There is not a moment to be lost (at last!)

[dorinda]

I was talking recently with lynndyre about this, but haven't mentioned it otherwise--I finally, FINALLY have been reading the Aubrey-Maturin books!

I haven't finished the series, but I'm well along--in the middle of The Letter of Marque, which is 12 of 20 (or 21 if you count the final unfinished book). It's utterly weird that it took me so long--I've

Comments

[halotolerant]

Awww yeah! *punches air* Always glad to hear another person into M&C *g* It's been a while since I last read them but I adored them and did all of them in a row when I was about 19. So nicely written and so deeply homoerotic, heh. I love their 'meet cute' in Master and Commander, and how their relationships grows and they get more and more used to each other, whilst still bickering like an old married couple. They were also the first books that really made me think about the *scope* of inter-continentel voyages in those days - that it would take over a year to get to Australia and back. And I'm certainly one of those who feels that O'Brian is the best successor to Austen one can get.

Did you ever read the Temeraire series? They're basically a crossover between M&C and the Dragonriders of Pern *g*

[dorinda]

I am the most belated of belated persons aboard the M&C train! I'm so glad I eventually got into them, because oh yes they are so perfectly for me.

Agreed, Jack and Stephen are utterly old-marrieds. ♥ And I so value the depth of that bond--where the bickering isn't shown to be all there is, or even made to stand in for all the rest as if showing the rest would be, I dunno, too soft. They're also shown to so deeply value each other, and admire each other, and understand each other better than they understand themselves.

I have indeed read and loved Temeraire! I'm curious to see how the series ends--the last book comes out pretty soon, IIRC.

[dorinda]

Oh! And! Speaking of your point about the sheer scope of the voyages--absolutely, this really helps bring it home

[msmoat]

YES!!!!

Although...I had NO IDEA you hadn't read the books! Whaaat?? I've heard people recommend skipping the first book and then going back, but I hadn't at all thought about the issues with Post Captain. Of course! That makes perfect sense in retrospect, given our preferences. *g* I did read Master and Commander first, then made my way through the books. Happily. Although...I haven't actually finished. I know! The problem has been that I read in a flurry, then something comes up (often a Big Bang or some other writing deadline) and I absolutely must not continue reading these and doing nothing else, so I stop. But then when I pick them up again, I always start over because, well, you know! So I have read the first 5-8 books something like 5 times now. Ahem. *g* I've gotten as far book...18, I think, but not quite to the end. Next time! (Especially if I skip writing the BB this year...)

Anyway! Fabulous books! Ooh, so much great stuff ahead for you, too!

[dorinda]

I KNOW, it's crazy!!! They were so potentially perfect for me, but I never quite got in! Nuts, really. I am just glad that I found the way to hop onboard at last, because ahhhhhh so satisfying.

But then when I pick them up again, I always start over because, well, you know!

I know indeed! :D This exact thing happens to all of my friends who read M&C, at least as far as I've heard. I'd say, there's no hurry to finish--and lucky for all of us, it isn't like there's some heavy Plotty Closed Ending to reach, Jack and Stephen just sail on and on forever. So why not peruse the books the same way?

[msmoat]

Well! As it turns out, EOS, who is the person who truly got me into the Patrick O'Brian books, also had trouble with Post Captain. So, you are not alone! (She was also one of those who struggled through Master and Commander the first time, and then loved it subsequently.)

You are luring me to start them all over again, you know. Although my brother is re-reading them, too, and borrowing the books from me. But he's much further along. Hmmm...

[destina]

I'm very glad you've been enjoying them! I read a couple of the series after M&C was released in theaters, but I never went any further. I wasn't really ever able to get into them, tho I have tried over the years. I think age of sail books, for me, are a lot like science fiction books: I enjoy watching the genre in film, but I just cannot get through it in print.

[dorinda]

I think age of sail books, for me, are a lot like science fiction books: I enjoy watching the genre in film, but I just cannot get through it in print.I can totally see that! So much science fiction, like age of sail stuff, seems to me to be very "processy"--like, enmeshed in thick layers of Process, of Doing Thing to Other Thing, of how all the moving parts of the created world work together. And if that process leaves you cold or for whatever reason doesn't let you in, then it's gonna be a slogggg

[lynndyre]

Yaay! I'm finally into HMS Surprise (I actually stalled on this worse than on Post-Captain, from Stephen's stalking Diana) and I love exactly what you were describing -the long stretches at sea when the ship becomes its own world, and the timelessness.

I'll have to look for the audiobooks, I'm curious now!

(And yay, NoFM! I need to finish my signup)

[dorinda]

I'm sorry about HMS Surprise hanging you up. :( It's true, for those of us who are irritated by Diana, and by the way Stephen goes so bananas re: her, this book does have plenty to rasp the nerves. Where are you? I assume you've already had the torture/rescue? That's a fave part of mine, including all of Jack's intense fretting beforehand.

If it helps to hear other bits I loved: it also has the sloth ♥ ♥ ♥, Stephen being marooned (treated as a surprisingly comic interlude), one (non-Diana) event during Stephen's time in India that I don't want to be spoilery about but that I found powerful, and later there's also some more iddy Hurting Of Stephen. (This is the book from which the movie adapted the self-surgery.) This is also the book that has a scene where I honestly liked Diana for a minute, from something she does toward the end.

Zoicks, I have to finish my signup too! I better get about it. I don't want my absence to make people think no one will be offering X, Y, or Z, which might cause them to change their own signups.

[lynndyre]

I'm currently fighting Linois' fleet! Hoping to finish it tomorrow, and post properly about it.

I *love* the rescue. And yes, Jack worrying! Augh, Jack is such a sweetheart this book. And I have so many feelings about Dil.

/may or may not have a scribble-sketch of Jack and the sloth napping