Recommended Books

Fiction

Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival (Little Brown & Co., 1992) is "the Caribbean classic," and all readers contemplating a visit to the Virgin Islands might want to pick it up. It's great airport lounge reading. Wouk lived in St. Thomas in the 1950s, and his novel is based on actual people he met during that time. Bob Shacochis's Easy in the Islands (Grove, 2004) giddily re-creates the flavor of the West Indies. The short-story volume was the winner of the American Book Award in 1986. Tales of St. John & the Caribbean by Gerald Singer (Sombrero Publishing Co., 2001) is an easy read: a collection of amusing and insightful stories, and the best volume if you'd like a behind-the-scenes look at St. John after the tourists have taken the ferry back to St. Thomas for the night.

My Name Is Not Angelica by Scott O'Dell (Yearling Books, 1990) is a young-adult historical novel based in the Virgin Islands in the early 18th century. It tells the saga of a slave girl, Raisha, who escapes bondage; the rather grim realities of slavery are depicted here.

Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have used Norman Island, in the B.V.I., as a fictional setting for his 1883 classic Treasure Island (Signet Classic, 1998). This swashbuckling adventure has intrigued readers for years with such characters as the immortal Long John Silver. The book, which gave rise to such memorable lines as "shiver me timbers," continues to find new generations of readers.

Food

A number of books are devoted to recipes of the Caribbean, including The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook: Casual and Elegant Recipes Inspired by the Islands by Jinx and Jefferson Morgan (Harvard Common Press, 1996). The Morgans run the Sugar Mill on Tortola. With this book, you can learn the secrets of their signature dishes, including rasta pasta, rum-glazed chicken wings, and lobster and christophine curry.

Food & Folklore of the Virgin Islands (Romik, 1990) is penned by Arona Petersen, a well-known St. Thomas writer and folklorist. The regional flavor of Virgin Islands fare is captured in her recipes, and the idiomatic dialogues of island people are perfectly re-created as she spins old island tales and wisdom.

History

The concise History of the Virgin Islands (University Press of the West Indies, 2000) is a bit scholarly for some tastes, but if you're seriously interested in the islands, this is the best-researched survey of what was going on before your arrival. Caribbean Pirates by Warren Alleyne (Macmillan-Caribbean, 1986) is a good read for preteen travelers and attempts to separate fact from fiction in the sagas of the most notorious pirates in history. Some of the material is based on published letters and documents.

Outdoor Adventure

Sailing enthusiasts say you shouldn't set out to explore the islets, cays, coral reefs, and islands of the B.V.I. without John Rousmanière's well-researched The Sailing Lifestyle (Fireside, 1988).

Exploring St. Croix by Shirley Imsand and Richard Philobosian (Travelers Information Press, 1987) is a very detailed guide of this island. The authors take you to 49 beaches, 34 snorkeling and scuba-diving sites, and 22 bird-watching areas, and lead you on 20 different hikes.

A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands by Herbert A. Raffaele, Cindy J. House, and John Wiessinger (Princeton University Press, 1989), is for bird-watchers. The illustrations alone are worth a look, with 273 depictions of the 284 documented species on the islands.