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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Just think of the whole series as one very long book. I've been giving this some thought, Bollig. If you don't want to read the series in one go, the books sort of break themselves up into "acts". I've always considered them to be broken up like this (I'm certain someone will have an issue with the division, but whatever): I) Master & Commander through Mauritius Command II) Desolation Island through Surgeon's Mate III) The Ionian Mission through The Letter of Marque IV) The Thirteen Gun Salute through The Wine-Dark Sea V) The Commodore through Blue at the Mizzen/21 These are more thematic breaks than time breaks, but I'd also be hard-pressed to make a reasonable and roughly even set of acts from time-breaks. So if you want to follow your original plan and read one book per author per year but don't want to be an old fart by the time you finish, try reading them in the above sections.
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Jul 15, 2014 13:11
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ItalicSquirrels posted:I've been giving this some thought, Bollig. If you don't want to read the series in one go, the books sort of break themselves up into "acts". I've always considered them to be broken up like this (I'm certain someone will have an issue with the division, but whatever): This is roughly how I did it. Most of the books are pretty short and many end in the middle of a coherent storyline, so you'll drive yourself a little crazy if you stop after every book. But on the flip side, I found that some of the charm of the Aubrey/Maturin interaction wore a little thin after the 40th "what a creature you are" in a brief time period, so breaking it into manageable chunks keeps it fresh.
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Jul 16, 2014 03:21
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Lewd Mangabey posted:This is roughly how I did it. Most of the books are pretty short and many end in the middle of a coherent storyline, so you'll drive yourself a little crazy if you stop after every book. I'm continually impressed at O'Brian's ability to summarize a previous book's plot. He does such a good job that my first time through the series (the second half of which I did entirely on audiobook), I accidentally went straight from The Truelove to The Commodore, skipping Wine Dark Sea entirely and didn't realize it until halfway through when enough hints were dropped at a gigantic amount of missed plot that I jumped on wikipedia and looked up the proper book order. So don't worry about taking time off, either. You'll be filled in on all relevant details.
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Jul 16, 2014 12:04
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ItalicSquirrels posted:I've been giving this some thought, Bollig. If you don't want to read the series in one go, the books sort of break themselves up into "acts". I've always considered them to be broken up like this (I'm certain someone will have an issue with the division, but whatever): Interesting. I may do this. I may also make them my 'go to' vacation books. Just kind of line one up for each time I head out of town or something. Although I've always kind of had Wodehouse in the barrel for that. Thanks for this idea, though. I'm actually kind of surprised at how itchy I am to get back out to sea. I pulled a 'not a moment to lose' with my father the other day. He was bumbling around with something in a stack of papers, and that was how I got him out the door.
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Jul 20, 2014 21:43
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bollig posted:Interesting. I may do this. I may also make them my 'go to' vacation books. Just kind of line one up for each time I head out of town or something. Although I've always kind of had Wodehouse in the barrel for that. Thanks for this idea, though. I'm actually kind of surprised at how itchy I am to get back out to sea. The tide waits for no man. 
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Jul 20, 2014 21:59
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Fortune is bald from behind.
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Jul 21, 2014 16:39
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Started reading this series two months ago, and at this point I am about to start book 14. I can't get enough of Patrick O'Brian's writing, it is seriously good stuff. I am glad that I still have seven to go, but the comfort brought by there being novels remaining is shrinking fast. I am going to be jonesing hard, like Stephen coming down off any number of substances, once I finish the final book.
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Jul 22, 2014 23:45
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VendoViper posted:Started reading this series two months ago, and at this point I am about to start book 14. I can't get enough of Patrick O'Brian's writing, it is seriously good stuff. I am glad that I still have seven to go, but the comfort brought by there being novels remaining is shrinking fast. I am going to be jonesing hard, like Stephen coming down off any number of substances, once I finish the final book. Fortunately, re-reading is almost as good. A more subtle pleasure. Not quite as good as the first time but at least you know what the gently caress you're doing. Unlike the first time. God drat you for a useless lubber, sir.
