The most recommended surfing books

Who picked these books? Meet our 19 experts.

19 authors created a book list connected to surfing, and here are their favorite surfing books.
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Beginners

By Tom Vanderbilt,

Book cover of Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning

Warren Berger Author Of The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead

From the list on lifelong learning.

Who am I?

Warren Berger considers himself to be a “questionologist.” He has written three books on the power of asking questions, starting with the best-selling A More Beautiful Question and his follow-up, The Book Of Beautiful Questions. His expertise on questioning has been sought out by companies like Pfizer and Starbucks, as well as by the US Army and the NASA space program. He has written for The New York Times and Wired magazine, and he writes the “Questionologist” column for Psychology Today. Warren believes that lifelong learning is fueled by curiosity and questions.

Warren's book list on lifelong learning

Why did Warren love this book?

A big part of lifelong learning involves experimenting, trying new things, and picking up new skills. I must confess this can be challenging for me; I’m one of those people who sometimes gets frustrated or embarrassed when I try something new and find it doesn’t come easily to me. Maybe you’re the same way--if so, all the more reason to take inspiration from Vanderbilt’s book, which chronicles his efforts to learn how to play chess, surf, sing, juggle, and more. Woven in with those entertaining experiences are larger lessons about how we learn, and why it’s so beneficial to keep doing so. In the hands of a less skilled writer, a book like this--in which a journalist tries on a series of new hats--might seem gimmicky. But Vanderbilt is an insightful observer and storyteller who can even make traffic fascinating (that was the subject of a previous book of his,…

By Tom Vanderbilt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beginners as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Beginners belongs on the list of books that have changed the way I understand my own limitations.'
Malcolm Gladwell

For many of us, the last time we learned a new skill was during childhood. We live in an age which reveres expertise but looks down on the beginner. Upon entering adulthood and middle age, we begin to shy away from trying new things, instead preferring to stay nestled firmly in our comfort zones.

Beginners asks the question: why are children the only ones allowed to experience the inherent fun of facing daily challenges? And could we benefit from embracing new…


Saltwater Buddha

By Jaimal Yogis,

Book cover of Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea

Tina LeCount Myers Author Of The Song of All

From the list on surfing (from a surfer).

Who am I?

The moment I rode my first wave 25 years ago, I fell in love with the raw energy of that swell that traveled all the way across the ocean to share the last bit of its journey with me. My love of surfing became an all-consuming passion. I abandoned graduate school and reorganized my life to spend every possible minute in the water. Hours a day, I sit on my board, watching the horizon for the next wave, anticipating that sublime connection, when wind and water unite with my breath and blood. Out of the water, I seek a similar kind of transcendence in the stories I write. 

Tina's book list on surfing (from a surfer)

Why did Tina love this book?

The surfing safari was immortalized in 1962 by the Beach Boys, and made legendary by Bruce Brown’s iconic 1966 film, Endless Summer. The search for great surf is a pillar of this literary genre. Whether harrowing, aggrandizing, escapist, or prize-winning, surf memoirs have a common theme: a quest. An empty beach, an epic swell, a perfect wave, an adventure, an escape. Surfers are always looking to the horizon—searching. What speaks to me in Yogis’s memoir is his explicit connection between the struggle toward Buddhist enlightenment and the teachings of the ocean, its waves, and surfing. With self-effacing humor and a conversational style, Jaimal Yogis, makes the worlds of both Zen Buddhism and surfing, approachable and human. Yogis, quoting Walt Whitman, reminds us: “Who need be afraid of the merge?” 

By Jaimal Yogis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Saltwater Buddha as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Fed up with teenage life in the suburbs, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries, from the warm Pacific to the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue.


The Dawn Patrol

By Don Winslow,

Book cover of The Dawn Patrol

Tina LeCount Myers Author Of The Song of All

From the list on surfing (from a surfer).

Who am I?

