Book Review: "Surf Stories" by Claudia Lebenthal

We love surf books. The imagery, the storytelling, the feeling of print in our fingertips. So when a new surf book comes along, we get behind it — and the latest surf book is "Surf Stories" by Claudia Lebenthal.

Surfer Stories is an unrivaled collection of unique, revealing, and intimate stories about twelve of the world’s greatest surfers, including:

Shaun Tomson on Kelly Slater

Sam George on Laird Hamilton

Holly Peterson on Robert “Wingnut” Weaver

Gerry Lopez on Garrett McNamara

Chris Carter on Shaun Tomson

Liza Monroy on Keala Kennelly

Chris Shiflett on Tom Curren

Jamie Brisick on Derek Hynd

Brett Crozier on Bethany Hamilton

Jim Kempton on Gerry Lopez

Karen Rinaldi on Rell Sunn

Selema Masekela on Michael February

We chatted with Claudia about the genesis of the book, what's next for her as a writer, and how you can get a copy today. — Cash Lambert

ASM: What's the genesis of the book?

Claudia: My publisher and I were talking about sport themed ideas for a book. She knew I loved surfing, as I feature it so frequently on my editorial site, STYLE of SPORT. Was there a surfer? Surfers? What about a collection of surfer stories, not biographies, but really stories. Let’s ask a group of different writers to write them! It happened so organically. 

What did you find challenging about the book's creation?

Finding 12 writers to say yes was not the easiest thing in the world, but we did, and like the 12 surfers, the 12 writers came together organically. But when you are not writing a book yourself, you are relying on others to deliver, and on time. Once the stories were assigned, I had a few months of waiting, and hoping, they actually would deliver. But one by one the stories came in – some at the last stressful minute -  and were all so special and worth the wait!

What are some of your favorite stories from the book?

Honestly I love them all. Its like picking your favorite child, you can’t. They are all so different which is what makes the book so fun. There is something for everyone – whether you surf or not!

Author Claudia Lebenthal

What's next for you?

I’d love to get Surfer Stories made into a docuseries. I loved 100 Foot Wave on HBO and so did countless others. Surfer Stories has that wide audience appeal times 12. Let me know if anyone is interested in producing the series!

You can buy the book right here.