Lighthouses: A Maritime Legacy

Lighthouse lens. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/139_2008609/1/139_2008609/cite. Accessed 15 Dec 2016.

The Light Between Oceans, a movie about an Australian lighthouse keeper starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, was released in September. That's generated more holds for the book by  M. L. Stedman! But, hasn't the idea of the lighthouse always had a kind of romance? The solitary lifestyle...fighting the elements...saving ships and sailors...the sometimes tragic consequences of storms at sea. Judging by the amount of titles involving lighthouses in the library catalog, we'd say many authors wholeheartedly agree that lighthouses are a fascinating theme! Why not treat yourself to a non-fiction or fiction (from mystery to romance to sci fi) title about the lighthousekeeping this holiday season?

Non-Fiction

Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse by Eric Jay Dolin

Sentinel of the Seas: Life and Death at the Most Dangerous Lighthouse Ever Built by Dennis M. Powers

A Short, Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse by Theresa Levitt 

To the Harbor Light: Lighthouses of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod with photographs by Alison Shaw and text by Brenda L. Horrigan 

Stargazing: Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper by Peter Hill 

Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service by Patricia Majher [eBook] 

Last Places: A Journey in the North by Lawrence Millman 

Fiction

By Book Or By Crook: A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates

Lighthouse Bay by  Kimberley Freeman 

Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles 

Lighthouse at the End of the World = Le phare du bout du monde: The First English Translation of Verne's Original Manuscript by Jules Verne ; translated and edited by William Butcher 

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson  

The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye 

The Body in the Lighthouse: A Faith Fairchild Mystery by Katherine Hall Page 

The Lighthouse Keeper by James Michael Pratt [eAudiobook] 

Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund  

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan  

The Keeper's Son by Homer Hickam 

The Lighthouse by P.D. James  

Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey  

Perdita by Hilary Scharper 

Point of Direction by Rachel Weaver 

The Lightkeeper's Wife by Sarah Anne Johnson 

Pelican Point: The Bachelors of Blueberry Cove by Donna Kauffman 

The Ridge by Michael Koryta 

The Lightkeeper's Daughter: A Mercy Falls Novel by Colleen Coble 

Edge of the Earth by Christina Schwarz 

The Exile of Sara Stevenson: A Historical Novel by Darci Hannah 

The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin  

Murder at Five Finger Light: A Jessie Arnold Mystery by Sue Henry

Do you have a favorite title involving a lighthouse? Have you visited a lighthouse? (We recently toured the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Oregon, near the alarmingly named Cape Foulweather. Did you know the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a Lighthouse Directory and you can join the United States Lighthouse Society?) Let us know in the comments!