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These books always sat on my to-read list, but I never got around to them. I picked up the first one based on the first page of this thread, and I'm totally hooked - I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and it's great. I'll be back to post some more when I've read a few more of these without dealing with spoilers. O'Brian's descriptions of the ship and sailing are absolutely wonderful, and the humour is really well written. The part where Jack gets drunk and makes an rear end out of himself at a party had me actually laughing out loud. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 13:33
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Halfway through the second book now, I can't put this poo poo down. The English countryside thing was a bit of a jarring departure from the first book, but it's hilarious and then depressing and just really well written. Pissed-up Babbington driving the carriage has been my favorite part so far. There's less land-based stuff in future books, right? It's well written and interesting, but the stuff at sea is so much better. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Aug 31, 2013 |
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Aug 31, 2013 13:55
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Yeah, I get that and I'm enjoying the character interactions a lot, but it's good to know there's more ship stuff to look forward to. I sailed boats for years and have always been interested in age-of-sail stuff, and it's really good to read an author who knows his poo poo, rather than someone going "yaaar splice the main brace and avast!" He writes a level of detail you don't often see in a novel without a modern setting.
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Sep 1, 2013 02:12
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:This really is the ultimate bromance series. Yes, it is. Finished book 2, reading something else that's shortish, then on to book 3! Totally hooked.
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Sep 5, 2013 11:36
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Hogge Wild posted:Even though I’m somewhat a landsman, the naval jargon wasn’t that difficult. If you encounter a new word just put it in a search engine and you get an explanation and probably even a nice picture too. I know a bit of the jargon, but even the more obscure stuff I could usually figure out through context, or at least get the gist of what was meant. Looking stuff up is interesting, but if I'm not near a way to use google or if I just can't be bothered, it's been fine for me to go "a nautical thing happened to some ropes and the ship went faster" and just keep reading. I pretend it's Maturin's POV, I guess. I need to start reading these again. I'm partway into The Surgeon's Mate but I got distracted by other books.
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Nov 30, 2013 22:42
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I'm reading these again. I've nearly finished The Surgeon's Mate, and Stephen explaining nautical stuff to Jagiello has to be one of my favorite moments in the series so far.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:08
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Lewd Mangabey posted:I don't have the book in front of me to quote exactly, but when Aubrey takes a hard turn to catch an enemy and Jagiello asks Maturin, "Does he not consult you on strategy before a battle?" Stephen's answer of "Not always," is one of the best examples of O'Brian's humor in the series. Yes, that's the part I'm referring to, as well as the generally charming idea that Stephen understands far more about sailing and ships than the average landsman, but is still far behind the other man-o-war's men.
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Dec 11, 2013 13:48
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I came across this while I was searching for something else. quote:killick So he's "Preserved Killick"... was he fished out of the ocean at any point? By Jack? Because that just makes me wonder how many other sea-slang jokes I've missed. e: I'm about 1/3 of the way through The Far Side Of The World, and I'm enjoying this series more and more. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Dec 23, 2013 |
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Dec 23, 2013 03:26
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Pretty much any time there's a woman aboard, at least a few people are certain Stephen is banging her. It's hilarious, and they've only been right once. Also, Far Side Of The World is pretty drat depressing so far. I'm not complaining, it just seems like the themes of adultery and murder are a bit darker than previous novels.
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Dec 26, 2013 21:55
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I didn't mean I didn't like the story. It's one of my favorite ones so far and I can see why it was the basis (sorta) for the movie. It's just darker than usual. e: Finished The Reverse Of The Medal. I thought that moment everyone talks about would be Stephen telling Jack he'd bought Surprise but nope, it was a million times better than that. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Dec 29, 2013 |
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Dec 29, 2013 01:09
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Maturin in Sydney  I guess the coca does gently caress with you.
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Jan 20, 2014 23:57
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Also, "Both doctors are too loving pissed to recognise the barky! Ha ha ha!"
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Jan 21, 2014 22:31
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kaujot posted:One of the few things that bothered me about the series was the number of times Jack was stranded at sea and then subsequently rescued. I suppose my memory could be playing tricks on me, since it's been several years, but it was beginning to stretch my credulity. Anyone else bothered by that? Are there any records of actual captains being both that unlucky and lucky? Not many captains fought as many successful single-ship actions as he does in the books, and I'm pretty sure no captain took prizes that frequently either. There are 20 books, something's got to happen in each one.
