TLC Book Tours: Hound of the Sea

As the weather here gets colder and starts feeling like winter, Hound of the Sea has been a great escape, as I read about a man who spends his life in summer-like weather year round.

I love memoirs, so even though the name Garrett McNamara meant nothing to me, I was still interested in reading about him. It turns out that McNamara holds the Guinness world record for surfing the world's largest wave.  (As a child I spent hours reading the black and white paperback version of the Guinness Book of World Records, but I am sorely out of touch with these records at this point in my life and apparently should pay more attention to them).

Knowing nothing about this man didn't detract from my interest in reading about him and learning more.  

McNamara's childhood was unconventional: living in a commune for a time, splitting time between his parents who were not together, running around on his own, putting himself to bed when he got tired.  His mother came and went as she wished.

The Hound of the Sea not only explores McNamara's childhood, it also delves into his life as a surfer and what makes him seek thrills on a daily basis.  As a reader who knows nothing about surfing, I was able to learn more about the sport and one of its legends.  

As a reader, I might be an outlier - a person who will read a memoir just because it sounds interesting.  This book probably has the most appeal to surfers - or at least readers who have heard the name Garrett McNamara before -and want to learn more.  I enjoyed it a lot, though, and would tell anyone that McNamara is an interesting man worth learning more about.  The book is well written and easy to read, which is also a selling point.


Thanks to TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for my review. All opinions expressed are, as always, my own.

Visit Harper Collins' website to learn more about this title.