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Jul 22, 2014 23:54
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builds character posted:Fortunately, re-reading is almost as good. A more subtle pleasure. Not quite as good as the first time but at least you know what the gently caress you're doing. Unlike the first time. God drat you for a useless lubber, sir. I also recently watched the movie yesterday. This was the first time I had seen it after having read any of the source material. On previous viewings I did not appreciate just how many catch phrases the script contained. Powering through the whole series with studding-sails aloft and alow makes it plain. On movie chat though, I did enjoy how they used Killick's preparation of toasted cheese as a marker of the return to normalcy after winning their engagement.
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Jul 23, 2014 01:28
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Just started reading the first book, I think I'm missing about 50% of it as I gloss over words I don't entirely understand, and it's taking a while to get used to the weird style, but it's pretty good so far! God drat I'm gonna know a lot about boats by the end of this.
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Aug 8, 2014 17:33
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Nettle Soup posted:Just started reading the first book, I think I'm missing about 50% of it as I gloss over words I don't entirely understand, and it's taking a while to get used to the weird style, but it's pretty good so far! There's a part in the first book that I really like as a concession to us landlubbers. It goes something like "Jack uttered three bouts of technicalities and plunged into maneuvers more suitable for a sparrow than a commander." I can imagine Jack pointing to three parts of the ship in turn, shouting out a dozen words that sound more like Arabic than English, and then running over to help. Telling me he said, "Dog the mouses under the chainplates, belay that euphroe, trice up the forrard gumbrils, and bear a hand at it" is almost useless though.
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Aug 8, 2014 18:00
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Nettle Soup posted:God drat I'm gonna know a lot about Also, I definitely recommend getting the companion book here.
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Aug 8, 2014 18:02
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Nettle Soup posted:God drat I'm gonna know a lot about boats by the end of this. That's also what I've discovered, but I am thoroughly engaged by it all. 
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Aug 8, 2014 18:35
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CarterUSM posted:I love the oblique reference to John James Audubon when Johnson is trying to give Maturin a gift of ornithological prints, referring to "A young Frenchman I met on the Ohio River, a Creole, very talented..." I've read the series through several times and I never caught this. 
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Aug 8, 2014 19:56
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Bubbacub posted:I've read the series through several times and I never caught this. I always want to slap Maturin at that point. In todays' terms a copy of Birds of North America would probably be more valuable than the Blue Peter.
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Aug 8, 2014 19:58
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Nettle Soup posted:Just started reading the first book, I think I'm missing about 50% of it as I gloss over words I don't entirely understand, and it's taking a while to get used to the weird style, but it's pretty good so far! Good advice given in this thread(cant remember/find who said it) that helped me out was that anything O'Brian thinks you need to know will be explained to Maturin, so glossing over the unfamiliar jargon is just fine. I had a lot of trouble on my first read of Master & Commander, and re-read it a year later with this in mind and enjoyed it a great deal more and have been going through the novels since (on book 14 now). Colonial Air Force posted:
This I second. You can find a lot with a google search but the book is very extensive. The ebook version is alright - it's not easy to go back and forth between the diagrams and their labels, but for the lexicon often you can use the search function to find a word so it works well enough most often, but sometimes I'd wish I'd bought the paper version because flipping would sometimes be faster if a word I searched for is referenced much throughout. I recently finished The Wooden World by N.A.M. Rodger , covering a multitute of facets of the British Navy mid-18th century. Though it's not about the British navy at the same time period as the novels, there's still much that is the same. Much of the focus was how the Admiralty, and officers in general, wanted stable, if not happy, communities on the ships; the quality of food in the day and how sailors often ate better than most of the people on shore; leave was granted often back then(this was before coppering ships greatly extended sailing time), even at the known cost of a few desertions; the rate of desertion going nearly to zero the longer someone served on a ship, even if pressed. It goes into jobs, like the purser and how awful it was financially speaking, such as pursers had to have their own funds, and bought certain supplies on the market but were only reimbursed at standard rates set by the Victualling Office/Admiralty which could easily result in a loss. Details into the Impress Service, how it was often more than just grabbing sailors and landsmen (landsmen being rivermen, not actual random people off the street that never were on any kind of a ship or boat in their life) with recruiting as well. There's a good chunk of the book about the interest (patronage) system, of officers cultivating a following and following someone who can advance them. That's one thing we read about a lot in the novels. It's a general information book, so if anyone's interested check out the table of contents on the Amazon preview to see what the author covers.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:53
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Has anyone read Cochrane: The Story of Britannia's Sea Wolf? In some ways it reads almost like a Jack Aubrey caricature if Jack Aubrey had also been a delightfully earnest Radical politician.
