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Favorite Patrick O'Brian Book?

JackAubrey

Landlubber
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":gday" border="0" alt="hi.gif" /> I was just wondering what everyone's favorite Patrick O'Brian novel is. If you don't know what I am talking about next time you are looking for a good book consider getting Master and Commander, the first in a series of 21 books. Personally, my favorites are Master and Commander and the Far Side of the World.
 
It's completely impossible for me to pic favourites from those books. They are all masterful depictions of the life in the British navy - and humorous to boot!
 
For me, I don't have a FAVORITE FAVORITE, but I do like particular books for what they offer.

>The books Master and Commander to The Far Side of tehw Wolrd offer (at least to me) a lot more action in combat than the rest.
>The books Letter of Marque to The Wine-Dark Sea offers a nice epic to read, due to it is a continueous voyage in the Pacific. And also offers a good amount of action, but not as much as before, due to with Stephen's involment with Chile and the mostly sailing from place to place.
>The books The Commodore to Blue at the Mizzen offer a good look at the end of the war and how Aubrey tries to reach his goal of Rear Admiral Rank, and not being yellowed, but achieving blue.

But there is one book that I think are unique to the rest of the books and that I really didn't like, The Reverse of the Medal. I had to just scan through this book to enjoy it and get the general idea of what was happening. That book sort of marks the halfway point (at least for me) of the book series, and changes from the Adventures of Jack Aubrey with Stephen Maturin to the Drama and Adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. While the books after this are still good, I am more of a reader for the parts Jack plays and not Maturin (while the parts with Maturin can still be good).
 
Someone's going to have to help me on this one, because I gave all my copies to my father when I was finished reading them, which book is the one where Aubrey buys the gunpowder from the bankrupt fireworks maker, and when they go into battle they scare the enemy because the cannons discharge is blue, green and red fire, and the French think the British have come up with a secret wepon? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/boom.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":boom" border="0" alt="boom.gif" />

That one has to rank up there among my favorites, but as above, I'd be hard pressed to pick a real favorite. Maybe when Aubrey is going to be put in the pillory as a result of the stock exchange incident, and all the seamen and his officers and friends show up to keep him from being harmed while he's in the stocks. That was one of the points of the series that I realized I had develpoed a real fondness for the characters in this story. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bow.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":bow" border="0" alt="bow.gif" />
 
<!--QuoteBegin-SirChristopherMings+Jul 9 2005, 12:50 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SirChristopherMings @ Jul 9 2005, 12:50 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Someone's going to have to help me on this one, because I gave all my copies to my father when I was finished reading them, which book is the one where Aubrey buys the gunpowder from the bankrupt fireworks maker, and when they go into battle they scare the enemy because the cannons discharge is blue, green and red fire, and the French think the British have come up with a secret wepon?  <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/boom.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":boom" border="0" alt="boom.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I'm not completely sure, but I think that's "The Ionian Mission" (could also be the one immediately before that one, the Surgeon's Mate). And that is, indeed, a funny moment! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":))" border="0" alt="smile2.gif" />

I developed a liking to the characters when I read the first book (for me it was the Far Side of the World) and it has only intensified as I've read the books in their proper order from the beginning. It is hard to just read one and then take a break (to read two or three other books), but I force myself to do it to make the series last longer (I haven't finished it yet). When I'm through, I plan to start again from the beginning.
 
For the gunpowder fireworks things, I believe that happened twice, and I can't look it up right now, but it is must be in or between "HMS Surprise" and "Ionian Mission".

For you true fans with money, there are two really good books to go with this series:

Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of Patrick O'brian
by Anthony Gary Brown
>>this book is good for when you don't remember someone in the series, and just need to look him up, or can't remember a ship and want to see what type it is. It is basically a dictionary for the series. Comes in handy A LOT. But it only covers books Master and Commander to The Hundred Days (which is the majority of the series, so it is still good). Reason for not including the last two books, was written in 1997. For the entries in this dictionary about Jack and Stephen, they provide a good quick summary of the books from the character's point of view.

Lobscouse & Spotted Dog, Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels
by: Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Lisa Grossman Thomas
>>EXCELLENT! Have you ever wondered what Lobscouse, Spotted Dog, Boiled Baby, Toasted Cheese, and all other foods are in the book series. This is the place to find it out. Not only does it have the unusual foods, but describes the common foods too. It has several quotes from the series. My favorite thing was finally seeing what Toasted Cheese was. I believe that this is what possibly led to the Grilled Cheese Sandwich. But the difference between the sandwich and Toasted Cheese is that Toasted cheese is not in sandwich form, is toasted with a "Salamander" (which means something from a poker to a loghead, or somethin you can heat to red hot). Funny thing it said: serves two amateur musicians. Note that there are a lot of recipes in this books.
 
