If you want to read a good paddleboard book first find a great title...
Ready for a double take? Here are 16 just-about familiar titles for your favourite paddlers. Please do share all your paddleboarding good read suggestions to liven up everyone's gift list.
1 Gone with the Wind (original by Margaret Mitchell)
Scarlett O’Hara’s guide to coping with Plan B paddleboarding when the weather’s really really bad. Ever positive Scarlett takes comfort knowing that, “Tomorrow is another day.”
2 On Walden Pond (original by Henry Thoreau)
Here Thoreau takes time away from the woods to explore a year paddleboarding, whatever the weather. Simultaneously he uploads a new piece of paddle/life advice on social media for every day of the year. See his insta account 365.
3 Quiet flows the Don (original by Mikhail Sholokov)
The first of three books about white water paddleboarding through Russia covering war, peace and politics between the watersports’ governing body and our paddling hero, Don (aka the man with glue on his feet) and his white water inflatable.
4 Ring of Bright Water (original by Gavin Maxwell)
Gavin Maxwell’s mystical taming of wild otters during regular paddleboard picnics using fish bought at the local Co-op store.
5 Still Water: the deep life of the pond (original by John Lewis-Stempel)
Amidst this nature writer’s hypnotic revelations about pond life (frogs’ breeding grounds, dragonfly lifecycles etc) we find some surprising paddleboard detritus deep in the muddy gloom. How did one pair of glasses, three pairs of sunglasses, two paddle blades, a water bottle and a ShePaddles sticker end up there?
6 The Outrun (original by Amy Liptrot)
Scottish paddleboarder circumnavigates Hackney Wick on her 12.6 touring board with especially adapted bungees for quick access to a reusable cup and flat whites.
7 The Flow: Rivers, Water and Wildness (original by Amy-Jane Beer)
Paddle UK training manual for watersport coaches.
8 A River Runs Through It (original by Norman Maclean)
You probably thought this would be a guide to white water paddleboarding in a place like Montana, but it’s totally different. Read to become adaptable enough to paddleboard and fly fish simultaneously.
9 Once Upon A River (original by Diane Setterfield
Semi-fictional guide to all the places you can launch your paddleboard along the River Thames. Pub reviews are spot on.
10 The Wind in the Willows (original by Kenneth Grahame)
On the day the annual stocktake of all paddleboards and kit is due to be completed there’s an early burst of spring weather. Will Molly stick to the task or share out the BAs and boards to go for a paddle and picnic with her water-obsessed friends?
11 Three Men In A Boat (original by Jerome K Jerome)
All the eponymous author wanted to do was have a moment of yoga calm on her paddleboard, but every time she makes a move three boating mansplainers seem to turn up with advice, beer, sandwiches and their barking dog. Why does she mind so much? We can see she’s falling in love but is it with her yoga board or one of the three men in that boat?
12 The Fish Ladder (original by Katharine Norbury)
Useful strength and core conditioning guide to be used in conjunction with an almost totally salmon-based diet.
13 Heart of Darkness (original by Joseph Conrad)
Night paddleboarding adventure with Nsaku and Longi along the canals crossing the heart of England. When they get stuck in brown water near a sewage overflow pipe they send a TikTok about, “the horror, the horror.”
14 A Sleepwalk on the Severn (original by Alice Oswald)
A meditation on safety written from the perspective of a paddleboarder who failed to prepare and then prepared to fail.
15 Waterlog: A swimmer’s journey through Britain (original by Roger Deakin)
How many times can a paddleboarder fall off? This splash and tell takes us across British rivers, lakes and canals.
16 Not That Deep (by Nicola Baird)
Could this be the world’s first paddleboarding novel?
I've written a novel (a funny one) about paddleboarding and litterpicking on canals. It's called NOT THAT DEEP and is available as a £10 paperback or £3 ebook via https://amzn.to/3UMaoxT It would be lovely if more people knew about it/read it, especially anyone keen to remove litter/sewage... Happy paddling. PS and if you have read it, all reviews very welcome!
Over to you
What suggestions have you got? Please do share in the comments.