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Aug 8, 2014 21:15
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bondetamp posted:Has anyone read Cochrane: The Story of Britannia's Sea Wolf? In some ways it reads almost like a Jack Aubrey caricature if Jack Aubrey had also been a delightfully earnest Radical politician. Aren't all of Jack's actions in the Mediterranean in Master & Commander actually Lord Cochrane's? Down to capturing a larger Spanish ship nicknamed something to do with poop and fire.
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Aug 8, 2014 22:00
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Yes, except that Cochrane, not being bound by any need to seem realistic, was rather more spectacular. The stock market fraud is also from Cochrane. He also dealt with corrupt officials and got on the wrong side of bailiffs and senior officers. I don't know if this is the best book about Cochrane, but anyone who's a fan of Aubrey and Maturin should read a book about him, at least.
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Aug 8, 2014 22:16
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193468/The-Master-Commander-revealed-The-real-Captain-Jack-Aubrey-service.html This gentleman who is trying to sell his book about Edward Pellew says Edward Pellew is a much closer model for Jack Aubrey.
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Aug 8, 2014 22:40
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I spent basically a whole day on wikipedia and various other sites after I started reading this series just soaking in knowledge. It's kinda like reading Shakespeare.
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Aug 9, 2014 13:37
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193468/The-Master-Commander-revealed-The-real-Captain-Jack-Aubrey-service.html I read Taylor's book about Pellew a while ago and thought it was pretty good, but the author clearly has a bit of hero worship going on that can be too ingratiating at times. He's not wrong though; there's a lot about Jack's character that feels strongly based on Pellew, not least of all his physical aspects, so to speak, growing fat as he aged but still maintained his great strength and ability to climb up the shrouds as fast as the young sailors on his ships. The book I read on Cochrane was this one https://www.amazon.com/Cochrane-David-Cordingly-ebook/dp/B00422LERA , which was very good, highly recommended. His exploits like the fight of the Speedy vs Cacafuego are great to read about, and the deplorable proceedings of the Stock Exchange Fraud trial.
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Aug 9, 2014 17:39
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bondetamp posted:Yes, except that Cochrane, not being bound by any need to seem realistic, was rather more spectacular. Aubrey's exploits on the west coast of South America with O'Higgins are also based on Cochrane. Cochrane had an amazingly full life, not only was he a major player in Europe but also being of key importance in the shaping of Peru, Chile and Brazil.
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Aug 10, 2014 21:34
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Even the Sharpe novels have a Cochrane analog (in S. America no less).
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Aug 10, 2014 21:54
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Just picked up The Wine-Dark Sea. Only 2.5 books to go!  I read the first 10 books in order, but it's hard to find the later books in the shop. So it's been fairly out of order, which led to a bit of confusion as to exactly who Clarissa Oakes is, but I've picked it up well enough. I've got this, Blue at the Mizzen and The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey.
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Aug 28, 2014 02:17
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Someone in this thread mentioned the Ramage series. I'm on book 2 now. Thanks!
