Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
407th out of 422 books
—
205 voters
Grayson
by
Lynne Cox
Grayson is Lynne Cox’s first book since Swimming to Antarctica (“Riveting”—Sports Illustrated; “Pitch-perfect”—Outside). In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean encounter that happened to her when she was seventeen and in training for a big swim (she had already swum the English Channel, twice, and the Catalina Channel).
It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was i...more
It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was i...more
Hardcover, 148 pages
Published
August 1st 2006
by Knopf
(first published July 24th 2006)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,444)
This is a good book about a teenage girl and a grey whale swimming with her in the nearby coast of California. This is a true account of the author, Lynne Cox, an international swimmer athlete and and her short expedition with Grayson, the lost baby gray whale.
This is a thin book talking about her early swimming workout every morning and how she save a gray whale from losing his family. This is an extraordinary book, although it was short, you can see that the author really wrote it very well (w...more
This is a thin book talking about her early swimming workout every morning and how she save a gray whale from losing his family. This is an extraordinary book, although it was short, you can see that the author really wrote it very well (w...more
view 1 comment
"Grayson"By Lynne Cox
"Grayson"was a book I thought wasn't good because it was just boring and had nothing in it that made me want to read it.This short read memoir is about Lynne when she was 17 training for a swim meet in the Atlantic Ocean at 5am. She was training during the time of year where whales migrate to a warmer body of water. When her training was almost over she encountered a baby gray whale that she named Grayson who's lost its mom. Will Lynne find Graysons mom and let him migrate?...more
"Grayson"was a book I thought wasn't good because it was just boring and had nothing in it that made me want to read it.This short read memoir is about Lynne when she was 17 training for a swim meet in the Atlantic Ocean at 5am. She was training during the time of year where whales migrate to a warmer body of water. When her training was almost over she encountered a baby gray whale that she named Grayson who's lost its mom. Will Lynne find Graysons mom and let him migrate?...more
Years ago, Lynne was up early for her morning workout in the Pacific and finds herself being followed by a baby gray whale, separated from its mother. So, she and several others in the community set out to reunite Grayson (the baby gray) with his mother. Most of the story details the rare and unexpected life she finds deep in the ocean while searching for the mother whale.
Unfortunately, I didn't think the story lived up to all of the rave reviews I got before I picked it up. Her encounters with...more
Unfortunately, I didn't think the story lived up to all of the rave reviews I got before I picked it up. Her encounters with...more
Is it really a book about a baby whale? Sure, if you judge it by its cover. Lynne has shared with us a personal memory of swimming with a baby whale separated from its mother. She describes all of the vibrant sea life and the swimming experience in a way that almost transports you there (why yes, how could I forget how annoying sand in my suit is…). The total time spanned in the book is just less than a few hours of one morning, and probably takes less to read, but Lynne grows and experiences ye...more
This story makes me very jealous and wish that something like this would happen to me. With that said, this would never happen to me because I've lived by an ocean and ocean swimming is difficult and somewhat scary. Not to mention, COLD. So you wouldn't find me ocean swimming at 5:30 in the morning EVER.
On to the book review. This was a very simple read. Almost too simple to the point where it wasn't very captivating. There were also so many awesome things that happened to her in that short per...more
On to the book review. This was a very simple read. Almost too simple to the point where it wasn't very captivating. There were also so many awesome things that happened to her in that short per...more
Strangely, Goodreads list this book as both "Greyson" and "Grayson." Maybe a UK edition? This is a little book, written by a professional long-distance open-water swimmer. Lynn Cox does amazing things in the water, including happening across a lost and disoriented baby gray (grey?) whale during a training swim off the coast of California when she was 17 years old. Cox stays in the water with the whale for hours, diving twenty feet and more into the bay to find him when he disappears--and in the...more
"This captivating best seller tells the true story of a miraculous encounter between a teenage girl and a baby whale off the coast of California."
"Together [Cox and Grayson] journey to the eventual mother-and-child reunion through a fantastical world of giant ocean sunfish, bat rays with five-foot wingspans and a school of dolphins."
I read this book at one go, mostly because it's not very dense, nor is it very captivating. The plot is well-known, of course: the baby gray whale has become separat...more
"Together [Cox and Grayson] journey to the eventual mother-and-child reunion through a fantastical world of giant ocean sunfish, bat rays with five-foot wingspans and a school of dolphins."
I read this book at one go, mostly because it's not very dense, nor is it very captivating. The plot is well-known, of course: the baby gray whale has become separat...more
One of my open water swimming friends gave me this book because she loved it so much so I felt compelled to read it. For me, the most amazing part of this book was not the baby whale but the fact that she could swim for over 3 hours in 55 degree water without a wetsuit! I am in a full suit when the water dips below 60. This is an extraordinary episode but it would be interesting to hear if she would have responded in the same way as an adult as she did as a teenager. The free diving and swimming...more
This book is Lynne Cox's true account of the encounter she had with a lost baby gray whale when she was a teenager. Cox is (apparently) a well-known winner with many awards, a career she started when she was young. While out for her regular workout one morning, she met up with the whale she called Grayson, who she helped to find his mother.
