Looking for novel about survival, castaway...

[Pax]

Thanks a lot for your recommendations! I will closely consider them, when I have finished reading my current book.

If you do know more good books about this topic, please just post them.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I haven't read it yet, but I have on my TBR list Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.

http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shac...0091042&sr=8-2
...

I haven't read that one, either, but I have read (listened to unabridged audio version) of The Endurance, Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander (Amazon) and recommend it highly.

[carpetmojo]

"Touching the Void", Simpson - a bit out of the "ordinary" survival, but fantastic !

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

"Touching the Void", Simpson - a bit out of the "ordinary" survival, but fantastic !

Second the motion! The movie is pretty good, too.

[~Kate]

The Penal Colony is a freebie on Amazon.com that was quite good (4 1/2 stars reviews). The main character is exiled to an island with other convicts and has to survive.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by ~Kate

The Penal Colony is a freebie on Amazon.com that was quite good (4 1/2 stars reviews). The main character is exiled to an island with other convicts and has to survive.

Thanks for the pointer (free on Amazon UK too).

[apbschmitz]

THE WRECK OF THE MEDUSA
The Most Famous Sea Disaster of the Nineteenth Century.
By Jonathan Miles.

NYT review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/bo...pagewanted=all

Truly horrifying, if that's what you're after.

[way8lifter]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I haven't read it yet, but I have on my TBR list Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.

http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shac...0091042&sr=8-2

It's nonfiction. I was impressed with the consistently great reviews. This was an ebook deal at one time (don't remember the price) but I didn't pick it up because my library has it.

eP

I read the book over 30 years ago ...and still do from time to time ..wonderful true story ...one year even bought my mom a large coffee table edition

[way8lifter]

adrift ...previously mentioned...guy spends 0ver 60 days at sea in a raft after his sail boat is sunk by a whale ( true story)

And I alone Survived ...true too

[way8lifter]

and there must be a book or 2 out there on the largest shark attack in history ...hundreds died ...the sinking of the Indianapolis ...

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by way8lifter

and there must be a book or 2 out there on the largest shark attack in history ...hundreds died ...the sinking of the Indianapolis ...

Don't want to make light of the truly awful event - but it does sound rather like a non-survivalist work.....

Don't think I could take it, anyway.

"Touching the Void" , though - stunning, and beautifully written....
And the Shackleton ? A real no-brainer really - got to be on your list.

I rather gave up on "Penal Colony", my initial doubts being confirmed - but due to the weakness of the writing, and the somewhat dated feel, rather than any depictions of horror and bestiality that the title nudges you about.
Don't know why I d/loaded it, really, didn't sound anything like my cup of Java.

Oh yes, it was free.......

[BookCat]

Not sure if it's available as an ebook, but "Castaway" by Lucy Irvine is beautifully written. They're not strictly stranded, but experimenting in the Crusoe experience. However, some things do go wrong....
Although written from female POV, not a "girlie" book.

[apbschmitz]

Here's another novel: A Dream in Polar Fog. The exploration of cross-cultural issues here is unusually subtle. This the description from Amazon:

A Dream in Polar Fog is at once a cross-cultural journey, an ethnographic fable and chronicle of the Chukchi people and a breathtaking adventure story. It is the story of John MacLellan, a young Canadian sailor who is left behind by his ship, stranded among the native people of the arctic coast. It is the story of one Chukchi community that adopts a crippled stranger and teaches him to live as a “true human being.” During the long winter, John comes to know his new companions—first as untutored primitives, then in the romantic light of noble savages and finally as a real people who share the best and worst of human traits with his own kind. Tragedy strikes, and a life is lost and re-given; a man rises to take the place of a boy; wounds are healed with compassion, honesty and love. And when difficult times loom ahead, it is his new family that John will fight to preserve.

[ucfgrad93]

Unbroken has excellent reviews on Amazon.

NYT review

[Pax]

Originally Posted by apbschmitz

Here's another novel: A Dream in Polar Fog. The exploration of cross-cultural issues here is unusually subtle. This the description from Amazon:

A Dream in Polar Fog is at once a cross-cultural journey, an ethnographic fable and chronicle of the Chukchi people and a breathtaking adventure story. It is the story of John MacLellan, a young Canadian sailor who is left behind by his ship, stranded among the native people of the arctic coast. It is the story of one Chukchi community that adopts a crippled stranger and teaches him to live as a “true human being.” During the long winter, John comes to know his new companions—first as untutored primitives, then in the romantic light of noble savages and finally as a real people who share the best and worst of human traits with his own kind. Tragedy strikes, and a life is lost and re-given; a man rises to take the place of a boy; wounds are healed with compassion, honesty and love. And when difficult times loom ahead, it is his new family that John will fight to preserve.

Yes, I already read this, as mentioned in the first post. But still thank you, it is a great book.