"Take no heed of her...She reads a lot of books."
~Jasper Fforde


Friday, July 2, 2021

Captains Courageous (Rudyard Kipling)

Ahoy!  We have a special guest for this entry in the Captain's Log.  Those of you who follow me on Goodreads know that I have been having many reading adventures with my grandpa (who appears in my reviews as Dz.).  This was our 30th book together, and since it's a nautical book and we're reading it this summer, I wanted to include it in my list.

As the crew of the Arabella continued on our way, we watched as a young boy fell from the side of a cruise liner and fell into the water.  This was Harvey Cheyne, who was picked up by the crew of a local fishing boat and taken aboard as a new crew member until they were able to return to America and bring him home again.

The adventure was strong in this one, and Kipling's language really brought the story together.  It was a beautiful tale, very well-written, and there would be times when you could practically taste the salty sea air and feel the spray of the sea on your face.  It was  grand time.  This is one of the best books that I've read for my Summer at Sea so far.  We just finished reading this afternoon, and already, I'm thinking about reading it a second time.  I'll let it sit for a few days before I do, but I would love to give it another go.

If you're looking for a well-written adventure on the high seas, this is it.  It's not a swashbuckling tale (much to my grandfather's chagrin), but it was engaging and interesting, and felt very "real".  There was a romance to the tale, and it never got too graphic, but it also didn't feel like a fairy tale, either, striking the perfect balance between fantasy and realism.  If the rest of our adventures are anything like this one, I feel that we are in for a real treat!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for visiting! Please feel free to comment ;)