who work there.
In ten years of interviewing, Melody Golding collected over…
I was fortunate enough to take up white water kayaks as a student in Scotland, eventually becoming a member of the British wild water racing team. The portable nature of these craft makes it easy to move from one stretch of water to another. I subsequently became the editor of Canoeist(by accident) and have travelled all the major British canals, the larger lochs, the entire mainland coast, and many other waters, producing guides that have been found useful for those on the water, on foot, on bikes or in armchairs.
You drive there and tie in a walk with a visit to the pub. This is different. You paddle to the pub.
Over two dozen routes in the southeast of England are suggested, between Cambridge and Southampton, some to popular river or canal destinations, some more off the beaten track. Much attention is paid to the interests of kids.
The trips are graded by scenery, length, time, difficulty level, National Trust properties, castles, and canoe hire availability, with attention paid to people with physical difficulties or needing to rely on trains.
I have to declare an interest in this one, being involved in the layout of the content.
For all kinds of paddle boards, canoes, kayaks and inflatables. This is an inspiring, beautifully designed guidebook with full details of 26 easy but interesting paddling trips, mostly 1-3 hours long, and within an hour or two of London. They are family-friendly, provide good access and parking, include pubs and tea shops; castles, camping and canoe hire. This title was produced in association with Canoe England and all trips have been thoroughly researched, selected, and tested by Peter Knowles - a famous expedition paddler. Reviewers consistently call this "a brilliant guide book".
I adore books about sporty badass girls. Yet, when I first began to write Dangerous Play, there were few young-adult novels featuring fierce sporty girls. Of those, there were fewer which portrayed the powerful friendships that can emerge on girls’ sports teams. I want to read and write about girls who are defined by more than their love interests, who are dogged in the pursuit of their goals. In a world that so often judges girls by how their bodies look, sports offers an arena in which girls can view and value their bodies in an alternative way. And who doesn’t love to cheer for someone who beats the odds?
This was one of my favorite books of 2021. In The Same Boat tells the story of Sadie, a fierce canoer, who must finish the Texas River Odyssey, a 260-mile canoe race. Members of her family have raced for years—and always finished. But last year, Sadie wrecked her canoe and couldn’t finish. As a result, her dad’s barely speaking to her. So, this time, she must finish. She’s set to race with her brother but at the last minute, she’s forced to canoe with her ex-best-friend-turned-worst-enemy who inconveniently has become hot. It’s a gripping read with a swoony romance and a whole lot of family heart. Green does the very hard thing of writing a feminist sporty romance where the love interest doesn’t define her athleticism.
In the Same Boat is the hugely entertaining blend of romance and thrilling adventure that you never knew you needed.
It's the eve of the Texas River Odyssey, and Sadie Scofield is finally ready for the 265-mile canoe race. It's three days of grueling, nonstop paddling, where every turn of the river reveals new challenges -- downed trees, poisonous snakes, alligators -- but the dangers are all worth it. Reaching the finish line is the only way for Sadie to redeem herself for last year, when one small mistake spiraled into disaster.
Some of us are confronted, amid life, with the need to look at ourselves and to change. It’s usually a question of survival. Do I want to live? Better stop this, better start that. I consider myself fortunate to have been forced down this path. So, who am I, really? Will I double down on my past mistakes, or can I change up and make some new ones? I love stories of the pain that precedes growth, redemption, and freedom that comes with it. Here are five of my favorite novels about recognizing what you are and becoming something new.
You are stronger than you think you are. Your primary limitations are not physical; they are in between your ears. In this novel, the inflection point the protagonist faces is not due to past mistakes or poor choices; it’s just life. It happens to all of us. In this novel, the protagonist finds his limits, and then he transcends them. The movie was pretty good, but the book is on another level.
I reread this book every once in a while, and I feel like I learn something new from it every time. The plot is very simple, but what I love the most about the novel is Dickey’s portrait of his characters and the incredible, but very human, pressure he puts them under.
“You're hooked, you feel every cut, grope up every cliff, swallow water with every spill of the canoe, sweat with every draw of the bowstring. Wholly absorbing [and] dramatic.”—Harper's Magazine
The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where the states most remote white-water river awaits. In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.
