Bringing along the right reading companion

Choosing which books to bring along is one of my favourite parts of preparing for a voyage. There is usually time to read, even during watches. Yesterday I spent a few hours sorting through old favourites and new discoveries, trying to decide which ones would come with me.

My mother, Pat, had a gift for finding books that told stories through rare or unexpected lenses. She believed that reading while at sea sharpened the senses and helped us notice more, both in the world and in ourselves. She also believed that good books could help us put small disasters in their place. Whenever she came across a bookstore on land, she would step inside as if called. She often said that booksellers were as vital to a community as priests.

Many of the books she gave me still line my shelves at home. I pulled out a few of my favourites to see which ones are available on Kindle. My luggage restrictions leave very little room for physical books, but I refuse to travel without a few companions:

The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's, by Mildred Cable
This is the story of a Chinese Christian leader and the women who continued his work after his death. It’s about faith, persistence, and community in early 20th-century China, told by someone who was there.

The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland by Nan Shepherd 
A book about walking in the Cairngorms in Scotland. Not to reach the top, but to understand the mountain by spending time on its slopes, in its streams, with its wind and rock.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx 
A man leaves behind a messy life and moves with his daughters to Newfoundland. He gets a job at a newspaper and tries to build something solid in a rough, sea-bound place.

Sea Room by Adam Nicolson 
A history and personal account of three small tidal islands in the Outer Hebrides. He writes about the people who lived there, the birds, the storms, the law, and the pull of the sea.

The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet 
A widow takes her five children cruising up the British Columbia coast in the 1920s and 30s. This is her logbook of those summers—anchoring in coves, meeting loggers, and exploring a remote coast.

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
The author returns to Sri Lanka to piece together stories of his family. It’s part travel writing, part memory, with poems, photographs, and some wonderful family tales.

A New Kind of Country by Dorothy Gilman
She leaves her old life behind and moves into a small house by the sea, where the pace slows, the fog rolls in, and even the neighbours know when you forget to turn off your light.

These are good companions I would love to bring, but they are not available on Kindle. I am still debating whether to make space for them anyway:

The Gobi Desert by Mildred Cable and Francesca French
Two British women travel across the Gobi Desert in the 1920s. They write about the people they meet, the hardships of desert travel, and their work as missionaries.

Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology by Frederica de Laguna
This is the author’s account of her first field trip as an anthropologist in 1929. She goes to Greenland, learns as she goes, and writes with honesty about her work and the people she meets.

Fishing with John by Edith Iglauer
A wonderful Canadian writer marries a commercial fisherman in British Columbia. She writes about learning his way of life, and what it means to live by the sea.

Now that this part of the preparation is done, I suppose I should turn my attention to the growing piles of clothing and foul weather gear gathering in corners of the apartment.

The books, at least, are sorted. And they feel like old friends I can count on who already know the way, even if I do not yet.