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I stormed through the series over the course of last summer and enjoyed the experience greatly. Saw the movie with whole new eyes as well, but I do agree that Billy Boyd isn't menacing enough to be Barrett Bonden (perhaps the initials had something to do with the casting?) and that while Paul Bettany does a good job, he doesn't quite match the mental picture I painted based on the books. But perhaps there's only so much you can ask of a big-budget movie that doesn't exactly have the widest appeal subject-wise. O'Brian's writing also improves through the series. This thread got me to start Master & Commander again, and while so far it hasn't been quite as adverb-heavy I remembered, people are still "crying" half the time whenever they say something. This got incredibly distracting when I noticed it, and I was grateful when he dropped this habit in the later books.
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Mar 3, 2015 09:59
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I finished my re-read of M&C and have to retract my earlier statement about O'Brian's writing improving a lot later on – it's all there already, it can just be overwhelming the first time around when you're not used to the style. Even the "crying" wasn't as distracting.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:10
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Economic Sinkhole posted:This might have already been posted but I just came across this awesome site that has pretty comprehensive maps from several of the books: http://cannonade.net/index.php That's cool, thank you! I'm not sure if this has popped up somewhere along the thread but this site has translations for all the non-English expressions: http://www.agbfinebooks.com/Publications/Perp2004/Classic/Right%20Frame.htm
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Mar 18, 2015 21:24
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I made the mistake of starting a re-read and now I'm on to The Ionian Mission while other books lay unread and unloved. I just love the understated humor that you might even miss unless you read carefully. The part from Fortune of War where Stephen's wombat eats Jack's hat has had me in stitches for ages, and just now I got great mirth out of the scene where Stephen "practices upon" Professor Graham. "We trice 'em athwart the starboard gumbrils, when sailing by and large" is obviously a great line in itself, but I love the bit a moment later when Stephen continues showing off his nautical knowledge: "'The xebec, or the polacre?' 'The vessel to the right,' said Graham somewhat testily." So good!
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May 10, 2015 14:02
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Owlkill posted:http://www.foliosociety.com/category/9609/patrick-o-brian-offer Oh god I want these - Folio Society hardbacks of the entire series Those are beauties but definitely can't justify the cost in money or already-limited shelf space. Could buy just one to fondle, but that sounds like a risky proposition as well... I'd just end up wanting the rest. Looks like some of the later books are sold out, do TFS do reprints?
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Jul 22, 2015 19:24
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We trice 'em athwart the starboard gumbrils, when sailing by and large.
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Jan 21, 2016 17:23
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CowboyKid posted:I'm halfway through The Terror by Dan Simmons and while it's a different kind of story from the 1840's, there are a ton of obvious nods to o'Brian. Simmons certainly did his research, perhaps too well. That book is in dire need of editing.
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Mar 8, 2016 09:14
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Arglebargle III posted:What's the one where Stephen gets caught in the Andes and has to Han Solo his way under a llama or something and the same blizzard blows Jack out to sea in the cutter for like three weeks? Wine-Dark Sea. The bit that gives the book its title is quite impressive.
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Sep 6, 2016 08:36
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Not sure if it was brought up in the thread but during another re-read of Master and Commander I was greatly amused by the bit where Jack talks about having to hang a crew member guilty of sodomy with the ship's goat and Stephen has a suggestion:quote:"Could you not set them both ashore -- on separate shores, if you have strong feelings on the moral issue -- and sail quietly away?"
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Jan 2, 2017 22:30
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Not sure if I'm imagining it, but on my latest re-read I felt that O'Brian really hits his stride humour-wise in The Surgeon's Mate. There's just so many subtly hilarious moments and exchanges.
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Feb 16, 2017 11:38
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I have to say that on my latest re-read I've had a clear dip in interest from roughly The Wine-Dark Sea onwards. There's some great moments but overall the patterns are a bit too familiar.
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Jul 20, 2017 19:37
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To elaborate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_o%27_nine_tails
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Jul 25, 2017 19:58
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Also to provide trained help for combat,, I think.
