I literally just finished the June prompt book yesterday, but I have been thinking about July for a while now. My prompt is sailing the seven seas, so something set on water. Since last month I read a thriller, I want something a little different this month and I seem to have mostly reached for historical fiction. I could have added a few more to the pile, but I am already going to have a difficult decision.
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje -- "By turns poignant and electrifying, The Cat’s Table is a spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood, and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage."
Hornblower and the 'Hotspur' by C.S. Forester -- This is the third book in the series about Horation Hornblower (on whom I have had a longstanding crush--the man is a gentleman among men!). I really need to get back to these books but it has been so long I wonder if I should start from the first one again. April 1803. The Peace of Amiens is breaking down. Napoleon is building ships and amassing an army just across the Channel. Horatio Hornblower-who, at age twenty-seven, has already distinguished himself as one of the most daring and resourceful officers in the Royal Navy-commands the three-masted Hotspur on a dangerous reconnaissance mission that evolves, as war breaks out, into a series of spectacular confrontations. All the while, the introspective young commander struggles to understand his new bride and mother-in-law, his officers and crew, and his own "accursed unhappy temperament-matters that trouble him more, perhaps, than any of Bonaparte's cannonballs."
A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside -- I loved his short stories that I read last year! "A young girl, Liv, lives with her mother on a remote island in the Arctic Circle. Her only friend is an old man who beguiles her with tales of trolls, mermaids, and the huldra, a wild spirit who appears as an irresistably beautiful girl, to tempt young men to danger and death. Then two boys drown within weeks of each other under mysterious circumstances, in the still, moonlit waters off the shores of Liv's home. Were the deaths accidental or were the boys lured to their doom by a malevolent spirit?"
The Captain's Daughter by Meg Mitchell Moore -- "By turns poignant, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Captain’s Daughter is an unforgettable novel about the choices we make and the consequences we face in their wake."
She Rises by Kate Worsley -- "Louise Fletcher, a young dairy maid on an eighteenth-century Essex farm, has long been warned of the lure of the sea - after all, it stole away her father and brother. But when she is offered work as a maid in the naval port of Harwich, she leaps at the chance to see more of the world. Fifteen-year-old Luke has been press ganged and sent to sea on board the warship Essex. Aching for the girl he left behind, he must learn fast if he is to survive. Louise and Luke's new worlds are dangerous and exciting, and when they collide the consequences are astonishing."
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar -- "One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front door. One of his captains is waiting eagerly on the step. He has sold Jonah's ship for what appears to be a mermaid. As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock's marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society. At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on... and a courtesan of great accomplishment. This meeting will steer both their lives onto a dangerous new course, on which they will learn that priceless things come at the greatest cost. Where will their ambitions lead? And will they be able to escape the destructive power mermaids are said to possess?"
I am all caught up on my previous months reading of prompt selections. I always want to read more than one book, but I have not seemed to manage more than on, so I am going to have a hard choice to make--they all sound good!