The moment I rode my first wave 25 years ago, I fell in love with the raw energy of that swell that traveled all the way across the ocean to share the last bit of its journey with me. My love of surfing became an all-consuming passion. I abandoned graduate school and reorganized my life to spend every possible minute in the water. Hours a day, I sit on my board, watching the horizon for the next wave, anticipating that sublime connection, when wind and water unite with my breath and blood. Out of the water, I seek a similar kind of transcendence in the stories I write. 

Tina's book list on surfing (from a surfer)

Why did Tina love this book?

The Dawn Patrol is the first in Winslow’s Boone Daniels detective series. It has many hallmarks of a Winslow novel: a Southern California backdrop (San Diego), a host of morally ambiguous characters, a generally good guy trying to do what’s right, snappy writing, and surfing. This book also presents a surf culture we’ve come to recognize from television and movies, with a language, that while not universally shared by all surfers, is understood as the sport’s lingua franca—dude, gnarly, epic, wipeout. Where this book excels, however, is in capturing surfing’s dualistic nature as both a solitary pursuit and a place of a tight-knit community. Main character Boone Daniels is both the lone wolf and a member of a pack, one that can both have his back in the lineup and turn on him on dry land.

By Don Winslow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dawn Patrol as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the bestselling author of Savages (now an Oliver Stone film).

As cool as its California surfer heroes, Don Winslow delivers a high velocity, darkly comic, and totally righteous crime novel.

Every morning Boone Daniels catches waves with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have "real j-o-b-s"; Boone, however, works as a PI just enough to keep himself afloat. But Boone's most recent gig-investigating an insurance scam—has unexpectedly led him to a ghost from his past. And while he may have to miss the…


Gidget

By Frederick Kohner,

Book cover of Gidget

Pamela Robertson Wojcik Author Of Gidget: Origins of a Teen Girl Transmedia Franchise

From the list on midcentury groovy girls and freedom to read.

Who am I?

As a feminist and cultural historian, I'm interested in recovering aspects of the past that we have forgotten, especially when the past turns out to challenge our taken-for-granted views. We often have a nostalgic vision of the fifties that portrays our mothers and grandmothers as innocent and naïve. In contrast, we attribute notions of freedom and authenticity to masculine figures like the Beats. When doing research on the film Gidget, and the novel that inspired it, I found myself re-reading these books, all of which suggest in different ways that, long before the sexual revolution, girls were curious, sexually aware, and desiring freedom. These books make me remember how hip those girls could be.   

Pamela's book list on midcentury groovy girls and freedom to read

Why did Pamela love this book?

This novel started it all, creating the character of Gidget who would ultimately appear in three feature films, two TV series, three made-for-TV movies, four more novels, and two novelizations of movies, plus kid cartoons, parodies, songs, and more. Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas is based on the real-life experiences of screenwriter Kohner’s daughter Kathy, who found herself one of very few girls surfing in Malibu. The story is told in the voice of Gidget, nicknamed that because she is a diminutive girl. To be sure, the novel deals with her crush on Jeff, nicknamed Moondoggie, and her burgeoning sexual desire, but the novel does more than titillate. More importantly, the novel emphasizes Gidget’s passion for surfing, and especially the feeling of freedom that surfing provides. In the end, Gidget says her romance with Jeff may have been “a dream” but her romance with surfing is “for real:”…

By Frederick Kohner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gidget as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A surfing, boy-crazy teenager comes of age in the summer of 1957 in this classic novel that inspired both movies and television and created an American pop culture icon.

"My English comp teacher Mr. Glicksberg says if you want to be a writer you have to-quote-sit on a window sill and get all pensive and stuff and jot down descriptions. Unquote Glicksberg! I don't know what kind of things he writes but I found my inspiration in Malibu with a radio, my best girlfriends, and absolutely zillions of boys for miles. I absolutely had to write everything down because I…


The Wave

By Susan Casey,

Book cover of The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

Martha LaGuardia-Kotite Author Of Changing the Rules of Engagement: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership from Women in the Military

From the list on finding inspiration that can change your life.

Who am I?

