Books have always fascinated me, taken up hours of time and deprived me of my sleeping!

Welcome to "What's on your nautical book shelf", sponsored by Boatshed.com

In this series we will be introducing various people, some famous, some infamous and some maybe famous in the future so that you can get an inside view of that person.

This weeks guest is Mandy Chapman -
Design director for Boatshed.com

My favourite books on the boats book shelf onboard our Classic rebel 41

REEDS Nautical Almanac 2010
A must! I pick this up almost daily plus its a great winter read when you're planning your adventures in the new season. I've poured over many ports I haven't been in yet but feel like I have.

Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
For my 40th birthday I have my very special 1st edition sitting on my bookshelf at home, but like to read this one when at sea so it’s looking quite well thumbed through, with the odd splash of salt water on.

The Shadow in the Sands by Sam Llewellyn
For a sequel written by a completely different author this is fantastic, we need more sequels please.

How to drink wine out of fish heads while cooking lobster in a volkswagon hub cap by Ziggy Zen
Cooking onboard is a must. On our boat there are no plastic glasses or plates, silver cutlery and proper food, never eat tins! This great to read cook book has easy seafood recipes which will take you back to the Caribbean. It’s a cool book and the food is delish. My favourite meals onboard are organic chicken casserole with plenty of fresh herbs, dhal curry, tortilla (but cook a cheat version whilst at sea which is pretty good) or roast port, with all the trimmings.

The Cloud Collectors handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
My favourite cloud which you won’t find in other books is the horseshoe vortex only appears for up to 15 minutes. I've now seen 4!
What a great book explains in minute deal in an easy to view read.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
I've read this book about 13 times and I still always find something new. What an epic, it drags you in to another world totally. I was given this book by my friend Janet, but it got very wet and soggy when we rolled 360 in 98.

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Knots & Ropework by Geoffrey Budworth
Ropework onboard is one of my passions, it has to be perfect. Any spare time I'll splice, whip or get my fidds out and practise multi-strand splicing. It took me some time to learn my first bowline when I was learning to sail, knots are so useful, on the water and even on land.

A parisian Affair and other stories by Guy de Maupassant
What amazing stories by Guy de Maupassant, good lessons to learn. Quality short stories probably more for women!

What book are you currently reading?
Enemy in Sight by Alexander Kent. I love the old naval tales of Richard Bolitho, Hornblower and Jack Aubrey. I always imagine these huge ships coming into harbour, with no engine, dropping the anchor, swinging round within 10 meters of the harbour wall and settling. Great seaman ship which to some extent is lost, but then there is talk about using open 60's to act as security vessels round oil rigs as they are fast and manoeuvrable as long as you have some wind, and crews 24 hours round the clock at sea.

What book do you read when you're off watch
A Parisian Affair and other stories by Guy de Maupassant
REEDS Nautical Almanac 2010
Pilotage books
And my current novel.