|
I love Stephen's substance issues. It's hilarious to see such a brilliant dude totally give in to addiction, in a lot of scenes I didn't catch the first time through. Like in Desolation Island, when he writes in his diary something about how he's having difficulty not hitting on Ms. Wogan, as she'll obviously go for it, but also because after having kicked his Laudanum habit his animal urges are returning. Clearly, from an Intelligence perspective he can't sleep with her, so the good of the country demands he return to his tincture.  Stephen Maturin edit where's the :catalan: flag 
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2011 07:59
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 07:35 |
|
|
Ahaha man I was gonna post that! I love how the Williams girls overhear it walking up the drive and are undisturbed, because they don't know what it means. Except Diana, and it takes a great deal more to disturb her.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2011 08:59
|
|
|
I felt most everything relating to the ships was great, but Crowe as Aubrey I did not like. Jack is such a jolly fellow, and Crowe spends soooo much time being dour. I was going to reread the series in the near future anyway, but this thread fired me up early! It's amazing how much Master and Commander changes each time you read it. Although my favorite part so far is one of my long-time favorites, where Jack serves a pig that could only be carved by someone extremely familiar with morbid anatomy, and has to exhort Killick to "clap on to it's beak-head there".
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2011 05:14
|
|
|
Thoguh posted:Does anybody else have someone else they think would have better fit the role based on how they picture Jack from the books? If only Brian Blessed was younger 
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2011 08:42
|
|
|
Mahasamatman posted:Jack dressed up in a bear suit while he and stephen head to spain. Especially when they come across some captured English sailors who demand to see it dance. WHAT HO, THE BEAR! And Jack swearing to himself if he ever found himself in command of them he would flog them mercilessly ahahaha
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2011 15:10
|
|
|
Murgos posted:This is why Pullings despite numerous successful actions and the ability to take a frigate around the world has so much difficulty getting off the shore. I think that also has to do with him being so visibly one of Jack's friends, and Jack's problems spilling over onto him. But yeah it doesn't help he can't say 'balcony' correctly.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2011 03:46
|
|
|
Piedmon Sama posted:The Mauritus Command had an interesting setup, but kind of fizzled out I thought, the last battle being a little anticlimactic (and I still don't really understand what the point was of that flashy sloop captain killing himself at the end, it kind of spoiled the book for me) I just finished rereading it, which I was kinda putting off because I remembered it being less interesting than the other books. Well, I suppose it still it, but it was more enjoyable than I recalled. I think one of the reasons it has such a weird plot is from how closely it's based on the actual campaign, which I'm reading about now. So much stuff I thought was fictional wasn't; like the French general Des Brusley's suicide. Also, the map in the article really helps make sense of Clonfert's failed attack. One of my favorite things about the series is that on each reread the 'duller' sections get better and better. Foreshadowing, many hints about characters' motivations, jokes, so easy to miss the first time around.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2011 18:54
|
|
|
Along similar lines, when Jack or Tom see his boat putting out and immediately order the sweet oil prepared never fails to set me grinnin'.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 11, 2011 18:57
|
|
|
Also translating what Stephen says/writes in Latin is often hilarious.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 2, 2011 22:18
|
|
|
I started reading a biography of Nelson, (this) and it's been really entertaining after the O'Brian series. Having a grasp of the setting makes it very enjoyable. Although Nelson doesn't figure much in the series, the book also has a lot of information on men that do, like St. Vincent, Lord Keith, Henry Dundas and more, so you get a sense of the character of some of the people Jack locks horns with. It's also nice reading about real line-of-battle fleet engagements, which I don't recall occurring in the series past the first book. Just got through the battle of the Nile and it's pretty great. If you hadn't been through the O'Brian, you might not be able to picture what's going on when you read "...Tom Foley in Goliath rounded Guerrier's stem and poured a full double-shotted broad-side through it..." Goliath was a 74. That's 1700 pounds of metal.  If you like biographies, might be worth checking out. Some of the poo poo Nelson did is pretty ridiculous.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 27, 2012 00:58
|
|
|
Yeah, the readability improves immensely as the series goes on. Not that the first book is bad, of course. On each subsequent readthrough I've enjoyed it more and more; it's just less accessible, I think. Plus being introduced to characters you know so well, and seeing them so young, is great. Oh Babbington 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2012 01:02
|
|
|
Stephen is ice loving cold. I've been thinking of the series a lot lately due to reading Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. If anyone liked the part with the Indian girl in HMS Surprise, Dil, check out Kim. The way he acts, and life he lives, is incredibly similar. apart from the whole being heartbreakingly murdered part 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2012 06:58
|
|
|
Someone in GWS is trying out the Aubrey/Maturin cookbook, figured it deserved a crosspost.