I love adventure—I'm an adventurist. I love escaping—through creative writing and the written word! And, I love the sea—I have served over 30 years in the US Coast Guard at sea and ashore and recently drove Zodiacs in Alaska and Norway for Seabourn Cruise ships. Since publishing my first book, So Others May Live about heroic US Coast Guard rescue swimmers and aircrews  (read by Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher who both told me they loved my book and used it for their roles in film, The Guardian), I have become a TEDx speaker and coach, award-winning author and rose to the senior rank of captain in the USCG. 

Martha's book list on finding inspiration that can change your life

Why did Martha love this book?

This is an adventure! Turn the pages of this book to find waves and many kinds of waves: rogue, freak, and giant waves of the ocean and the people who try to surf them. I am a retired US Coast Guard officer and sailed many ships at sea. As a mariner we know of or have seen waves, some of them tossing our ships in the middle of the night as we try to sail home. Any number of ships have vanished in the ocean, quickly, with no time to put out an SOS call for help. This is a great book to learn more while having an adventure reading it from the safety of your chair.

By Susan Casey,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Wave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The have long been mariners' tales of 100-foot rogue waves - gargantuan monsters that sink super-tankers in the blink of an eye.

But waves that high violate the laws of physics, so science has dismissed them as myth. Until now.

In February 2000 the research ship, RRS Discovery, was trapped by a vortex of mammoth waves in the North Atlantic. Amazingly the ship survived and its state-of-the-art equipment registered waves nearing 100-feet. Something scary is brewing in the planet's waters. And with 72% of earth covered by sea, this is serious business.

Cut to Maui, Hawaii, a surf mecca where…


Ask for Horses

By Tina Tau,

Book cover of Ask for Horses: Memoir of a Dream-Guided Life

Christian McEwen Author Of In Praise of Listening

From Christian's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Reader Walker Dreamer Listener

Christian's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did Christian love this book?

I have kept track of my own dreams since the age of sixteen, writing them down each morning, and often illustrating them too. But Tina Tau has done far more. Her life has been, quite literally, guided by dreams.

Ask for Horses could be called a double memoir, a conversation between the worlds, visible and invisible. The writing is lucid and engaging, the plot (such as it is) both lively and unpredictable. Tina Tau herself emerges an unlikely heroine: generous, warmhearted, and intrepid. 

By Tina Tau,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ask for Horses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An adventure story in two realms, a conversation between the visible and invisible worlds: in this eloquent memoir, Tina Tau reveals the life-saving intelligence of her dreams.

". . . Ask for something so alive, so surprising, that it will crack your life wide open."

An adventure story in two realms, a conversation between the visible and invisible worlds; in this eloquent memoir, Tina Tau reveals the life-saving intelligence of her dreams. As a young woman she tries to outrun her pain by moving every year, often thousands of miles at a time. But by paying attention to her dreams,…


The Silence of the Wave

By Gianrico Carofiglio, Howard Curtis (translator),

Book cover of The Silence of the Wave

Tina LeCount Myers Author Of The Song of All

From the list on surfing (from a surfer).

Who am I?

The moment I rode my first wave 25 years ago, I fell in love with the raw energy of that swell that traveled all the way across the ocean to share the last bit of its journey with me. My love of surfing became an all-consuming passion. I abandoned graduate school and reorganized my life to spend every possible minute in the water. Hours a day, I sit on my board, watching the horizon for the next wave, anticipating that sublime connection, when wind and water unite with my breath and blood. Out of the water, I seek a similar kind of transcendence in the stories I write. 

Tina's book list on surfing (from a surfer)

Why did Tina love this book?

Arguably, this is not a book about surfing. The Silence of the Wave is about an Italian undercover police officer dealing with trauma and guilt. But within this hardboiled story of crisis and the dark and ugly undercurrents of our modern world, Carofiglio beautifully illustrates the lasting impact surfing can have on a person’s life. Like first love, surfing may be in your past, but it is never forgotten and often takes on a mythic quality that at once can feel like a dream and also lead you back to your true self.