My parents joined an evangelical cult when I was ten years old, and I was taught to fear everything, to truly believe I was an evil child, and that God wanted rule-following, humble servants who cowered before him. When I tried to rebel, I was punished and sent away to a cult camp in Colorado where a creepy pastor exhorted us daily. I finally escaped the cult for good when I was 17, but it took a long, long time to recover. Now, along with writing dark novels, I teach wilderness survival and the neuroscience of survival, and I try to apply my knowledge and skills when writing my characters in theAmerican Afterlife series.
Any Peter Heller novel will work here—The Dog Stars, The Painter, etc.—butThe River is really interesting for a few reasons: Heller pushes his characters into the unknown on a river that serves both as a literal symbol and a propulsive, metaphorical symbol. There’s no way to backtrack on a river, so his two friends can’t go backwards. Then we add in the imminent danger of a forest fire and the creepy people also on the river with them, and the whole entire mix is scary!
ONE OF THE OBSERVER THRILLERS OF THE YEAR: 'GLORIOUS PROSE AND RAZOR-SHARP TENSION'
'LYRICAL AND ACTION-PACKED' Guardian 'I COULDN'T TURN THE PAGES FAST ENOUGH' Clare Mackintosh 'IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, OR FORGET' Sunday Mirror 'GLORIOUS DRAMA AND LYRICAL FLAIR Denise Mina, New York Times
Two friends Wynn and Jack have been best friends since their first day of college, brought together by their shared love the great outdoors.
The adventure of a lifetime When they decide to canoe down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate the ultimate wilderness experience: no phones, no fellow travellers, no way of going…
I am a British crime writer with a love of American crime fiction, particularly books with dark plots and quirky, unique characters. I am the author of the Sunday Times bestselling, multiple award-winning, Washington Poe series and the new Ben Koenig series but am first a reader—I read over a hundred books a year. I love discovering a new-to-me series that has a back catalogue for me to work through, and I appreciate recommendations. I’ve been a full-time author since 2015 and, as I suspected, it’s my dream job.
Carl Hiaasen’s Florida-set books are dark, clever, and ever so funny, with his perfectly drawn characters being eccentric, shady as hell, or just plain whack-a-doodle.
Sometimes all three at the same time. Most of his books are standalones but his one recurring character, the sidekick to lots of the books’ protagonists, is Clinton Tyree, the ex-governor of Florida. Tyree was one of the few honest men to hold that office, until one day, sick of the corruption, he simply vanished into the Everglades.
He appeared later as Skink, a one-eyed man at one with nature who dined on roadkill and engaged in the occasional act of ecoterrorism. He’s frequently the protector of Florida’s downtrodden. In Stormy Weather, he befriends Bonnie Lamb, an unhappy honeymooner, and kidnaps her new husband.
A hilarious and scathing novel from the author of Squeeze Me about a crazed and determined man who has devoted his strange existence to saving southern Florida from con artists and carpetbaggers after a hurricane hits.
'Hysterically funny.... Hiaasen at his satirical best' - USA Today
When a ferocious hurricane rips through southern Florida, insurance fraudsters, amateur occultists, and ex-cons waste no time in swarming over the disaster area. And caught in the middle are Max and Bonnie Lamb, honeymooners who abandon their Disney World plans to witness the terrible devastation. But when Max vanishes, Bonnie, aided by a mysterious…
I love being by the water. Most of my vacations are spent at tropical destinations. There’s something pretty amazing about reading a book at the water’s edge, near a palm tree, with the breeze and the salty smell of the wonderful warm air as pelicans swoop across the surface.
I love being in the Everglades of South Florida. I love the crazy characters and their wild pursuits of making money. There are a lot of 70s musical references and nostalgia for the reader.
One could really believe this may be based on true events because, after all, it’s Florida.
Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times bestselling author and actual Florida Man Dave Barry returns with a Florida caper full of oddballs and more twists and turns than a snake slithering away from a gator.
Jesse Braddock is trapped in a tiny cabin deep in the Everglades with her infant daughter and her ex-boyfriend, a wannabe reality TV star who turned out to be a lot prettier on the outside than on the inside. Broke and desperate for a way out, Jesse stumbles across a long-lost treasure, which could solve all her problems—if she can figure out how to keep it.…
