Off the top of my head, I'm recommending the following two very read-worthy books about life on a Maine island:
We Were an Island is a beautifully written book about a young husband and wife who purchase a small island off the coast of Maine. Determined to live a solitary life on the island, and armed with nothing more than a small Dory, strong backs and the will to survive, they harvest their own wood and build a log home by hand, enduring a harsh first winter.
The couple tells their story about living a life detached from everything, in their cozy cabin in the pines surrounded by the sea. It's a life without amenities. No central heat or electricity, telephone or TV, They make only occasional trips to the mainland for food, and they manage to live this life well into their eighties when the husband dies. While the wife was determined to live out her days on her beloved island, enduring the difficult winters alone proved undoable for her and she eventually had to relocate to the mainland.
Well Out To Sea is another captivating book about what it's like to live on Matinicus, Maine's most remote island, located some 20 plus miles off the coast. The tiny speck of an island has long had the reputation of being a rough and tumble place inhabited by a handful of hardy Mainers who call the remote rock home.
The author, Eva Murrary, a long-time island dweller is an excellent writer and has put together some very interesting and entertaining insight about island life. Highly recommended reading.