This story was just TOO MUCH. It's not that I disbelieve the basic story itself. I just find it incredibly difficult to believe that in addition to finding a...more
This story was just TOO MUCH. It's not that I disbelieve the basic story itself. I just find it incredibly difficult to believe that in addition to finding a...more
3.5 STARS: A very enjoyable read, I recommend you check it out.
Grayson is different from the type of books I normally read. It is non-fiction, - and even though it’s labeled under science, and marine life, it reads very much like a long personal essay - which is not usually the genre I read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.
Lynne Cox tells the story of her discovery of a baby gray whale when she is about seventeen. She switches between the narratives of that particular morning, along wit...more
Grayson is different from the type of books I normally read. It is non-fiction, - and even though it’s labeled under science, and marine life, it reads very much like a long personal essay - which is not usually the genre I read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.
Lynne Cox tells the story of her discovery of a baby gray whale when she is about seventeen. She switches between the narratives of that particular morning, along wit...more
You're swimming alone in cool water, paralleling the California coastline, BUT you're realizing you're not alone in the water. In another genre, this will be the first line of a book about some sort of monster - real creature or imagined. Here, the author describes her experience with a baby gray whale who has become separated from his mother.
The book is a short, entertaining read (or, on 3 CDs, less than a 3 hour listen). The author walks a fine line with anthromorphism - neither taking the poe...more
The book is a short, entertaining read (or, on 3 CDs, less than a 3 hour listen). The author walks a fine line with anthromorphism - neither taking the poe...more
"Seventy-five percent of our planet is water, can you swim?"
~Author Unknown
Grayson is a true story of a long-distance swimmer (Lynne Cox) who while training off the California coast encounters a baby whale who has lost its mother. She is afraid that if she returns to the shore the whale will follow, so she sets out to try to help it find its mother.
It sounded like an interesting story, but to me it just didn't feel like there was enough content to merit a 148-page book (she spent a couple pag...more
Grayson is a true story of a long-distance swimmer (Lynne Cox) who while training off the California coast encounters a baby whale who has lost its mother. She is afraid that if she returns to the shore the whale will follow, so she sets out to try to help it find its mother.
It sounded like an interesting story, but to me it just didn't feel like there was enough content to merit a 148-page book (she spent a couple pag...more
Y B/A In this captivating memoir, the author recalls the time when, as a teenager swimming in off the coast of California, the life of a baby gray whale rested entirely with her. Lynne was in the last stretch of her morning workout when she felt a "presence" all around her; something was swimming with her. It was a baby gray whale that had adopted her in the absence of its own mother. Although extremely tired and hungry, if Lynne headed back now, the calf would follow her and become grounded, su...more
A captivating true story of, 17-year-old Lynne Cox and her incredible encounter with a baby whale off the California Coast. A magical journey in the chilling 55°F ocean waters to reunite baby Grayson with his mother.
Cox describes her ocean morning swim with such detail you could feel the bitter coldness of the water, envision the playful dolphins and schools of fish that pass by.
Since I was a child I have always felt a connection and love for the ocean and in particular whales. Cox takes on the...more
Cox describes her ocean morning swim with such detail you could feel the bitter coldness of the water, envision the playful dolphins and schools of fish that pass by.
Since I was a child I have always felt a connection and love for the ocean and in particular whales. Cox takes on the...more
You know those people who are fond of animals a little too much for their own good? No, not furries. These are the people who will bring home stray cats to a “no-pets” apartment because they think that they have a special “kinship” with the animal; these are the people who will jump into the rapids to rescue a burlap sack full of baby kittens; these are the people who — okay, I think you get it. Lynne Cox is one of these people. At times, the New Agey-type b.s. can get a little irritating, but y...more
This book was short and sweet. The entire story takes place over the course of one morning. The description that Cox had detailed about the ocean was amazing. I have always had a connection to the ocean and the life that teems within and this book illustrated nicely how it would feel to be submerged in the ocean as a human for hours on end. The baby whale's journey back to his mother left me feeling anxious for him. I got enveloped into caring for the baby whale and I so badly wanted him to find...more
This is an extraordinary -- magical, delightful, and sometimes harrowing... yet all true -- tale! I yearned with Lynne for Grayson's mother to be found for his sake, though I knew it would also mean the end of our incredible adventure. What a great gift of the universe to be given such a role in the life of one of the earth's great creatures in its most amazing theaters, the ocean. Few, if any, people could (or would) have "played" the lead in this drama other than Lynne Cox, the legendary open...more
Although I really enjoy non-fiction, I found this book tedious. To be honest, I didn't even finish it. A good friend told me, "Life's too short to read stuff you don't like," and I took that to heart.
My problem with the book is Cox's style: the book sounds like a high school kid wrote it. Granted, she was 17 when it happened, but that doesn't excuse her writing.
My problem with the book is Cox's style: the book sounds like a high school kid wrote it. Granted, she was 17 when it happened, but that doesn't excuse her writing.
