The Diary of Samuel Pepys

For those, like me, who infinitely regret the demise of Patrick O'Brian, and who, like me (English majors may snicker), had also somehow managed to overlook The Diary of Samuel Pepys, good news! The Diary, which predates the Aubrey-Maturin era by about 140 years, concerns itself in no small part with the nautical world. Pepys, indeed, was the driving force in the modernization of the Royal Navy, a fact of which I had been completely unaware. But the Diary is much more — a rich, unvarnished, astonishingly real window into life in Britain of 350 years ago — and no wonder it's considered a classic. A perfect summer reading antidote to the modern world!