By Gianrico Carofiglio, Howard Curtis (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Silence of the Wave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A woman on the run from her past. A child on the run from reality. A man on the run from himself. Carofiglio confronts the dark side of the human soul in this captivating story of fall and redemption. Every week, Roberto Marias crosses Rome on foot to arrive at his psychiatrist's office. There, he often sits in silence, stumped by the ritual - but sometimes crucial memories come to the surface. He remembers when he was a child and used to surf with his father. He remembers the treacherous years he spent working as an under-cover carabinieri, years that…


Book cover of The Dogs of Winter

Mark Chisnell Author Of Powder Burn

From the list on the thrills and dangers of extreme sports.

Who am I?

I started climbing and running around the hills in my teens, got into boats, became a professional sailor for twenty years, then took up surfing at thirty and snowboarding at forty. There’s something special about playing with gravity, whether it’s sliding down hills or waves, or defying it on a mountain face. All these books capture the thrill and the dangers.

Mark's book list on the thrills and dangers of extreme sports

Why did Mark love this book?

I discovered this book when I had just started surfing, and it blew me away – so there could be great fiction about extreme sports! I loved the grittiness, the foreboding noir feel, and the unusual setting. It was part of the inspiration for Powder Burn, although they are very different books.

By Kem Nunn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dogs of Winter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Heart Attacks is California's last secret spot - the premier mysto surf haunt, the stuff of rumour and legend. The rumours say you must cross Indian land to get there. They tell of hostile locals and shark-infested waters where waves in excess of thirty feet break a mile from shore. For down-and-out photographer Jack Fletcher, the chance to shoot these waves in the company of surfing legend Drew Harmon offers the promise of new beginnings. But Drew is not alone in the northern reaches of the state. His young wife, Kendra, lives there with him. Obsessed with the unsolved murder…


(R)evolution

By PJ Manney,

Book cover of (R)evolution

Zoe Routh Author Of The Olympus Project

From Zoe's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Leadership futurist Adventurist Former bellydancer Historical and speculative fiction nut Marathoner

Zoe's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did Zoe love this book?

I was only 10% into this book when I had to pause and catch my breathso much had happened already!

I was sucked straight in and sent on a roller coaster ride as the action ripped through the pages, pushing the characters into precarious situations and edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers. All this while surfing advanced technology like nano-bots and computer brain interfaces, in a speculative fiction whirlwind, complete with secret societies, betrayal, subterfuge, mystery, and many points of no return.

Manney’s writing is vivid, strong and doesn’t pull any punches. When I put the book down, I had to take a deep breath and go for a walk, with my mind expanded, and my heart racing. A triumph! Hugely enjoyable.

By PJ Manney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked (R)evolution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Philip K. Dick Award Finalist

Scientist Peter Bernhardt has dedicated his life to nanotechnology, the science of manipulating matter on the atomic scale. As the founder of Biogineers, he is on the cusp of revolutionizing brain therapies with microscopic nanorobots that will make certain degenerative diseases become a thing of the past. But after his research is stolen by an unknown enemy, seventy thousand people die in Las Vegas in one abominable moment. No one is more horrified than Peter, as this catastrophe sets in motion events that will forever change not only his life but also the course of…


The Voyage of the Cormorant

By Christian Beamish, Ken Perkins (illustrator),

Book cover of The Voyage of the Cormorant: A Memoir of the Changeable Sea

Patrick Dean Author Of A Window to Heaven: The Daring First Ascent of Denali: America's Wildest Peak

From the list on first-person narratives about the outdoors.

Who am I?

As an avid trail-runner and mountain-biker who’s done a ton of outdoorsy things, from sailboat racing on the Chesapeake Bay to rockclimbing to backpacking in the Pacific Northwest, I’m convinced that nothing gets you closer to someone’s experience than a well-told first-person account. The best personal narratives make you feel the cold, glow with the exhilaration, and burn with ambition to go, to do, to see for yourself — and can even make you look at the world, and yourself, in a new way. These books, different as they are, have all done those things for me.

Patrick's book list on first-person narratives about the outdoors

Why did Patrick love this book?

Building your own sailboat from scratch, then sailing it from California down to Baja, camping, and surfing along the way: how can that not be a cool story? Christian Beamish manages the perfect blend of introspection and backstory with descriptions of sea, sky, land, and the people he meets along the way.

