Defying all apparent indicators of dorkdom — the author is a middle-aged professor; the book’s title is “A Love Affair with the Sea” — this memoir by a British marine biologist recounting his research and adventures around the world is limned with joltingly gorgeous writing and hilarious observations that will leave you flopping and panting like — well, like a grounded ocean creature: “I saw … a blur swilling below me, and a fuzzy cloud as a flatfish fled…. Then two seaweeds closed around my neck with the soft hands of a strangler.” Vivid descriptions mix with light science and personal memory: Norton was a failing student, the worst in his school, until that first adolescent dip under the waves gave him a reason to care. Talk about perfect beach reading!
Grade: A