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2012 03:31
|
|
|
'Jack, you have debauched my sloth.' is one of the best things I've ever read. The part where Stephen brings a beehive aboard is pretty great too, though.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2012 00:56
|
|
|
Notahippie posted:I've been wondering about Diana's relationship with Jagiello the Swedish cavalry officer: It's been a while, but IIRC the letters are yea from Wray, who is mostly just being a jerk at Stephen since he dislikes him. I seem to recall it implies later that Jagiello is too innocent to pursue a relationship with Diana, especially as it would be viewed very distatefully in his native Lithuania. Not sure why Diana runs off, probably just bored.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2013 11:02
|
|
|
Haha, that reminds me of one later on. I think it's when he's having dinner with the surgeon of the Fleche after a dissection, and looks around for a knife. Finds it inside a dead porpoise, gives it a wipe.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2013 05:50
|
|
|
Also Stephen messing around with the mideast advisor whose name I forget, then regretting it heavily at dinner when he remembers the guy has both perfect recall and a total lack of humor. Jack tries so hard to salvage it, but the damage is done
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2013 23:38
|
|
|
thekeeshman posted:Though reading those books today it's really interesting how class intersects throughout, especially since the Navy was one of the more meritocratic institutions of the time. That reminds me of what kinda makes me sad during re-reads: the changing times. Jack talks about lieutenants not being given a chance because they say BAL-cony instead of bal-CONy. And hearing about paddlewheelers, and wondering if eventually sailors will become nothing but 'mere mechanics'
|
|
#
¿
Jan 17, 2014 06:26
|
|
|
I didn't know for a while that Small Beer has almost no alcohol in it, pretty much just enough to kill any pathogens in it. Makes a little more sense they'd have it for breakfast, knowing that. There's actually an interesting story behind how strong the Navy's rum was, which we know for a fact is 57% alcohol. As everyone who has read the books knows, stealing ship supplies was a time-honored tradition in the Royal Navy. However, taking any of the rum was going a bit too far, especially if any of the sailors found out about it. To prevent this, barrels of rum were tested to make sure they hadn't been diluted. Somehow they found out that if you soak gunpowder in a bit of rum, it will only ignite if the booze is 57% alcohol or above. Thus, the rum was 'proven' by 100 degrees, which is where we get the term and ratio of alcohol 'proof' 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2014 00:32
|
|
|
I'm really enjoying Pride and Prejudice a lot more after reading O'Brian. If you haven't read her stuff in a while, check it; there's a reason she was his favorite author. A lot of the little 'jokes' in the series that are dropped in background description went way over my head the first time reading the series, now I'm noticing them everywhere in Austen as well.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 20, 2014 06:44
|
|
|
InediblePenguin posted:similarly when Stephen calls someone a "creature" you can basically translate that as "lol scrub" Except then he literally calls someone a scrub, so that gets confusing. What a fellow you are.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 23:37
|
|
|
thekeeshman posted:They were talking about Bach and his son, the context was Jack had bought some of his scores, and I'm pretty sure it was one of the earlier books. It's The Ionian Mission. Jack's Uncle apparently kept some Bach scores in his pantry. Jack's exchange with Stephen is pretty great: quote:'But the whole point is this: Bach had a father.' Jack goes on to mention that in the piles of scores was a 'vast great Passion according to St Mark, in High Dutch' but that it was destroyed by mice, beetles, and maids. Two Passions written by J.S. Bach survive, the St. Matthew and the St. John. They're monumental works, comparable in length and scope to opera. They're also regarded as some of the best pieces Bach ever wrote, which is saying something. It's known that he wrote a St. Mark Passion, but it is lost to history. And, apparently, mice and beetles.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2014 22:48
|
|
|
ItalicSquirrels posted:He always takes part in the fighting "curling his pigtail into a tight bun" or something like that. There's a great part in one of the books describing how Jack feels going into a melee, like he's really living, and everything's extra vivid. Bonden just loves the great excitement of it all. Killick goes totally pissed off and vindictively stabs at people as if they're trying to steal from him. NONE SO PRETTY
|
|
#
¿
Sep 17, 2014 05:02
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 07:35 |
|
|
I've just started rereading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and yeah it's great stuff. One of my favorite paragraphs, if you want an example of the prose:quote:A butler and two manservants approached Mr Drawlight and Mr Lascelles and begged to be allowed to say that if ever Mr Drawlight or Mr Lascelles could benefit from any small service that the butler or the manservants might be able to render them, they had only to speak.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2014 00:12
|
|