It's deathly flat. It's Swamplandia! out there. In down time, I like reading surf related literature, so I'm wondering if anyone else does as well. The two last ones I've read were the following, one obvious but the other rather tangentially surf-related: Allan Wesibecker's In Search of Captain Zero and Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice (more of the hippied-out, psychadelic scene of Gordita Beach, with a few passage of someone charging Cortez Bank). 

What surf related material are you reading? Besides Surfer's Journal, which is a must. If it needs to, maybe digress into Florida lit - To Have and To Have Not, for instance. 

Pray for waves.

 

"Surf is Where You Find It" by Gerry Lopez. Also, "No Bad Waves" by Mickey Munoz. Both are really good collections of short memoirs, first hand surf history. Great stuff!

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Love God, Hate Sin...

Barbarian Days is good.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Daner, I was just going to recommend that. It's one of my favorite books, surfing OR non-surfing . And I teach writing, so...

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[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat Robertson

Saltwater Buddha is a good read.  One of very few books I've read more than once.  A few years after the book was written it was made into a movie starring the author, which is kind of unique.  Never saw the movie though.

On a Wave.

https://www.amazon.com/Wave-Thad-Ziolkowski/dp/0802140017

Somebody on here recommended Barbarian Days last summer , that week an old guy walked up and handed it to me. That book is a life changer and I'm old ... relatively;-). Passed it on May go to library and read it again . Curious for other suggestions , but nothing is topping Barbarian Days.

Guys, thanks for the recs! This list provides quite a bit of material for a vicarious surf life until the wave train rolls through again.

"On a Wave" sounds good I'll have to pick that up.

An older book that I remember enjoying is "Caught Inside."

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

I agree, On a Wave's description's got me really intrigued! Going to pick this one up for sure as well. 

FYI, I am pretty sure one of our late east coast surf legends is significant in that book but with a changed name. Thad was part of a surf team.

Check out All for a Few Perfect Waves by David Rensin if you're into Dora's legend.

A Brevard County surfing fiction surfing thriller is My Twisted Summer, available at lulu dot com.

It's Stand by Me meets Goonies. 

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www.mytwistedsummer.wordpress.com

Caught inside is pretty bad, would avoid  that one personally. Barbarian days is exceptional and I have heard on a wave is very good. In search of captain zero is also a good surf read. 

Barbarian Days ^^

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"If I say it's safe to surf this beach, captain, then it's safe to surf this beach!"

as everyone mentioned Barbarian Days is a must read for any surfer, especially ones who like to travel. Really changed my perspective on things and have since made traveling a priority in my life. Another good one I didnt see mentioned was Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell by Chas Smith, it's about the north shore. His second book ,Cocaine + Surfing: A sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair, comes out tomorrow. looking forward to listening to this one.

There's surely more out there than a superficial Google search reveals. I've ordered a coupled of these, and that seems timely - the swell situation is dire. 

I didn't think Caught Inside was that bad. But I like Dan Duane's other stuff. I have a collection of women's surf stories called Girl In the curl that's pretty good if a bit hokey - it's got profiles of women surfers and I enjoyed that aspect (I can never read enough about Rell Sun). I refuse to give Allen Weispecker any money so I won't recommend Captain Zero, but it was a pretty good read if a bit psychedelic and self-absorbed (not as bad as his second one, in which he goes totally batpoop crazy and which I read more because someone handed it to me and said "can you BELIEVE this crap?) We need better surf literature. I am reduced to reading William Finnegan's (he wrote Barbarian Days) articles in the New Yorker.

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[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat Robertson

Caught Inside is good. So is Looking for Mo.

 All my books are packed away. Getting ready to move  from the Gulf Coast to Vero Beach area. Captain Zero was OK. Like Tee bird, I think Wisenbecker is way too self absorbed. There was another book he wrote that honestly it is the worse thing I have every read. So bad I don’t recall the Title. A book on the rise of the Surf industry called World In Curl is good give some insight to uthe rise of Surf culture and the the Commercialization of Surfing. Barbarian Days is coming up for a 2nd read. Kook a book written by a Sports writer from Colorado is about his journey into Surfing. 

 

I was quoting J. Moody, but I kind of agree with that sentiment.

Oh, another book I liked was the one by Kimo Hollinger. It's just a series of (true) vignettes, but he has a great sense of humor. Also, he's Hawaiian so you can get that perspective.

https://www.amazon.com/Kimo-Collection-Short-Stories-Hollinger/dp/0970261837

Two autobiographies  by Surf hero’s from my young Gremmie years are Morning Glass by Mike Doyle, and Transcendental Memories of a Surf Rebel by Mike Hynson. 

Looks like the order of the day for surf lit is biography and nonfiction, with some fiction and its subgenres in the mix.

I see a few mixed reactions to Weisbecker. My own impression is pretty indifferent; Zero's theme almost seems like a heuristic for reading the text itself - not the "end of the road" or the whole life, but only moments of the book are of value along the way. 

Blue Mind by Wallace J. Nichols.

Newer stuff or this from way back 1992? Playing Doc's Games I still remember reading that thinking "I am actually reading the best writing on surfing in of all places the New Yorker Mag (not a surf mag)...LOL..

OH YEAH, I had forgotten about this book. I checked it out of the library so it's not on my bookshelves or I would have - it was very good so now I've ordered the new one .

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[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat Robertson

Welcome to Paradise Now go to Hell was quite interesting- especially since I read it a few months before my first trip to the North Shore.

Moody, Are you referring to the Roxy surf book series? Even though they are teeny bopper hokey they were also kinda fun to read too!

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

No it was actually this one: https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Curl-Century-Surfing-Adventura/dp/1580050484 I did like the Tribes of Palos Verdes if you have a teenage girl, too (or if you are one).

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[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat Robertson

You can't get any more teeny bopper hokey than this Roxy Series but I admit I read them all. Luna Bay #1: Pier Pressure: A Roxy Girl Series

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Have not read but heard good things, plus Nick Carroll rules, but the book he did on his brother TC. For a look at an interesting character that is a sad story is 'The Life of Michael Peterson'. Both are legends and the story of surfing cannot be told without their inclusion.

I have read Barbarian Days, good read but slow at the end. Chas Smith's first book worth a read. I have his new one coming in today.

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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay