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I started reading Master and Commander the other day. It's alright so far. I read and loved all the Hornblower novels last year, though Hornblower's self-esteem issues and constant assholery to Mr. Bush was a bit tiring. Captain Aubrey seems quite likeable in comparison. So I don't know what to think of the Aubrey-Maturin series yet. If I like it, my wallet is going to suffer a lot in the coming year. If I don't, no harm trying it out, I guess.
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Jan 7, 2012 06:53
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Oh I envy you getting to read them for the first time. I took a break from Master and Commander because of my other literary 'committments', so I only just started reading where I left off yesterday. I am starting to enjoying it more than I did. It has a slow start, but right round page 150 or so, with the fight with the Algerine galley (?), it really picks up. Mind you, I still feel lost when the writing becomes even slightly technical. My eyes glaze over when 'catharpin' and 'lateen sails' are mentioned.
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Feb 5, 2012 08:04
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ItalicSquirrels posted:Sheets are really just ropes You're forgetting that some of us are just retards at this kind of stuff. I know the basic things like fore and larboard but I prefer to just imagine what's happening in a very vague way. 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.
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Feb 9, 2012 08:58
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Bah, Nelson is nothing compared to my beloved Pellew. Actually, this kind of stuff is what I really admire about all those historical figures from back then, specifically in the Royal Navy. It didn't matter if you were a commodore or a lieutenant - in the midst of battle you're just as likely as an ordinary sailor to be killed by a stray musket shot or blinded by splinters from cannon balls tearing up the ship.
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Feb 27, 2012 07:21
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Nektu posted: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. 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.
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Feb 27, 2012 11:09
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Nektu posted:There is a good chance that you will I am starting to appreciate and understand O'Brian's language more, so it's been an enjoyable read through the second so far, rather than the slog that the first book was. :P
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Mar 7, 2012 09:29
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About to finish The Mauritius Command. I've got the next two books lying in wait. I have to say, this series gives me what I suppose to be a much more realistic portrayal of life at sea. Oh, I'm sure there wasn't much cello playing and deep philosophical conversations for most, but I'm really describing the naval actions that come with a much darker quality than in Hornblower, which always seemed to focus on the heroic, superhuman abilities of the title character as well as his friends (Except poor Captain Bush). I do have to put the book aside quite often though to look up all these words. 'Malversation' is a good one: usually meaning misconduct in public office. I saw it used in a classics paper from 1964 by an H.W. Pleket recently, which means O'Brian isn't just making this stuff up. :P I have a half-formed desire to use it in an essay soon as well. Octy fucked around with this message at 08:51 on May 14, 2012 |
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May 14, 2012 08:48
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Currently reading The Fortune of War. I was a bit disappointed about the near lack of naval action in the book before, but I actually find I'm enjoying all the espionage and intrigue in Fortune more than I ever did the battles.
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Jun 28, 2012 06:25
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So I'm up to The Surgeon's Mate and it's currently about 1812-13 and time has seemingly sped up for the two characters. Only a few books ago it seemed to be about 1808 or so, I think. There are lots and lots of books in the series left so am I right in thinking that a few of the later ones go back to his early career, in the same way the Hornblower series did? I'd read the wiki only I'm afraid of accidentally spoiling myself in some way.
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Jul 16, 2012 23:56
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:It's best to just not think about the years. That way when you get to the last book, it makes it easier to think that Jack and Stephen and Killick are still out there somewhere, exploring and fighting the French. I'm not too hot on what happened between 1812 and 1815 so that shouldn't be a problem. 
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Jul 17, 2012 02:11
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CarterUSM posted:I'm coming to the end of "The Hundred Days." Bonden. Argh, I accidentally scrolled over that as I was coming down the page. Oh well, I only just bought The Ionian Mission today so hopefully I'll forget it by the time I reach The Hundred Days which is... eleven books away.
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Aug 8, 2012 10:03
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:I think the death of Bonden was written at around the time O'Brian's wife died. I don't suppose you'd mind spoilering stuff like the deaths of non-historical characters? I've read just under half the series so I know a lot of what goes on, but not this.
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Apr 23, 2013 00:02
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Geez man, I'm so sorry. Still, I kind of liked him.  I don't know, I've been slowly going through this series for the last year. It's probably better to just avoid the thread till I'm done.
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Apr 24, 2013 04:00
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Decius posted:Everyone liked him, that's why his death hits you pretty hard out of nowhere. One consolation: It happens very, very late in the series, so don't read it with "oh god, is this the moment he dies?" in mind (like I did when I was spoiled the same information). So it doesn't happen in The Nutmeg of Consolation, I take it? :P
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Apr 24, 2013 06:41
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Oh, so The Letter of Marque is really good. I'm actually enjoying it more than any of the other novels in the series. I'm not sure if it's the change in situation (Jack being kicked out of the RN and actually getting to do what he likes, which tend to be more interesting things) or if I'm used enough to the writing that it all seems quite natural to me. Either way, I've been ripping through it.
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Oct 29, 2013 12:05
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I picked up a bunch of books in the series secondhand so I'm reading them out of order (not that I think it matters much). Just finished up with Nutmeg of Consolation, which I thoroughly enjoyed, perhaps because it partly takes place in my home state. I did not see Maturin having a baby, though. I know he's married to Diana, but still.
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Nov 20, 2013 03:39
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Hornblower is probably the best after Aubrey/Maturin. I recall a scene in Hornblower where the eponymous character thinks about how good it makes him feel to humiliate his second-in-command, Bush. I don't think you can fault Aubrey for anything like that.
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Apr 18, 2014 07:44
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ItalicSquirrels posted:"Log of Captain Henri: June 18, 1809; Day 585 in port. Exercised hands by sending them up and down the rigging. Winds perfect for escape from blockade, but full moon and presence of British squadron makes survival unlikely. May try in two weeks if winds remain favorable and Indomptable is finally able to receive masts. Didn't the French navy do okay in the early years of the war? It could read like a tragedy, after all.
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Jun 26, 2014 23:12
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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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The Lord Bude posted:I can't say I've ever had a problem with Paul Bettany as Maturin, but I must confess to having seen the movie before ever reading the books. Isn't he described as pale in the books? If he looked more Catalonian he'd have a more olive skinned mediterranean appearance - I don't think he's ever described in such a way. He also spent his childhood and early adulthood in Ireland. Pale and sallow, I think, but he is described as going very dark on long voyages in sunny parts. Apparently tans in the nude too. I wonder what the rates of skin cancer were for sailors back then? I'm sure I'd have died of melanoma pretty quickly. Octy fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Sep 17, 2014 |
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Sep 17, 2014 02:50
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The Lord Bude posted:Even anglo-Saxon people can go pretty dark if they spend enough time in the sun. I think it's definitely increased UV exposure in the southern hemisphere, like Australia for instance (god help me, I live here). But back then you're bound to end badly if you work as a farmer outside all day without any proper protection like sunscreen. We're lucky to have the stuff and a bit more savvy about sun protection, I guess, but there's still plenty of people who get skin cancer because they buy into the idea that tans make people that bit more good looking.
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Sep 17, 2014 07:41
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Man, I feel like Maturin the last couple pages of this thread. Even after 20 books I still only know the basic terminology (but not where a spritsail is located for example) and I just sort of fumble my way through, waiting for a character to explain it to me.
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Nov 11, 2014 07:29
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Heliogabalos posted:I completely loathed the movie, could not stand Crowe as Aubrey or Bettany as Maturin, the intertwining of the plots of three different books made a sequel nigh impossible to write, and the whole movie overall was trite and hokey. I don't even think I finished it. I had to go and re-read Desolation Island afterwards to rinse my palate. Having re-watched the film just now, I agree. It was a struggle to finish whereas I rather enjoyed it when it came out, although I hadn't read the books. Here's a question: what was the function of the marines on board a navy ship (beyond the obvious) and how did they fit into the command structure? I'm reading The Far Side of the World again and there's a part where everyone is lined up for divisions. Jack is surveying everyone when he comes to the marines and his internal monologue goes along the lines of how their faces are impersonal and nameless despite having sailed with them for months. I understand they have their own commanding officer - in this instance, Howard - but what were their actual day-to-day duties? It certainly sounds like they're not helping sail the ship and are rather clustered away elsewhere for Jack to not know them.
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Aug 29, 2017 09:08
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hannibal posted:The Marines are a detachment aboard ship with their own officers. Usually the head is a captain, who reports directly to the ship's captain. Probably a lieutenant on smaller ships (I want to say it was one on the Sophie). As stated above, they're there to enforce order on the ship (including guarding things, like the captain's cabin), and provide help in combat (shooting muskets from the rigging and manning cannons during battles, boarding ships, assaults on land). Well, it still seems odd that Jack wouldn't interact with them if they're guarding his cabin and what not, although that's about the only time I can think of that he specifically refers to them. At any rate, it sounds like they had a relatively easy job. Not many opportunities for misadventure outside of combat, I suppose.
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Aug 29, 2017 22:20
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E: Wrong thread.
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Aug 31, 2017 22:32
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Quick informal poll -- Books -> movie -> thread -> books I first came across the books at my grandparents' place when I was about 11 or 12, read the first few pages of Master and Commander and sort of stored the rest of the titles away in my head. Shortly afterwards the film came out, which I greatly enjoyed, but it wasn't until many years later that I actually read the books as a result of this thread recommending the series as being infinitely better than Hornblower.
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Mar 7, 2018 09:07
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I actually liked Post Captain far better the second time after rereading it recently.
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Sep 9, 2023 11:23
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