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Thoguh posted:I will admit though that for the most part I greatly prefer the parts when they are at sea to when they are on land (though there are some great land based chapters, like when Jack is on the run from creditors and the crew is beating the crap out of people sent to take him to debtors prison). The stuff on land just tends to drag compared to the awesomeness of O'Brian's descriptions of life at sea. At first I reacted the same as you to the long dry stretches (  ) between the voyages.Now I've read the series for my 3rd time, and I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of life and society in the country - because O'Brian is as spot on with those as he is with the nautical stuff. This is one of the strong points of the series: it's not only about ships and battles, it's about the life of seamen in 18th/19th century england. Evfedu posted:I had a couple of books to finish before I started this, but finally managed to sit down with it. I just pretend that I'm Maturin and feign understanding of everything  Raskolnikov2089 posted:I've kind of nurtured a secret desire to try chewing coca leaves because of Maturin. I checked how legal it would be to import them into germany because of those books  (Not very much) Edit: If anyone wants to read real-life based background information about the nautical stuff, I can recommend Nelson's Navy Nektu fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Apr 18, 2011 |
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Apr 18, 2011 12:18
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Space Monster posted:Just want to re-iterate that these are the best works of historical fiction ever written or that will ever be written. They have literally changed every aspect of my life (and not always for the better), from how I speak and interact with other people to how I view new technology.  Would you elaborate? Space Monster posted:His humor is literally the best thing in comedy, ever. The ludicrous elevation of Maturin politely asking for an apology in the ward room to him dragging the offending officer up and down the deck whipping him with his gold-headed cane is priceless. Gotta love those common seamen. Thanks for reminding me of that scene 
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Apr 21, 2011 10:16
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Thoguh posted:Really? I thought that he did a great job capturing the Jack we see in the books. I felt he was trying to convey being oppressed by duty and the loneliness of command, which are themes throughout the series. Seconding this. Why exactly are you people thinking that Maturin was badly represented in the film?
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May 15, 2011 08:44
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Decius posted:But maybe he thought with his wife he should adhere to the Bible-induced missionary position and nothing else... Wow, that got creepy quickly. I'd guess that SHE actually though that. loving for pleasure? Oh my what a shocking thing to do for a good english wife...
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May 20, 2011 09:21
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Octy posted:So I finished Master and Commmander before. I thought it was rather good. Very different writing style to Hornblower. There's also a hell of a lot of words in there that I've never heard of. Still, I was pleased to see the use of floccinaucipilification - the first time any author I've read has used it. I'll still buy the next book too, but it doesn't grab me in the same way as Hornblower did from the start. Give it time. I had the exact same problems when I started reading the series for the first time. Once you are accustomed to it, O'Brians language and style becomes much easier to understand and enjoy. After you have some more books under your belt, you will really start to see his superb storytelling, charactarizations and character development. You will probably be hooked at that time.
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Feb 27, 2012 08:53
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Octy posted:I bought Post Captain and HMS Surprise with a gift voucher last week and I'm meant to be getting the next two books after that as a birthday present from someone. So I suppose I'd better start liking it soon. There is a good chance that you will Being a tad overwhelmed when reading the first book for the very first is not that uncommon.
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Feb 29, 2012 10:28
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withak posted:IIRC, the actual patients there were legitimate lunatics. The joke is that Jack is having great fun playing along with them and he continues to pretend to be crazy the one time an actual American interrogator visits to question him. I think Jack didn't get that those officials were real officials - after all he was surrounded by people that all the time pretended to be the emperor of china and whatnot. And as to the threats against his person: don't only think "government officials" but also "intelligence agents" - the that become more believiable.
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Mar 1, 2012 10:01
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PlushCow posted:I have a question about something in the first novel, with the Cacafuego did the crew throw all that stuff into the water when the Sophie was getting right next to it to create a buffer? "...watching the hen coops, boxes and lumber tossing overboard from the frigate..." I just dont see how chicken coops and boxes wouldnt just be crushed as the ships came together.
