By Maya B.

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath” 

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

I love to swim. I always have.

Growing up in Israel, there was a community pool we used to go to. Plus, we lived near the Mediterranean Sea, so we’d spend time there all year long. 

I have countless memories of enjoying the sea and the pool. Notice how I didn’t say “beach.” (Rebecca may collapse but — shhh! —I’m actually not a fan of the beach sand, just the water.)

When I moved from Israel to Canada in my teens, our family would be invited to Rebecca’s parents’ cottage. It sits on a private lake. Her dad shook his head when I used to want to swim across and back. (It's a small lake that any strong swimmer can swim across!) 

“You never know what’s in there”, her father would say to me. Back then, it never made sense, but when I think back, her father was probably trying to be cautious get out of watching yet another kid. He already had four children! 

Swimming has always been a habit and a hobby. Now? Swimming is one of the most popular activities in the entire world. 

Swimming is therapeutic physically and mentally for me; having your body be and feel completely weightless, the quiet and calm of the water… Swimming relaxes and energizes me at the same time.

Rebecca recently told me that swimming is the only thing that will shut her brain off completely. “The. One. And. Only. Thing,” she repeated emphatically.

I haven’t gone swimming since March 2020…except once. 

On July 30 I celebrated my birthday — woot! — and a good friend gave me the greatest gift: swimming. I was in a (happy) pool of tears over this gift.

My friend arranged to take me to an acquaintance’s backyard pool for the afternoon. Being able to swim was the gift I didn’t know I needed.

I spent two hours in the water, where I experienced the most calm and relaxing time in what seemed like forever. It was incredible.

I had forgotten how good it felt to be in the water, the connection I have with the water, and how, like Rebecca, I was able to shut out the world and shut off my overthinking brain. 

Oh, that feeling of gliding through the water, my muscles releasing every ounce of tension.

Reading and swimming may seem an ambiguous combination, but hardly so. They are closely connected in many ways.

The similarities start early in the learning ages and stages. The repetition in both activities lead to better results each time: the more you swim or read, the better you become in these respective activities. 

Some research shows that swimming and reading are both associated with brain development during childhood: each having a multi-sensory brain stimulation that promotes neurological improvement. (Is your kid a reluctant reader? Read the sneaky way Rebecca gets her 10-year-old to read and write.)

Both swimming and reading also enhance confidence and foster beneficial physical and mental health. During childhood, reading and swimming are usually done in group settings, which improves communication and social habits alike.

However, as adults these activities are typically done solo, though that does not retract from the comparable benefits they both provide.

Swimming and reading — each with its own meditative capacity — both help bolster good health, and as Rebecca experiences, also help to divert your attention away from the constant state of chaos in the brain.

This short New York Times article — Swimming and Reading: Two Summer Activities That Go Great Together by children's illustrator Gary Clement (who is also the editorial cartoonist for Canada’s The National Post) describes his love of reading and swimming in a charming set of illustrations in which he speaks of books about swimming. (See? I’m not the only one who connects everything to books. I consider this a great skill!) 

One interesting fact? At age 15, Edgar Allen Poe was inspired by Lord Byron to swim six miles up a river.

So I figured I’d jump into this “pool” (see what I did there?) and recommend a handful of great reads about swimming from my own library, both fiction and non!

Breaststroke and books: 7 amazing reads for swimmers

FICTION

The Swimmer by Roma Tearne

A middle-aged despondent falls for a mysterious illegal who she discovers takes a daily swim in the river. From the deep end of romance to a shallow end of tragedy, this is a moving novel you’ll swim right through.

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland

Set in Atlantic City in 1934, the premise of this novel may seem sad, but if you ride with the tide, you’ll find it an enlightening account of how the circle of life can turn grief into light.

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

Following a group of adults who routinely frequent a local community pool, this book will ring familiar with avid lane swimmers. Themes of life, aging, relationships, and family come to the surface and will have you immersed, whether you’re a swimmer or not.

NON-FICTION

Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin

A gratifying and effective guide to help hone the skill of swimming for any level. Not a swimmer? It’s never too late to add swimming to enhance your lifestyle.

Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian: My Story of Rescue, Hope, and Triumph by Yusra Mardini

This is the inspiring story of Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini, who didn’t hesitate to take action when she realized her boat's engine shut down as she was travelling from Syria to Greece: she immediately dove into the water, an act of bravery that saved the lives of the boatload of refugees. After she arrives in Greece, Mardini worked toward a lifelong goal: to compete in the Olympics. She succeeded, and competed in 2016 on the Refugee Olympic Team in Rio de Janeiro. Mardini is eager to tell her story in the hopes that readers will remember that refugees are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, chased from their homes by a devastating war.

Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton

A collection of personal vignettes about how swimming shaped the life of the author by teaching her how to keep her head above water, and how the journey means more than the destination.

Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

This book is a love letter to water featuring stories of Olympic champions; a Baghdad swim club that meets in Saddam Hussein’s former palace pool; modern-day Japanese samurai swimmers; and even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survives a wintry six-hour swim after a shipwreck. New York Times contributor Bonnie Tsui, a swimmer herself, dives into the deep from the San Francisco Bay to the South China Sea, investigating what it is about water that seduces us and why we come back to it again and again.

Do you enjoy swimming? Have any favourite books about swimming we need to dive into? Let us know at info@rebooks.ca!