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Jan 24, 2014 06:47
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BeigeJacket posted:Something I wondered about occasionally concerns all the booze that they're continually pouring down their throats (and Jack as a young man is a very thirsty chap). Do we know if the wine, brandy and beer back then was stronger, weaker or the same as stuff we guzzle nowadays? The answer is "it depends", but Navy rum was 57% alcohol as Blog Free Or Die said. As for other stuff, with spirits it's impossible to tell. Wine would have been about the same, I guess. I don't know much about wines, but fermenting anything to be higher than somewhere around 18% alcohol is nearly impossible. Beer/ale was probably about the same or maybe a bit weaker. Fractional freezing existed, but I'm pretty sure it was rare (the german Eisbock beers for instance, could be something like 13%, while regular Bock or Doppelbock would be a bit lower - but those were very strong beers even back then). e: I couldn't drink a bottle of brandy, I'd die. I can drink an equivalent amount of alcohol if it's contained in beer, although I don't. A few of my friends can drink a bottle of spirits in a night if they try. One guy does it regularly (adding a beer here and there), and perhaps unsurprisingly he's a sailor who can't drink on his ship. e2: A lot of characters in the books get falling-down sliding-under-the-table unable-to-move drunk, too. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Feb 5, 2014 |
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Feb 5, 2014 02:01
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That scene was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. I just finished Blue at the Mizzen today, and I kinda teared up right at the end even though it's pretty obvious what's coming. This was a really really awesome series which I would never have read if I hadn't seen this thread. Should I read 21? I'm completely satisfied with the series as it stands at the end of Blue at the Mizzen. Also, I'm kinda confused about (I seriously wouldn't mouse over this if you haven't read The Hundred Days) Diana's death. Shortly after we hear of her death, someone says that she wasn't on the coach when it went into the river.
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Jun 4, 2014 14:54
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I might have actually misread it. It's right near the start of The Hundred Days, when Jack's talking to Queenie. quote:Queenie: ...how is poor dear Maturin? Which on re-reading, probably means that Diana wasn't in the coach, but on the box where she would usually be.
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Jun 5, 2014 00:02
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That makes much more sense. I'm an idiot.
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Jun 5, 2014 00:49
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"Return" can mean "report" when you're talking about bookkeeping. I have no idea if that was common usage back then though. Given that, and since Stephen is being sarcastic about things that would get him put to death when he says it, I read that as something like recording that he uses two cubes for every one he actually uses so he can sell the excess.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:39
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Read it slowly. O'Brian's prose is deceptively sparse. Time jumps 6 weeks in the space between two sentenc I found in the later novels, that while there are still more sudden time/location jumps than you might be used to, they're communicated better. I thought that maybe I just got used to them, but I'm starting to re-read the series (nearly finished book 3 again), and the jumps in Post Captain are a lot more jarring than they are in, say The Wine Dark Sea.
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Jun 14, 2014 08:16
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builds character posted:It's the only way anyone will ever figure out what a staysail really is. I believe I have seen several of them about the ship. But seriously, that kind of stuff is way easier to show than describe. I think a show that cared about rigging would be a really expensive flop though.
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Jun 15, 2014 08:56
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builds character posted:You make Larry Ellison so sad. That article made me angry and sad at the same time. Angry because America's Cup racing has turned into such stupid bullshit, and sad because I haven't sailed a small boat (let alone raced) for years and I miss it. On your edit: That's what I meant by "it's easier to show than describe", yeah. I just think that the difficulty and expense of having accurate sailing scenes would be too high for what you'd get out of it. kaujot posted:Yeah, even though I've listened to almost every book in the series, I have no loving clue what the different sails, masts, rigging types, etc, actually do, nor why some are better than others in certain situations. You're pretty much making my point for me right there. If you'd like to know (and I don't think it will increase your enjoyment of the books much), it's pretty easy to look up rigging and sail plans. With those and a basic understanding of how sailing works, you can make sense of most of the detailed stuff. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jun 16, 2014 |
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Jun 16, 2014 07:42
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InediblePenguin posted:there's a bit where somebody calls somebody else a "great gaby" and all I can think is "portmanteau for 'gay baby'" It means "a fool", but I guess it's used about the same way as "gay baby" is on the internet, so...
