It's National Lighthouse Day

A calendar pop-up told me that today is National Lighthouse Day and within minutes of seeing it, the sea began to call.

The prairie is where I live and it is truly beautiful. But there is something about the sea that I long to be near; the sounding roll and crash of the waves, the textures of the shoreline, and if I’m lucky enough to be in just the right spot, a towering, stoic lighthouse.

In honor of these mysterious and majestic beacons of light, here are some of my favorite “lighthouse” titles (maybe yours, too?)

The Light Between Oceans

M.L. Stedman (Fiction/Literature)

This one got a lot of hype and rightly so, spending months on the top of the NY Times bestseller list. Here’s a bit of a hint: “The miraculous arrival of a child in the life of a barren couple delivers profound love but also the seeds of destruction…” [Kirkus]

The Lightkeeper's Daughters

Jean E. Pendziwol (Fiction/Literature)

“An elderly woman and a delinquent teen form an unlikely bond

as they uncover the journal entries of a man who oversaw a remote

Lake Superior lighthouse nearly a century before.” Beautiful storytelling flows between past and present and unfolds a tale with a touch of mystery about love, family, deception, and identity.

Stargazing: Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper

Peter Hill (Non-Fiction)

"In 1973 I worked as a lighthouse keeper on three islands off the west coast of Scotland. Before taking the job I didn't really think through what a lighthouse keeper actually did. I was attracted by the romantic notion of sitting on a rock, writing haikus and dashing off the occasional watercolor.” This is Hill’s story of that 70’s summer - of Hendrix, Kerouac, Vietnam and the wisdom of his companions, the salty lighthouse keepers of an entirely different generation.

Kate's Light: Kate Walker at Robbins Reef Lighthouse

Elizabeth Spires (Children)

The true story of one of the Eastern seaboard's first woman lighthouse keepers. Gorgeous illustrations by Caldecott award winner Emily Arnold McCully and a story full of perseverance and well, just plain guts.