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Aug 29, 2017 14:45
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Folio Society or bust. Although a good few of the series are sold out 
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Sep 14, 2017 18:53
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Visited the Royal Maritime Museum in London on Friday, really enjoyed the whole thing but especially the Nelson, Navy, Nation exhibition. Can put up a few photos of the displays if there’s interest.
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Oct 1, 2017 23:22
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PlushCow posted:Please post 'em! Ok, apologies for the middling quality but I only thought of snapping some quick shots right before we had to head off. Ship's biscuit and other curiosities:  The cat:  Surgeon's tools:  Some more surgeon's tools:  Carronade:  Uniforms:  Forgot to get a shot of the tools used for eye surgery, which were also a somewhat chilling sight in all their primitiveness...
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Oct 2, 2017 21:29
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Re: usage of "gently caress" – let us not forget "Oh, gently caress the immemorial custom of the service".
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Dec 21, 2017 23:09
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Accidental double post (quote is not edit) so I might as well admit I never quite grasped the exact fate of Ledward and Wray. These books do reward careful reading, don't they?
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Dec 21, 2017 23:10
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PlushCow posted:Instead of being productive I have spent some time going through old Patrick O'Brian newsletters from his publisher, each one has a short piece from O'Brian himself and some of you may enjoy it as I have: http://www.wwnorton.com/pob/pobnews.htm Belated thanks for these & a strong recommendation to read for anyone who already hasn’t done so. O’Brian’s voice is so comically strong that it’s almost like Aubrey-Maturin flash fiction.
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Mar 10, 2018 12:54
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I thought Jagiello did try his luck with Diana, but got turned down gently, so he went for the "absurdly pretty" girl back in Sweden?
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Mar 29, 2018 09:12
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I seem to recall that Jack later talks about "grieving [Bonden's death] extremely" or something along those lines. But yeah, what withak said above.
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May 12, 2018 09:55
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Most shocking moment in the whole series: Yep. Someone might have said that O'Brian himself had suffered some tough losses around the time he wrote that book?
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Nov 1, 2018 23:39
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PerilPastry posted:This seems sort of apropos: Heh, that's pretty cool.
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Nov 14, 2018 23:13
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PerilPastry posted:I just finished Treason's Harbour, and, aside from the pillory scene later on, it's always the fate of poor Ponto that leaves me the most affected on rereading the series Now you’ve got me trying to remember the highly O’Brianesque word Stephen uses to describe Ponto at one point. Worthy?
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Apr 19, 2019 22:30
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PerilPastry posted:Maturin calls him "Heroic" at one point while trying to explain the variety and virtues of bats to Mrs Fielding: "'Not bats,' cried Mrs Fielding. 'Certainly bats,' said Dr Maturin. 'There is as much variety in them as in other creatures: I have known some very high-spirited, cheerful bats, other sullen, froward, dogged morose. And of course the same applies to dogs - there is the whole gamut from false fawning yellow curs to the heroic Ponto.' " Thank you! That whole passage is very Maturin.
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Apr 21, 2019 10:43
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I recently read the Hornblower series and while I found them perfectly enjoyable, I did find his ascent through the ranks remarkably smooth compared to Jack. Of course there are setbacks, but he still conducts himself honourably enough to keep his career going.
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Apr 23, 2019 18:11
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yaffle posted:My brain just shorthand’s all that stuff as “the ship did a thing” Same, really. I sometimes feel like a real dummy because I still can't grasp even the basics of how wind and sails interact – I've seen the diagrams and everything, but may brain says "wind from behind, go forward fast, wind from ahead, going nowhere". But then of course the wind pushes the waves as well, and... Well, let's say I would have failed the midshipman's examination.
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Oct 9, 2019 09:20
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jerman999 posted:Just read the part in ionian mission where the skates were turned over, poor guys. Also I love that book for Babbington’s floating bordello. I think spoilering the book title defeats the purpose a little...
