A novel I've read and also seen as a film is Life of Pi. I'm a marine engineer from the Philippines, and I read the book on a long voyage about six years ago, then watched the film when I got home.
The story is about an Indian teenager called Pi, whose family owns a zoo. They decide to move to Canada with some of the animals on a cargo ship, but the ship sinks in a storm. Pi ends up on a lifeboat with a few animals, and eventually only a huge Bengal tiger called Richard Parker is left with him. The book is about how he survives for months at sea, catching fish, collecting rainwater, and slowly training the tiger so it doesn't eat him. At the end, there's a twist that makes you question the whole story, which I won't spoil.
I read it on a cargo ship myself, crossing the Pacific, which was quite strange, because I'd look up from the pages and see endless ocean, exactly like Pi.
If I'm honest, I preferred the book, although the film is amazing visually. The scenes of the ocean at night, glowing with jellyfish, and the whale jumping out of the sea are stunning, and the tiger looks completely real. But the book gives you so much more of Pi's thoughts. You feel his loneliness and his hunger day by day, and the long sections about his religious beliefs and his fear make the ending far more powerful. The film has to move quickly, so some of that disappears. My advice to anyone is to read the book first, then watch the film for the visuals.