What I wouldn't give for a big square box of lobscouse right now! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sick.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eww" border="0" alt="sick.gif" />

Python, your post reminded me of a thread that was started by Sennov a while back, that had a really good deal on the O'Brien series. It looks like it's even better now! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" />

<a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net/index.php?showtopic=3175" target="_blank">http://forum.piratesahoy.net/index.php?showtopic=3175</a>

There's another book with the terminology for the O'Brien series, it also has some nice articles, called <b>A Sea of Words, 3rd ed., a Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian</b> and Meigger mentioned a book called the <b>Ships Miscellany," published by Michael O'Mara Books Limited</b> that he recommended for people like me who don't know their hull-up from their hull-down. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":keith" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />
 
I own that big compellation of all the O'Brian books. It is possible to get a good deal at $100 sometimes for it, not always $150.
Here are some reasons why it is better to get the compellation:
1) Compared in price to all the books independently in paperback, the compellation is cheaper.
2) Don't have to be constantly running to the library to rent them, where it might be already checked out.
3) NO LATE FEES, sometimes I don't have time to read, or forget to return (especially bad when you are using a smaller library that has to order from other libraries, which can take a long time). In this situation, you can stop and pick up later without a worry.
4 Includes the incomplete book 21
5) Compellation books are nice in quality, almost like hardcover bibles with the type of paper and ribbon bookmark in the book.

The books have paid for themselves (to me) already, and will again when I get done with the last 2 complete books and the final one. That will be the complete first time I read through them. It will have been a year in late August since I began reading.
----------------
It is sort of special when someone reads through this series the first time. By this point, most people who have been reading this series have made a spot in their heart for the characters, and know them like real people. When you are done with the series, you have spent around 16 years in their lives (Probably more, due to after Fortune of War, which ends in about 1813, that each book up to Yellow Admiral is about a year in length fo that book, but takes place between 1813 and 1814. I get this from the dictionary I listed in my last book that I own.) There is sort of sadness when you finish the series, due to the series is over, the war is over, the Age of Fighting Sail is over. The characters are finally in a content and happy place, with all goals reached. We know that Jack would not fit into the future navy and live out his life with his family (finally), and that Stephen will probably live out his life studying science and nature, probably never to return to being a ship's surgeon, but never have the adventures he had again with Jack.

No more adventures....makes you sad inside....you have to go back to normal, boring life.....

Until you start the book series again where you can go 'round the series again, find things you missed, laugh at jokes again, and probably understand a lot more things that the first time through due to you have probably learned a lot about the sailing world and scientific world. But nothing is a good as that first time you read the series, when you actually don't know what is going to happen. Even knowing that there is another book next can spoil some points in the books. The ultimate way to have read this series was from when it was released in the 70s, and reading each book as it came out.

O'Brian left us at the right time, due to that after this point, O'Brian would have probably had to go through the painful process of having to retire our characters due to age and all the damage that these characters have gone through (there almost like those western TV characters that have lived through being shot so many times, you would think they would have died of heart failure by now). But we all wonder what book 21 would have been like if he had completed it.

We will miss you O'Brian, and we will always love your characters you introduced into this world. Now, they say that you (O'Brian) are among the legendary writers like Dickens, Twain, and even Homer due to your series (reviewers and others and comparing him to these writers, even HOMER of ancient Greece!).
 
Hey, Captain Python! I own that very same omnibus edition of the books! 5 hardcovers in a cardboard box, right?

I pre-ordered it as soon as I found out about it and have never regretted it.

On the other hand, I tend to buy almost every book that I read. I don't like library books... you never know who's been touching the books before you...
 
That is the set I'm talking about, and if you follow that link on SirChristopherMings last post, there is a whole thread on it. The thing about the Library for me is that for me, my library or the ones around us don't have many books, so I just research it on the Internet and buy it if it is good. Second, if there is a good book I find at the library, I buy it.
 
Well, I have to admit that I learned my habit of buyig books instead of lending them because I normally live in Finland, where there are, naturally, not many bookstores, let alone libraries, with a good selection of English-language literature. Thus, I tended to order them from amazon.uk or .de.

Here in Vancouver the libraries are a bit better source or English-language books (although surprisingly small compared to those that we have in Finland for our books), but the books seem very ill-kept and grimy...
 
Well, if you have ever been across the border to the U.S. (because you do live in Canada right?) you would know that most cities of good size have a Barnes and Nobel book store or a Borders, or several other national chains of book stores. But the one thing about U.S. book stores, they don't always have some of the rarer books and they are usually expensive. But it seems that Amazon.com is always the best place to go to get books, especially the O'Brian books or related books.
 
<!--QuoteBegin-Captain_Python+Jul 14 2005, 07:59 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Captain_Python @ Jul 14 2005, 07:59 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Well, if you have ever been across the border to the U.S. (because you do live in Canada right?)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yup, I live in Canada... until the 5th of August. Then it will be back to Finland for me... The year of adventure and wonderful bookstores, especially Chapters in the Vancouver centre (where me and my wife spent several hours every time we visited it), will soon be over... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />
 
I was looking for things relating to the Aubrey/Maturin series, and in a search, I found that Wikipeda (the Free Encyclopedia) has a entry for the series:

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey-Maturin_series" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey-Maturin_series</a>

I thought it was pretty interesting a Ecyclopedia would include the series.
 
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