This slight memoir was touching and lovely. Lynne was a teenager, training for a Channel swim off the coast of California, when she discovered she was being followed by a baby Gray Whale who had lost his mother. She swims with him for where the pod of whales was heading (sailors have called in spottings of the whales once the plight of the Baby Gray was relayed), to reunite him with his mother. An abandoned or lost baby whale will only survive a few hours, so this was a race against time and aga...more
This is the kind of beautiful morning that's possible if you just spend some time alone in nature -- and happen to be a world-class athlete. :)
Lynne Cox was lucky to meet a baby blue whale while swimming in the ocean near Long Beach. The intimate encounter is told in detail here. It will make you smile and cry, make you consider how the world works and your place in it.
This is a book suitable for all ages, but especially excellent for school kids or students of creative writing.
...which remind...more
Lynne Cox was lucky to meet a baby blue whale while swimming in the ocean near Long Beach. The intimate encounter is told in detail here. It will make you smile and cry, make you consider how the world works and your place in it.
This is a book suitable for all ages, but especially excellent for school kids or students of creative writing.
...which remind...more
This is based on a fascinating true story and there are many beautiful moments recounted throughout; however, I didn't like the way the narrative was continually interrupted with rambling and repetitive asides. But the actual, physical book itself (I esp. love the jacket and trim size) is beautiful and a real testament to wonderful book-making.
I would recommend reading Swimming to Antarctica first... both are incredible stories that make me want to swim in the ocean - and that's saying something! Grayson is a beautiful tale of her experience swimming with a lost baby whale... many beautiful life lessons taught on the journey... a quote from page 97... "There are all sorts of ways to think about the world, and so many people who think differently. Still, I believe there are two basic ways of thinking: one of possibility and hope, the o...more
Apr 30, 2008
Susan Poling
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Pam Kurkowski
Recommended to Susan Poling by:
Kate Parker (sister)
Shelves:
nonfiction
You have got to read this book: The story of a long distance swimmer who is befriended by a baby whale. The swimmer can't go to the shore 'cuz the whale will die on the beach, so she goes in search of the mother whale with the baby playing and following. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this story is that it is true.
Lynne Cox is a long distance swimmer. She's swam both the English and Catalina Channels and wrote an fascinating account of cold water adventures in her book, "Swimming to Antarctica." When Lynne was 17, she was doing a training swim off the coast of Seal Beach, California. She was wrapping up her workout when she discovered she was accompanied by something large and dark swimming beneath her. Terrified by the thought of sharks, she immediately headed for shore. Moments later, she realized it wa...more
So I seem to be on a YA streak. This story intrigued me--a memoir by a champion swimmer about an incident that happened when she was 17: as she was finishing her morning workout off the coast of Southern California, she found a baby whale was keeping pace with her. Somehow it had got separated from its mother. She feared that if she left the water, the baby would try to follow, be beached, and die. The memoir recounts her effort to get the baby back to its mother, in spite of her own cold and ex...more
Grayson is the absolutely lovely true story of Lynne Cox's morning swim off the coast of California when she realizes she's being followed by a baby gray whale (whom she calls Grayson). Out of fear that Grayson will beach himself following her ashore, she must remain in the water for several exhausting hours trying to find his mother so that he can rejoin his pod.
Grayson is not my normal fare, and I am so glad I randomly decided to read it because it was just such a delight. The entire book is s...more
Grayson is not my normal fare, and I am so glad I randomly decided to read it because it was just such a delight. The entire book is s...more
Grayson is a beautiful work of literature that explores in detail the conflicts between a whale loosing his mother and a human trying to help. On Lynne’s daily swim route in an ocean off the coast of California she encounters Grayson, the baby gray whale who is following her. She spends several minutes to and hour searching for this baby whales mother. When sure enough she is found. This book shows dedication and teaches you to not give up so easily and to help children, let alone people, in nee...more
To deal with the book at all, you have to assume it really happened. I'm glad it did. Quite an experience. There are a lot of communicate-with-an-animal narratives that are presented more credibly and with more serious implications (try David Abram, for example). The supporting cast, fisherman, life guards, people on the pier, could have been provided by Lawrence Welk--chanting "wunnerful, wunnerful," while all having detailed and empathetic knowledge of whale behavior. Cox may have motivated he...more
In Grayson, Lynne tells about an experience she had when she was 17 years old. She was doing her regular pre-dawn three-hour training swim that she did every morning in the 58-degree-or-so ocean off the coast of California. But that particular morning turned out to be a bit different from the others. While swimming, she sensed a large presence in the water, and soon discovered a baby whale that had become lost from its mother. It is the story of how she did her best to help the two become reunit...more
I read this book about once a month. The entire book's story happens all in 24 hours. It's about the author swimming in Seal Harbor by her home and is alerted to something following her in the water. As you read you can feel her panic, surprise and love for Grayson. This baby gray whale is lost and the mother is nowhere to be found so Lynne with the help of some towns people start to radio water patrol teams looking for whale pods in hopes that they can reunite Grayson and his mother. You follow...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loved this simple book | 3 | 29 | Jul 21, 2011 08:51am |