By Christian Beamish, Ken Perkins (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Voyage of the Cormorant as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Christian Beamish, a former editor at The Surfer's Journal, envisioned a low-tech, self-reliant exploration for surf along the coast of North America, using primarily clothes and instruments available to his ancestors, and the 18-foot boat he would build by hand in his garage. How the vision met reality and how the two came to shape each other places The Voyage of the Cormorant in the great American tradition of tales of life at sea, and what it has to teach us.


Freckled

By TW Neal,

Book cover of Freckled

Brian Rush McDonald Author Of The Long Surrender: A Memoir about Losing My Religion

From the list on people who left life-defining ideologies.

Who am I?

I became involved in a rigid religious movement as a teen and prepared for the ministry at a fundamentalist college and seminary. I took this ideology to its logical extreme and became a foreign missionary. I know from the inside how such an ideology takes hold of a person and how difficult it is to escape its grasp, especially when family and career are intertwined. Through my own struggle with depression and anxiety, I scoured books to help understand myself and faith development, eventually earning a Ph.D in counseling, emphasizing developmental theory. I know from personal experience what it means to walk away from a way of thinking that has defined much of your life.

Brian's book list on people who left life-defining ideologies

Why did Brian love this book?

T.W. Neal grows up with parents who opt to live on a sparsely populated Hawaiian island, not wearing clothes, surfing, smoking Marijuana, and eating magic mushrooms. The family lives in a van or in housing with few modern amenities and the author attends school on the island only sporadically. Due to her mother’s mental illness and her father’s alcohol abuse, she at times, has to run the household. With difficulty she connects with relatives and a few teachers and begins to reach for a lifeline to break free from the life her parents chose. She wants to go to college and eventually is able to leave the island and pursue a mainstream life. It is astounding that a person growing up in such circumstances would have the desire and determination to forge a different life.

By TW Neal,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Freckled as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For fans of The Glass Castle and Educated, comes mystery author Toby Neal’s personal story of surviving a wild childhood in paradise. We never call it homeless. We're just "camping" in the jungle on Kauai...

We live in a place everyone calls paradise. Sure, Kauai’s beautiful, with empty beaches, drip-castle mountains, and perfect surf...but we’ve been "camping" for six months, eating boiled chicken feed for breakfast, and wearing camouflage clothes so no one sees us trespassing in our jungle hideout. The cockroaches leave rainbow colors all over everything from eating the crayons we left outside the tent, and now a…


Samira Surfs

By Rukhsanna Guidroz, Fahmida Azim (illustrator),

Book cover of Samira Surfs

Barbara Carroll Roberts Author Of Nikki on the Line

From the list on girls who love sports.

Who am I?

I was a very active kid – the kind of kid who was constantly told to sit still and be quiet. Growing up in the 1960s, I had few opportunities to engage in athletics, other than neighborhood games of tag and kick-the-can. But when I got to high school, our school district had just begun offering competitive sports for girls. Finally, my energy and athletic ability were appreciated (at least by my coaches and teammates). So I guess it was inevitable that when I began writing books for young readers, I would start with a book about a girl who loves sports.

Barbara's book list on girls who love sports

Why did Barbara love this book?

Samira is a Rohingya girl whose family fled anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar and now lives near a refugee camp in a Bangladesh beach town. This doesn’t sound like the set-up for a “sports” book, yet like all the best sports books, this beautiful novel-in-verse is about so much more than simply winning or losing a game. I love the way Guidroz shows the strong bonds that form within a team – in this case, a group of girls who help one another learn to swim and surf, defying cultural standards that bar girls from these activities. I also love how participating in this sport gives Samira a way to grow as an individual and claim her own identity: “Before I was Samira,” she says. “Now, I am Samira the Surfer.”

By Rukhsanna Guidroz, Fahmida Azim (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Samira Surfs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A middle grade novel in verse about Samira, an eleven-year-old Rohingya refugee living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds strength and sisterhood in a local surf club for girls.

