This challenge, hosted by I Heart Paperbacks invited participants to choose one of several approaches to books set on the sea. I ended up becoming and Admiral by reading four books (click through to see my thoughts):

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer
Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester

The best book: Beat to Quarters, without a doubt. The writing itself was incredible and the adventure was exciting! I can’t wait to sail the seas with Captain Hornblower again.
What book could I have done without? I really enjoyed all of the books I read, however there were a couple I had orginally selected that once I opened I decided I wasn’t in the mood for at the time(Master and Commander and Bloody Jack).
Any new authors? Yep-Forester, Avi, and Heyer.
Books I did not finish: well, I only really read the first couple pages of Bloody Jack, so I don’t think that one counts. But I got a good sixty pages into Master and Commander before I decided that I just wasn’t enjoying it. I really expected to, but the way O’Brian uses so much nautical language I had no clue what was going on for whole pages, and that just doesn’t appeal to me. Also, I didn’t really like the captain all that much…but I’m planning on trying the series again in a few years, maybe I’ll feel differently.
What did I learn from this challenge? I had never read nautical books before, and I realised that I really like them! I learned quite a bit about older ships as well, and of course I developed a huge crush on Captain Hornblower. I really enjoyed this one-it pushed me into a new area!