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Jun 17, 2014 08:19
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Here's a dude who's 6'2" and exactly 224 lbs (16 stone) in the pic (it's Mirko Filipović, MMA fighter).  Yeah, Jack's not going to be as fit as that, but you can tell he's carrying a bit of muscle from the way he races up the rigging, hauls Stephen around with one hand, etc. I don't think Jack's fat the way we'd use it today, but he's definitely bigger than a lot of other people (and way way bigger than Stephen). Stephen's just mocking him in that exaggerated, friendly way. e: Stephen is 9 stone, which is 126lbs or 57kg. That's the bottom end of bantamweight to Jack's Heavyweight. They are amazingly mismatched in size, and I'm going to have to re-imagine them. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 02:26
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The Lord Bude posted:still, 20kg overweight sounds about right for Jack. In modern America or Australia 20kg would be unremarkable. It would be 'hey that guy's kinda fat.' I'd probably have to lose 30kg to be 20kg overweight, and I'm not even close to being one of those guys who draws peoples eyes, and can barely walk, and needs to wear a smock. If we assume Jack's 6'2", at 17 stone he weighs 108kg, which is 20kg above the highest "normal" weight by BMI. Someone who never does anything physical will look like a fatty at that point, but Jack isn't sedentary. Given that 6' was seen as pretty drat tall at the time, it's not at all surprising that someone over 6' tall who weighs 17 stone is perceived as a huge dude. He's the sort of guy who'd look like a wrestler if only he'd stop eating huge fatty meals and drinking shitloads of booze every day.
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Jun 21, 2014 02:18
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bollig posted:Haha. We'll see. I was also fortunate in that I got to go to a museum that had tons of model boats while I was in the middle of it. Didn't have a brig sloop, but they had a ship-rigged sloop. Earlier someone posted a book about all the meals that were served in that book and I'm probably going to get it for him for Christmas. The cookbook is pretty great. I haven't actually tried any of the recipes yet, but it's entertaining.
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Jul 14, 2014 00:31
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Having finished this series and gotten a bit burned out on a re-read, I decided to try Hornblower. I'm reading in the written order instead of the in-fiction chronological order, because when I tried to read the Sharpe series I felt like I was missing some foreshadowing by starting at the chronological beginning. Hornblower has a completely different vibe to Aubrey-Maturin, but after the first book and a half Hornblower isn't as insufferable as I thought. He's a lot less likeable than Aubrey, but is still pretty cool in his own way. One of the things I'm enjoying is that Hornblower seems a lot more self-aware than Aubrey. I'm not talking about his annoying habit of doubting everything he does. It just seems that by book 3, he's conscious that he's not just Hornblower the man, but also Hornblower the continuing legend. Aubrey never seems to notice.
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Sep 19, 2014 06:43
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Hogge Wild posted:I don't remember Dutch ships being objectionable. What was the context? Referring to something as "dutch-built" is insulting throughout the series. I'm pretty sure that Dutch ships were built with shallower draught than other ships because the Dutch harbours and approaches were super shallow. I think that meant they were somewhat being less seaworthy?
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Nov 10, 2014 15:03
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Arglebargle III posted:Okay, royals above t'gallants I forgot that. A ship can have more than one capstan, although I'm not sure Suprise does. The "mainsail" is the main course. The terms are interchangeable. Spritsail Topsail sits below the bowsprit on a ship, the yard crosses the bowsprit and the sail is stretched beneath it. http://www.soic.se/en/the-ship/sailmaking/ e: It means something different in a modern fore-and-aft rig, and I think something different again in a gaff type rig. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Nov 10, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2014 15:27
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Arglebargle III posted:Thanks. It looks like the yard is on the jib boom which I knew I should have gone back and re-listened to that part because I don't think I knew what the jib boom was when they were talking about the spritsail topsail. The spritsail yard is secured to the bowsprit. Nope, I'm explaining it wrong. The bowsprit projects from the bow. The spritsail yard is secured to the bowsprit. The jibboom projects forward from the bowsprit, and the stays (guys?) for the jib / jibboom are attached to the spritsail yard. e: The spritsail topsail yard would be attached to the jibbboom, yeah. I'm a loving idiot. You can see them both clearly here: 
Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Nov 10, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2014 15:38
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Arglebargle III posted:Okay I'll bite, what does that mean? No tumblehome so more unstable still? Yes. Although the whole "he's a slab-sided Dutch-build bugger" thing is probably best read as "he's a loving ugly stupid motherfucker". Arglebargle III posted:Doesn't it look like here that the spritsail topsail yard is on the jib boom? It's really near to the jib tack. Spritsail Topsail yard is the furthest forward, and yes it's attached to the jibboom. Spritsail yard is the next one aft, and is attached to the bowsprit. e: I screwed up my original description because I persist in thinking of the bowsprit as the entire thing sticking forward off the bow, like it would be called in a modern boat. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Nov 10, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2014 15:53
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Octy posted: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. There are diagrams of the main ships in the series at this site: http://www.thedearsurprise.com/paintings-plans-diagrams-and-history-of-the-surprise/ Some of them might not be super accurate but they're pretty much just supposed to help you visualise the books.