Samira thinks of her life as before and after: before the burning and violence in her village in Burma, when she and her best friend would play in the fields, and after, when her family was forced to flee. There's before the uncertain journey to Bangladesh by river, and after, when the river swallowed her nana and nani whole. And now, months after rebuilding a life in Bangladesh with her mama,…


Free Days with George

By Colin Campbell,

Book cover of Free Days with George: Learning Life's Little Lessons from One Very Big Dog

Meredith May Author Of Loving Edie: How a Dog Afraid of Everything Taught Me to Be Brave

From the list on dogs who make us better humans.

Who am I?

I’ve spent the last 21 years in the company of a golden retriever, all through my career as a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer – and ever since I left the paper in 2015 to write memoirs. I wrote a memoir for an Iranian child soldier, a memoir about my childhood beekeeping with my grandfather in Big Sur, and it was only a matter of time before I turned to my dog for inspiration. After two perfectly happy golden retrievers, Edie’s extreme anxiety baffled me: I hired trainers, behaviorists, specialist veterinarians, read everything I could on the canine brain, tried CBD oil, and even a pet psychic to understand her emotions.  

Meredith's book list on dogs who make us better humans

Why did Meredith love this book?

This has to be the coolest story of reinvention – man gets unexpectedly dumped by his wife, moves to a California beach town, rescues a 140-lb neglected Newfoundland, and teaches him how to surf with him on his longboard. Man and dog are both traumatized, and the scenes of their slow dance around one another in a tiny apartment are so sweet and awkward, like the slapstick 80’s sitcoms I grew up watching. I love stories like this that make me believe in fate, that Colin and his dog George were destined to give each other a second chance. When they start winning dog surf competitions, I was cheering out loud. It’s quirky, brilliant, and badass all wrapped in one. 

By Colin Campbell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Free Days with George as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Bestseller..!!  A heartwarming, true story about George, a rescue dog who helps his owner rediscover love and happiness. Marley & Me meets Tuesdays with Morrie and The Art of Racing in the Rain--get your tissues ready, animal lovers!

After Colin Campbell went on a short business trip abroad, he returned home to discover his wife of many years had moved out. No explanations. No second chances. She was gone and wasn't coming back. Shocked and heartbroken, Colin fell into a spiral of depression and loneliness.
Soon after, a friend told Colin about a dog in need…


Book cover of The Winter of Frankie Machine

Anthony Schneider Author Of Lowdown: A Mafia Romance Thriller

From the list on character-driven gangsters.

Who am I?

Growing up on a diet of The Godfather, The Sopranos, thrillers, and gangster novels, and living in New York City with eye-opening trips to Sicily, I became slightly obsessed with the Mafia. I came to see the American Mafia as a quintessentially American fabric, woven of family, power, immigrants, money, history, loyalty, legacy, and, yes, crime.  

Anthony's book list on character-driven gangsters

Why did Anthony love this book?

Retired hitman Frankie Machianno thinks he’s left the past behind and can focus on the things that matter—wife, mistress, daughter, surfing, perfect kitchen, roasting coffee, cooking.

But someone is coming for him and wants him dead. The problem is: Frankie doesn’t know who. As he tries to figure it out, we learn about Frank, his family, his lover, and his past, from San Diego beach bum to mafia “button man.”

He’s my favorite kind of gangster—the good guy bad guy—and I couldn’t help but like Frank and fear for his life, as the novel hurtles toward its bittersweet conclusion.



By Don Winslow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Winter of Frankie Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Frank Machianno is the guy, a late-middle-aged ex-surf bum who runs a bait shack on the San Diego waterfront. That's when he's not juggling any of his other three part-time jobs or trying to get a quick set in on his long board. He's a beloved fixture of the community, a stand-up businessman, a devoted father to his daughter. Frank's also a hit man. Well, a retired hit man.

Back in the day, when he was one of the most feared members of the West Coast mob, he was known as Frankie Machine. Years ago, Frank consigned his mob ties…


Second Star

By Alyssa B. Sheinmel,

Book cover of Second Star

Katie Ward Author Of The Pretender

From the list on YA inspired by classic fiction.

Who am I?