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Mar 21, 2013 08:59
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Colonial Air Force posted:I just finished The Hundred Days.  ).Didnt the book actually span several months in just a few chapters so that his reaction wasnt all that quick? Also, I think that at that point he was so used to hurting because of Diana, that he basically has been there, done that 3 times over. vvvv You are actually right. The death of Bonden was also dealt with very quickly. Wasn't the last book actually written by someone else because of O'Brians age? Perhaps he just did not have the time left to deal with those stories in the same way as before. Nektu fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 13:55
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Quote != Edit
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Apr 22, 2013 15:41
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Luigi Thirty posted:I very much enjoyed Master and Commander but didn't care for the Jane Austen adventures of Jack Aubrey in the second book. It will all come together though, and the characters and storylines introduced in the second book will be as dear to your heart as the ships and voyages. Edit: Fixed the quote Nektu fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Aug 29, 2013 |
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Aug 29, 2013 07:12
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CarterUSM posted:Just started rereading the series (for probably the fifth time). I always forget about the bees (NOT THE BEES) that Stephen brings aboard at the end of "Post Captain", when Jack gets his acting command on the Lively. Never fails to make me laugh, the rough, tough sailors losing their poo poo over a paltry sixty thousand or so bees:  Edit: vvv considering that the books basically narrate the life-stories of jack and maturin the order does matter very much... Nektu fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Oct 30, 2013 08:22
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kaujot posted:That's very true and a good point. Not like it was a huge problem I had with the books or anything. Just stuck out to me in a slightly negative way. So, while no single captain ever had as much action/shipwrecks/... as maturin and aubrey had (not to speak of maturins spying), you can be fairly sure that at some point some captain experienced something close to what the books describe.
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Jan 24, 2014 08:31
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builds character posted:The first book or two have Molly Harte. I'd think HBO could do something with her if you know what I mean.
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Jun 15, 2014 07:16
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ItalicSquirrels posted:*Roast chicken - Also delicious. Use a mechanical spit on your grill if you can and remember to actually sew the stuffing in in a seaman-like manner, not just tie the legs together and think that will do it.
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Jul 14, 2014 16:45
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Sappo569 posted:I'll be honest, I flew through the first book in the series (being the most well known) The land parts will get very much better once you have gotten to know and love the characters that are prominent there.
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Feb 22, 2015 18:25
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:You could write a whole thing about superstition in these books. There are a few points where they almost become fantasy novels.  Yea, the superstitions of the seamen play a prominent part now and then - things happen and meaning gets assigned by the superstitious. But where do the books nearly turn into fantasy?
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May 12, 2015 16:29
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Notahippie posted:I'm not so much convinced that O'Brien wants to show bad luck and superstition coming true, so much as he wants to show how the seamen constantly interpret everything through the lens of the superstition.
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May 13, 2015 05:51
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:It's a work of fiction, though! So yes, that's one reading -- but on the other hand, every time there's an omen that's fulfilled (which is almost every time there's an omen), that's a conscious narrative choice on the part of the author, so . . . Considering that maturin gives no credit at all to jacks superstitions, it makes perfect sense that they only talk about that when CLEARLY something happened that supports jack in his views and makes him speak up. This is doubly true considering O'Briens sparse storytelling - all the uninteresting conversations about omens that did not come true are simply left out.
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May 13, 2015 15:41
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Wasn't he actually poor when he and Jack first met? I think the inheritance came a few books later.
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May 28, 2020 19:07
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Which edition of the audio books is the good edition?
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Sep 8, 2020 21:15
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Zoracle Zed posted:So the single upside to the pandemic for me has been discovering this series. Currently on The Fortune of War. Haven't seen this one quoted yet: Hullup - ship is visible in all its glory. Zoracle Zed posted:2) Often when sailing alongside other ships, they'll "send a boat" to grab supplies or meet the Admiral for dinner or whatever. How involved are the logistics of sending a boat? Do they need to slow down or is it really that easy? Edit: Wait, I forgot about the amount of work that killick needs to get the nr1 scraper ready. So I guess the logistics are more involved than I said. Nektu fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Oct 30, 2020 |
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Oct 30, 2020 20:06
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Phy posted:Just read this in the OSHA thread in GBS, and what in the goddamn? I'm pretty sure it didnt. On the upside, I finally realized that "a wig covers a multitude of sins" also applies to face masks. Not today razor, not today.
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Jan 9, 2021 11:51
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yaffle posted:As I understand these things a Sloop is always schooner rigged, whereas schooners are most often sloop rigged, when sailing by and large.
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Jan 15, 2023 08:47
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Sharpe also bizarrely manages to be at Trafalgar while Aubrey doesnt
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Jan 19, 2023 21:29
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Scrape scrape scrape all day long
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Aug 15, 2023 07:42
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The ending of post captain is amazing! All that hostility between maturin and Jack, and it just stops in such a simple but deeply emotional and satisfying way. I did not enjoy the book either when reading it the first time, but that ending made it worth it.
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Sep 13, 2023 10:10
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