Patrick O'Brian Books

Warpipes said:
I just started reading these books, having recently completed "Master and Commander" and currently halfway through "Post Captain". I found that the companion lexicon "A Sea of Words" by Dean King was essential to understanding the arcane words that O'Brian peppers liberally throughout his books.
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I have started Master and Commander and I am finding it a little challenging in some places.
 
I read the series as they were published - a new treat every year. At the time we owned a bookstore and recommended them to our customers. Must have sold hundreds of copies over time. The movie is an amalgam of events taken from several of the books.
 
Van said:
I read the series as they were published - a new treat every year. At the time we owned a bookstore and recommended them to our customers. Must have sold hundreds of copies over time. The movie is an amalgam of events taken from several of the books.
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I didn't know that about the movie. Thanks for the info.
 
I bought this hardback set a decade or so back. As far as I can tell it’s the cheapest way to get the entire series new. The paper used is very thin and the covers are a little thinner and more flexible than I really want from a hardback, but they’ve held up well. I’ve read through them three or four times over and they’re all in pretty close to new condition.

Each volume holds four books and a total of about 1000 pages. They have bookmark ribbons, which is quite nice to have.

The text is scattered with what seem to be transcription errors. Minor stuff that doesn’t really affect reading. I don’t know whether those errors also appear in other editions.

The stories are fantastic. Definitely read them in order. They have a reputation for being hard to read, but I found that after getting through a few chapters of the first book the language and style just seemed to flow. They’re more immersive than anything else I’ve ever read.
 
I read all 21 and they are a great read. Don't believe I would pay 244.00 for a hard cover set. Look for sales on Kindle or Kobo, better still find a plain epub set.
 
Coastie said:
I agree with the above comments. I too have read all 21 books. Just a couple of thoughts; Read the books in chronological order. Like the "Hornblower" series they follow the career of Jack Aubry. Having a background in square-rigged sailing (see my avatar) I didn't need to refer to a Nautical Dictionary every other paragraph. I swear that O'Brien lived during that time period. And he makes no provision for the modern reader. When you read the books, you become immersed in the times. I can also recommend a series of books by the author Alexander Kent. They chronicle the life of Capt. Richard Bolitho, RN (fictional character). They are much easier to read and follow than the O'Brien books.
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Patrick O'Brian, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000). So, no, he didn't literally live in the period but in his head he certainly did.
I had a friend who worked in the National Archives, Kew, and he said O'Brian spent almost every day in his own little corner reading Log books, Journals, letters etc. He even adapted one or two versions of events which Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (see below) actually carried out. The Aubrey etc characters are mostly drawn from many different real people.

I have the 21 volume set from Folio Society - a once in a lifetime purchase (very expensive) - which I have never regretted.

It has always amused me how often O'Brian mentions bacon and eggs and coffee throughout the series. Either he missed breakfast regularly or he lived on bacon, eggs and coffee himself. :cool:
 
The Bolitho series got me back into modelling, the Aubrey-Maturin consolidated that. From a literary perspective O’Brien was the more erudite but both series are excellent. In each case I bought a few at a time on eBay, I only ever paI’d about $3 per book, used paperback.
 
I make it a rule to wait 5 years before rereading anything, this means that I am eagerly waiting for next month when I will be able to read the last book for the fifth time. Joy!
My wife has read them all 4 times and now feels that our dining room will not be complete until I have made a model of either the Suprise or the Bellona.
One of the greatest comments on O'Brian's books was to the effect 'This is what one of Jane Austen's seafaring brothers could have writen'.
Many of the incidents in these novels are based on the life of Captain Lord Cochrane. Once you have read all of O'Brian (but not before) take a look at Donald Thomas' biography 'Cockrane Britania's Sea Wolf'.
Real life can be more amazing than fiction!
 
There is also another series of books that some say are even better, I'm halfway through the o' brien one's so can't comment yet, although I read the first and it was rather compelling. It's Kydd by Julian Stockwin. From when he was pressed as a boy farmhand to advancing right to the top
 
"Killick, a pot of coffee, quick as you like!"

I actually spent 27 years in the RN and learned so much about naval heritage from these books. The name Killick did confuse me though because in the RN, Killick is a colloquialism for Leading Hand.

A Killick is also a small anchor, hence the nickname for leading hand as their rank badge is a small fouled anchor.
 
Coastie said:
That's where the title came from; two separate novels, "Master and Commander" and "The Far Side Of The World". It's an amalgam of both books. I loved the movie. It really put you in that time. Especially the battle scenes.
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So do I. Have it on DVD because it is worth watching both for the story AND for watching how a shp works.
 
draque said:
I bought this hardback set a decade or so back. As far as I can tell it’s the cheapest way to get the entire series new. The paper used is very thin and the covers are a little thinner and more flexible than I really want from a hardback, but they’ve held up well. I’ve read through them three or four times over and they’re all in pretty close to new condition.

Each volume holds four books and a total of about 1000 pages. They have bookmark ribbons, which is quite nice to have.

The text is scattered with what seem to be transcription errors. Minor stuff that doesn’t really affect reading. I don’t know whether those errors also appear in other editions.