I have a real love of classic fiction and my first novel The Pretender is a modern-day adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. I discovered this story as a child when a relative gave me a copy to read on the journey home from Scotland. While aspects of the story are frequently copied, the essence of the original novel felt forgotten. It’s such a beautiful story with many of the themes still relevant today that I decided to adapt it so a modern audience could rediscover and fall in love with it all over again. As an author, I draw a lot of inspiration from the classics.

Katie's book list on YA inspired by classic fiction

Why did Katie love this book?

Peter Pan has always been a bit of a dark story, I remember as a child being quite concerned about how easy it was to kill Tinkerbell and why Peter needed his shadow stitched back on! Second Star is a modern but dark retelling of this children’s fable, set in sunny California and amongst the surfing community, we follow a 17-year-old Wendy as she searches for her missing brothers. Stepping into a dark world, she finds herself drawn to the Cove’s enigmatic leader Pete but she is also pulled towards his dangerous and drug-dealing nemesis, Jas. This novel shows how a classic can be used as inspiration but the author is still able to make the story their own and I always enjoy reading that.

By Alyssa B. Sheinmel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Second Star as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy's journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove's charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a…


Saltwater in the Blood

By Easkey Britton,

Book cover of Saltwater in the Blood: Surfing, Natural Cycles and the Sea's Power to Heal

Tina LeCount Myers Author Of The Song of All

From the list on surfing (from a surfer).

Who am I?

The moment I rode my first wave 25 years ago, I fell in love with the raw energy of that swell that traveled all the way across the ocean to share the last bit of its journey with me. My love of surfing became an all-consuming passion. I abandoned graduate school and reorganized my life to spend every possible minute in the water. Hours a day, I sit on my board, watching the horizon for the next wave, anticipating that sublime connection, when wind and water unite with my breath and blood. Out of the water, I seek a similar kind of transcendence in the stories I write. 

Tina's book list on surfing (from a surfer)

Why did Tina love this book?

To look at what is written about surfing, it would seem that it’s a “man’s world.” Surfing, like other pursuits and professions, is one where women are often characterized as either anecdotal or exceptional. The truth is so much richer and complex that, as a woman who surfs, I almost don’t want to share our secrets. But Easkey Britton shares some of hers from years of competitive surfing around the world and from the fierce and sustaining waters she calls home on the west coast of Ireland. Britton has surfed waves and conditions that few among us have the desire to tackle. But in discussing all these places and all these conditions, she speaks eloquently about what can be gained through immersion in the ocean that gave birth to our human form and continues to abide by our human trespasses. 

By Easkey Britton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Saltwater in the Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is an incredibly inspiring exploration of the sea's role in the wellness of people and the planet, beautifully written by Easkey Britton - surfer, scientist and social activist. She offers a powerful female perspective on the sea and surfing, explaining what it's like to be a woman in a man's world and how she promoted the sport to women in Iran, surfing while wearing a hijab. She speaks of the undiscussed taboo around entering the water while menstruating - and of how she has come to celebrate her own bodily cycles. She has developed her own approach to surfing,…


An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

By Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy (translator),

Book cover of An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

Anne Wedgwood Author Of The Botanist

From the list on crime with elderly female protagonists.

Who am I?

I was eleven years old when my father introduced me to my first Agatha Christie mystery, and I’ve never looked back. When the time came to write a crime novel of my own, I knew that I wanted it to be set in Beverley, but I didn’t expect my plot to lead me to write about a pensioner. Perhaps it’s not surprising – older people have a vast knowledge of the world which can only make them more interesting as central characters in fiction. It has inspired me to seek out more books with a pensioner/crime theme – I hope you enjoy the ones on this list!

Anne's book list on crime with elderly female protagonists

Why did Anne love this book?

Maud is a riot – she’s not had the easiest of lives and she is determined to enjoy her later years. If anyone gets in her way or does something to upset her, she has no hesitation in bumping them off – whether on the spur of the moment or with detailed planning. Like me, she loves to travel, and she is a dab hand with the internet. Unlike most crime books, her story is told in short stories rather than as a novel, each perfectly formed, unexpected, and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. 

By Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.

Ever since her darling father's untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family's spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties,…


First Time Lucky

By Loni Hansen,

Book cover of First Time Lucky

Elle Mitchell Author Of We Used to Be Different

From Elle's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Dark Disabled Jill-of-many-trades Complicated Artist

Elle's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did Elle love this book?

It's one of the most unique romances I've read. A virgin and an fboy meet, and we hate him instantly. And yet, I couldn't wait to watch him grow and show his softer side.

The characters sparkled—the main couple and the friends and family. No one was left out. They were all real and imperfect and engaging.

As the couple gets closer, the book gets steamy. Then it becomes the perfect blend of romance and hot with a spin that just isn't out there. I don't read physical books anymore, but I'm glad I did for this one.

By Loni Hansen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked First Time Lucky as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pros for sleeping with Tristan Walker: He’s drop-dead gorgeous and good in bed.

Cons for sleeping with Tristan Walker: Someone’s definitely going to end up with a broken heart.

Colette Harris never planned on still being a virgin when she turned thirty, but her career ambitions got in the way. So did her anxiety. But this year Colette is determined to throw caution to the wind and finally get lucky. What she wants is a perfect one-night stand so she can experience her first time with a man who knows what he’s doing but won’t stick around to make her…


Walking on Water

By Andy Martin,

Book cover of Walking on Water

Mark Chisnell Author Of Powder Burn

From the list on the thrills and dangers of extreme sports.

Who am I?

I started climbing and running around the hills in my teens, got into boats, became a professional sailor for twenty years, then took up surfing at thirty and snowboarding at forty. There’s something special about playing with gravity, whether it’s sliding down hills or waves, or defying it on a mountain face. All these books capture the thrill and the dangers.

Mark's book list on the thrills and dangers of extreme sports

Why did Mark love this book?

I loved the book because the author’s love for the sport comes across so plainly. The stories from the spiritual home of surfing, Oahu’s North Shore, are wonderful. It’s an essential text for anyone getting into the sport, capturing its soul better than anything else I have read.

By Andy Martin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Walking on Water as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The story of an obsession, this book is about surfing in Hawaii. It is also the tale of the author's clumsy initiation into the surfing cult and culture.


Swell

By Liz Clark, Daniella Manini (illustrator),

Book cover of Swell: A Sailing Surfer's Voyage of Awakening

Kaia Alexander Author Of Written in the Ashes

From the list on badass adventurous women seeking love and belonging.

Who am I?

As a queer/bi girl labeled as a tomboy from early on, I ached for a sense of belonging in my life that I only found in books. The adventurous women and girls that I looked for in the pages of books that were like friends to me spanned from Anne of Green Gables to Harriet the Spy. As I got older, I realized that important and awesome adventurous women had been left out of my history books, and only now are we starting to find out who they were, and how many women like myself were erased, and are now being redeemed through these wonderful stories.

Kaia's book list on badass adventurous women seeking love and belonging

Why did Kaia love this book?

Captain Liz Clark is who I would have wanted to be when I grew up, had I found her story in my teens.

There were almost no strong female role models that I could point to as a girl who inspired me, and illuminated a path of an adventurous woman. Captain Liz Clark built her own sailboat and decided to take on the entire Pacific Ocean on her adventures to find love, connection, and a relationship to nature and her own pure heart.

I clutched this book to my heart and took it with me everywhere for a month. Then I wrote Captain Liz to option it, so we can make a TV show about her life, because we need her story on screen!

By Liz Clark, Daniella Manini (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Swell as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Chasing a dream is never easy, but if you go far enough, it will set you free.

Captain Liz Clark spent her youth dreaming of traveling the world by sailboat and surfing remote waves. When she was 22, she met a mentor who helped turn her desire into reality. Embarking on an adventure that most only fantasize about, she set sail from Santa Barbara, California, as captain of her 40-foot sailboat, Swell, headed south in search of surf, self, and the wonder and learning that lies beyond the unbroken horizon.

In true stories overflowing with wild waves and constant challenges,…