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Nov 11, 2014 14:32
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bondetamp posted:I would think that a shallow draft would mean a lot of leeway, which is a pain in the rear end for a number of reasons. That's right. You'll roll more too. I wish sailing wasn't so drat expensive  e: ItalicSquirrels posted:The rudder is hung on pintles, which are these hooks welded to a strip of iron which is itself bolted to the stern of the ship. The rudder has loops that sit on the hooks and keep it "hung". Because of the quality of the wood behind these strips of iron (it was either rotten or just mangled beyond use) the Leopards would have had to forge new iron strips (gudgeons?) that were long enough to go out further to where there was solid wood. The two connecting pieces are the pintle (pin) and gudgeon (pin-hole), which are forged pieces with (yes) strips that connect them to the hull and the rudder. Generally the pintle is on the rudder and the gudgeon is on the hull, but I'm not sure if they always did it like that - there's not really a benefit to doing it one way or the other on modern smallcraft, though I'm sure with the size of the thing on Leopard there'd be a "right" way round. Modern rudder pintle:  Modern rudder gudgeon:  e2: You'd have 2 of those on small boat's rudder, one toward the top and one toward the bottom. Ships would have more. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 14:50
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Prolonged Priapism posted:So at my local used book store they have all 20 novels in paperback (same editions too). $6 each. Worth it? Buy them now! There's not a moment to lose!
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Nov 14, 2014 03:33
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Colonial Air Force posted:There's a game out called Naval Action that's about this very era (even has the Surprise). I've made a thread for it. I've been playing Sails of Glory on the tabletop and it's pretty neat. I've been waiting for a good age of fighting sail computer game for ages though.
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Nov 23, 2014 07:35
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Sappo569 posted:I'll be honest, I flew through the first book in the series (being the most well known) You're less than 10% of the way through the series. There's plenty of sea battles to come, and the background that's set up in the second book enables some really cool stuff to happen.
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Feb 23, 2015 07:15
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:From what I could tell the time I tried to figure out what the differences are, Stephen basically ends up scoring an own goal. Beautifully, masterfully. What Stephen did is spectacularly beyond "an own goal". I thought it was one of the funniest scenes in the books. Lockback posted:I don't know if you'd be allowed to effectively hit the ball twice in cricket You can't. I'm not a fan of cricket, but my dad will happily sit and watch all 5 days of a test match and be excited when nothing happens in a slightly different way from the usual nothing happening which makes up 99.99% of test cricket. But he's the reason I understand how it works. He's also the reason I didn't have to look up (or ask about) most of the sailing terminolgy though. e: If you guys know nothing about cricket, take 5 minutes and watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oPLhskOH4o. If you're reading this thread you've probably looked up what a cross-catharpin was in case you missed a joke, so a 5 minute video probably isn't too much to ask. You could probably even start at 2:40 and watch for a minute or so to understand what Stephen did wrong. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Dec 25, 2017 |
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Dec 25, 2017 12:17
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That's accurate enough, yeah. Stephen might not have even ruined the match, except that he was late to the field - being the last batsman, once he was out, the game was over. When I first read it, I couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes. Partly because it's so obviously cricket commentary that I mentally heard it in Richie Benaud's voice: https://youtu.be/1tcAOBbDtfY?t=90
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Dec 25, 2017 20:30
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I just named my first kid "Jack Stephen". We wanted to go with family names, and those are the names of my wife's grandad and my opa, but... they could only possibly go in that order. My brother's already referring to the kid as Lucky Jack.
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Jan 23, 2018 23:49
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Lockback posted:Plus, if Jagiello and Diana did have an affair, Stephen would have tried to stab Jagiello. Because that is exactly what Stephen does. What do you mean, "tried to"? If Stephen wants to stab someone, they're gonna get stabbed. Or have some kind of nasty accident. Or maybe just mysteriously vanish.
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Mar 29, 2018 21:13
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Molybdenum posted:I've made the negus and the flip before. Both great. Yeah those are great as is raspberry shrub. I got shitfaced drunk (possibly still sober by naval standards) on Admiral's Flip on a 35 degree celsius aussie summer day. Never again. gently caress.
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Oct 29, 2018 22:04
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