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Aug 28, 2014 16:42
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Octy posted:Just picked up The Wine-Dark Sea. Only 2.5 books to go! If it helps, Blue at the Mizzen is a perfect ending for the series. I haven't read the unfinished voyage because I was happy about where Blue ended. Also, you'll be able to read and re-read this series, and find something new in every book with each re-read. O'Brian's sparse prose has surprising depths.
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Aug 28, 2014 18:19
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I imagine most readers of this thread have seen the Book of the Month thread for this month, but in case you missed it, we're doing Pride and Prejudice; same time setting as Aubrey/Maturin so there's a lot of overlap.
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Sep 9, 2014 17:44
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I imagine most readers of this thread have seen the Book of the Month thread for this month, but in case you missed it, we're doing Pride and Prejudice; same time setting as Aubrey/Maturin so there's a lot of overlap. Reading Patrick O'Brian trained me to enjoy Jane Austen, so definitely overlap.
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Sep 9, 2014 19:03
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I imagine most readers of this thread have seen the Book of the Month thread for this month, but in case you missed it, we're doing Pride and Prejudice; same time setting as Aubrey/Maturin so there's a lot of overlap. What kind of ship does she command?
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Sep 9, 2014 19:30
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Hogge Wild posted:What kind of ship does she command? A readership, naturalment.
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Sep 9, 2014 19:33
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He that would pun would pick a pocket.
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Sep 9, 2014 19:49
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:A readership, naturalment. "Why Stephen, I just said the greatest thing! Did you hear it? I said a readership." Cut to Jack chortling to himself for three days afterwards.
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Sep 9, 2014 19:49
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:A readership, naturalment.  I'm listening to Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company at the moment, but when it's done, sure why not.
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Sep 9, 2014 20:26
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Murgos posted:"Why Stephen, I just said the greatest thing! Did you hear it? I said a readership." He derives a greater pleasure from a smaller stream of wit than any man I have ever known.
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Sep 9, 2014 20:38
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Murgos posted:"Why Stephen, I just said the greatest thing! Did you hear it? I said a readership." "Oh Heneage I wish you had been there, it was the wittiest thing I ever said. He said what kind of readership does she command and I said a ship!. Ha ha h-hmmm... no that's not quite right. Was there something about a sloop? Or was it that she hadn't been made post yet so she couldn't command it? Anyway, I'm sure you agree it was the most complete thing."
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Sep 10, 2014 15:57
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You guys should write fan fiction. I'd be amazing.
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Sep 10, 2014 16:09
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Hey so, while I am not completely prepared to break my 'one book by an author a year' rule, I was thinking that maybe I could read a non-fiction book pertaining to the age of sail. I see the recommendation of A Sea of Words, but is that something I can kind of just sit down and read? Or is that more of a reference book? The little I see on the preview on Amazon makes it look like a pretty decent read. All this having been said, I'm staring down the barrel of a 12 hour flight (so really, 2 12 hour flights, although one of them I should probably get some sleep on), so I may just pick up #2 for that, barring a really solid non-fiction recommendation. And even with a good recommendation, I may read the companion book and then #2 so I don't forget everything. My Father has another companion book, and I can't remember the title, that had maps and synopses. I'm trying to avoid anything spoilery, as well.
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Sep 15, 2014 23:30
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A Sea of Words is a reference book, but I read it through anyway because I am crazy. Also your rule is strange.
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Sep 15, 2014 23:52
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bollig posted:Hey so, while I am not completely prepared to break my 'one book by an author a year' rule, I was thinking that maybe I could read a non-fiction book pertaining to the age of sail. I see the recommendation of A Sea of Words, but is that something I can kind of just sit down and read? Or is that more of a reference book? The little I see on the preview on Amazon makes it look like a pretty decent read. Try "To Rule the Waves". Good overview of fighting sail.
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Sep 16, 2014 04:40
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