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Jun 10, 2020 09:13
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While not as formulaic, POB definitely starts treading familiar paths in the later books. There's only so many places you can go once your lovable underdogs are multimillionaire family men.
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Jul 5, 2020 20:40
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Phenotype posted:Well, that's the draw of books like this. I don't actually want to spend months sleeping four hours at a time and climbing a hundred feet up in the rain to pull on a rope, but I would like to have that experience of stepping off the ship in a mysterious unknown foreign land filled with people we barely understand and creatures we've never seen. You can also keep in touch with your family from the Marriott and fly back if there’s an emergency, whereas your average sailor would sometimes spend a year or more at sea, writing letters to the wife hoping she wouldn’t have to turn to prostitution in his absence, and if he had bad luck, get immediately pressed into service upon his return, leading to another year of monotonous food and hard work and high risk of permanent maining or death. There’s certainly an appeal in the sailing life, especially to a modern-day office drone, but let’s not kid ourselves too much.
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Aug 15, 2020 07:48
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I believe impressment was technically for sailors only, but anyone who’d been to sea at any point would count, even if they’d been living on dry land for ages. I tried finding a solid source but most seem a bit vague on this point.
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Aug 21, 2020 09:54
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I personally thought Crowe did a decent job. Bettany gave a good performance but was hampered by being a foot too tall and way, way too pretty white boy. He needed to be a foot shorter and a lot less pretty and much more tanned. Every time I looked at him I thought "who's that" not "that's stephen!" This is pretty much how I feel. And while I’ve got no beef with Billy Boyd, he just doesn’t look like the boxing champion of the fleet. But overall they did a good job with casting.
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Feb 26, 2021 19:30
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I’m sure Tom Hardy would get chonky and learn the violin to be a great Jack. Andrew Scott (uglied up) for Maturin. For Bonden, uh, Jason Statham?
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Feb 27, 2021 00:33
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builds character posted:He needs to be believable as someone who could cheerfully be champion of the med fleet. Have you seen Bronson?
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Feb 28, 2021 18:12
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Mainly mentioned Bronson as an example of Hardy making a believable brawler, although I do think he’d have the range to do Jack as well.
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Feb 28, 2021 20:17
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I read through the Hornblower series a few years back and while I enjoyed the books just fine, I certainly prefer O’Brian. One thing that bothered me (and I suppose this is a spoiler of sorts) is that Hornblower never really seemed to be in real danger of losing everything; he merely progresses through the ranks and battles, brooding and complex but always brilliant as a leader and tactician, while Jack’s constantly running into setbacks because of politics or personality. Admittedly O’Brian resorted to increasingly contrived methods of holding Jack’s career back in later books, but you need that sense of peril to uphold the stakes.
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Apr 3, 2021 10:03
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PerilPastry posted:In the novels, no character is actually accorded an inner life except Hornblower and his tedious Imposter Syndrome. Everyone else is reduced to bit players; cardboard cutouts erected in service of the hero's narrative. This solipsism makes it extremely hard to become invested in the world and its supposed dangers. Yeah I don’t really have any gripe with this assessment. In the TV series Hornblower is also so young that the stakes still feel real.
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Apr 3, 2021 20:30
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Arglebargle III posted:When O'Brian has medical men say, "he has a vicious habit of body"... what the gently caress are they talking about? http://wiki.hmssurprise.org/phase3/index.php/Lexicon:Vicious_habit_of_body
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Jun 4, 2021 14:32
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Xander77 posted:Paul Bettany is... too pretty for Maturin. What kind of Dickensian abomination to you have in mind? He’s not an obvious Hollywood beefcake but I think it’s fair to say he doesn’t really match Maturin’s description in the books (short, scruffy, very much non-handsome).
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Jun 27, 2021 20:44
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I’ve got the first book as a Folio Society version but those are all now long sold out. As with most FS editions, they are very nice objects but not necessarily the most convenient choice for actual reading.
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Feb 24, 2022 16:04
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