The stories are fantastic. Definitely read them in order. They have a reputation for being hard to read, but I found that after getting through a few chapters of the first book the language and style just seemed to flow. They’re more immersive than anything else I’ve ever read.
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Hallo @draque
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
 
Dr Syn said:
There is also another series of books that some say are even better, I'm halfway through the o' brien one's so can't comment yet, although I read the first and it was rather compelling. It's Kydd by Julian Stockwin. From when he was pressed as a boy farmhand to advancing right to the top
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I've read both the O'Brien and Stockwin series and my own opinion is that for authenticity O'Brien is somewhat the better and for the action/adventure aspects of the stories Stockwin has a slight lead.
 
SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ THIS POST UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED READING THE ENTIRE SERIES BY PATRICK O'BRIEN

I managed to purchase the entire set in hardcover, all by the same publisher, over a couple of decades ago. Since you're reading this, we both now also know that the saga was left incomplete due to O'Brien's passing. His son published a book that consisted of the notes his father had made for the next book in the series, and I have that in hardcover as well. It's not even a rough draft of the next book, it's simply the compilation of all his research materials that he would have used to write it. And to finish off the set, I managed to find a hardcover version of "Lobsouse and Spotted Dog"... a book of recipes, some of which are nonsensical and others that are somewhat legitimate to the era the books represent. Because I only read books once, I've had them listed for sale on Amazon MP and Kijiji for over a year, with no takers and not many views. I'm speculating that the books are of interest to a pretty small subset of the public, and about the only way you can get any sort of recognition as to what they are is by referring to the movie. At least more people had seen that in theatres. Since the books are a complete set in pristine condition, I'm not giving them away and have asked the equivalent of 50% of their MSRP as listed in the cover jackets. It could well be the ask for the entire set that's throwing off folks, but what's the point in selling them individually, right?

So, all that said, for anyone who's recently purchased a complete hardcover set in "like new" condition, what did you pay for the set you managed to lay hands on. I'm in no urgent need financially to unload my set, but I'm curious as to what others have paid. Maybe I'm being unrealistic... or stubborn. lol
 
seadeep said:
I own the entire set in hardcover, plus the hardcover published by his son of the material his father had compiled for the 22nd book. Additionally, I have the hardcover Lobscouse and Spotted Dog cookbook. I'm a bit unsure why I bought that last item, but I figured if I were to have a complete set, I needed that as well.
The price for the set on Amazon isn't so bad, as I'm getting ready to sell my collection and I'm listing them for far more than that... given that it's a discontinued item, and they're in perfect condition. But fully agreed, if a person isn't looking for the collection in paper form, the next best thing is to consider eBooks (either purchased or via the local library).
I hate to admit it, but I really got hooked on the series, and was looking forward to see the saga play out for at least another few volumes. Additionally, after Master and Commander, I was hoping they'd do another movie adaptation as well. But, c'est la guerre. It wasn't meant to be.
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As to a second movie, a friend who works in that business and knows of my interest/passion/engagement with all things Aubrey/Maturin/Surprise has sent me a couple of scripts for a second movie. He hasn't told me that any of them have been moved forward toward production, but seadeep is not the only person interested in seeing this work continue.
If I learn more, will report to the SoS cohort.
 
socalveteran said:
As to a second movie, a friend who works in that business and knows of my interest/passion/engagement with all things Aubrey/Maturin/Surprise has sent me a couple of scripts for a second movie. He hasn't told me that any of them have been moved forward toward production, but seadeep is not the only person interested in seeing this work continue.
If I learn more, will report to the SoS cohort.
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The problem, as I see it, is that there's been such a long time since the first movie was released that they'd either need to select a book from near the end of the series to account for the aging of the cast... if they used the same cast... or else they would need to start over with new cast members. And starting with new cast members would be well accepted by some, but others would constantly be comparing them to the original movie. Sort of like the remake of Dune. Too bad someone didn't take this on as a multi-season TV series. Would have been costly as heck, but wow... just think what it would be like to see the entire series of books turned into scripts for multi-season product. Ah... to dream the impossible dream... :)
 
I started reading them after finishing the Bolitho series, which I enjoyed a lot. I tend to read everything by an author I like and have mown my way through just about everything written by Bernard Cornwell (the Sharpe series and many others), David Gemmell(several heroic fantasy series) Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials, but only the first three) and many, many others. Apart from Bolitho none of the other 'age of sail' writers have quite captured my attention. Stockwin was fine, Dudley Pope the same, but neither of them gripped me in the same way for some reason. I haven't properly tried C.S.Forester, my recollection from grazing many years back was that his writing style felt quite dated.

Anyway - I bought mine piecemeal, in chunks off ebay. I probably won't ever sell them but if I did, I'd do as seems common now; break them into batches of 4 or 5. I think it makes it easier for a buyer to commit i.e. £15 for 5 volumes doesn't feel as major as £50 for the whole set.

Regarding a movie sequel, there lie dragons. If you look at pretty much any movie series these days they are either frothy, fighty or funny. The one thing they are not is deep, reflective studies on relationships between people. In order to get bums on seats a sequel could be more Jack Sparrow than Jack Aubrey. Just my tuppence worth :)
 
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