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I just noticed that Ron Swanson is reading a Patrick O'Brian book in a 3rd season episode of Parks and Recreation.
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Mar 4, 2013 19:56
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Of course. Novels about tall ships are one of his favorite things.
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Mar 17, 2013 21:02
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I have a question about something in the first novel, with the Cacafuego did the crew throw all that stuff into the water when the Sophie was getting right next to it to create a buffer? "...watching the hen coops, boxes and lumber tossing overboard from the frigate..." I just dont see how chicken coops and boxes wouldnt just be crushed as the ships came together. Picked up a lot more on this reread, already bought Post-Captain and hopefully I wont get distracted from reading it as much as my reread of Master and Commander did as I usually have the attention span of a gnat. "An ape on a rock no great way off threw a turd at him, quite unprovoked; and when he half rose in protest it shook its wizened fist and gibbered so furiously that he sank down again, so low were his spirits." Oh Jack 
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Mar 21, 2013 03:17
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PlushCow posted:I have a question about something in the first novel, with the Cacafuego did the crew throw all that stuff into the water when the Sophie was getting right next to it to create a buffer? "...watching the hen coops, boxes and lumber tossing overboard from the frigate..." I just dont see how chicken coops and boxes wouldnt just be crushed as the ships came together. Unless I remember wrong, it was just a desperate and too late attempt to lighten the ship in order to gain distance from the Sophie.
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Mar 21, 2013 03:30
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BananaNutkins posted:Unless I remember wrong, it was just a desperate and too late attempt to lighten the ship in order to gain distance from the Sophie. That does make sense with what the Sophie does later, thanks.
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Mar 21, 2013 06:20
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PlushCow posted:I have a question about something in the first novel, with the Cacafuego did the crew throw all that stuff into the water when the Sophie was getting right next to it to create a buffer? "...watching the hen coops, boxes and lumber tossing overboard from the frigate..." I just dont see how chicken coops and boxes wouldnt just be crushed as the ships came together.
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Mar 21, 2013 08:59
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Nektu posted:Each time the ships are cleared for action, everything that is not nailed down is put down into the hold to allow the people to actually move around unhindered. Only that the cacafuego was surprised and her decks were still littered with assorted stuff. Its kinda hard to do your job under fire if you keep tripping over chicken coops. This makes a lot of sense as well.
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Mar 21, 2013 17:20
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Nektu posted:Each time the ships are cleared for action, everything that is not nailed down is put down into the hold to allow the people to actually move around unhindered. Only that the cacafuego was surprised and her decks were still littered with assorted stuff. Its kinda hard to do your job under fire if you keep tripping over chicken coops. The Cacafuego was also a Spanish ship that didn't stay up to the British standards of clearing for action, cleanliness, order, etc.
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Mar 21, 2013 18:43
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Just finished The Yellow Admiral, on to The Hundred Days!
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Mar 24, 2013 13:15
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The Cacafuego was also a Spanish ship that didn't stay up to the British standards of clearing for action, cleanliness, order, etc. This. Don't have the book on me at the moment, but the quote from Jack is something like, "Do you know the great thing about fighting the Spanish, Mr. Ellis? They are never, never ready."
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Mar 25, 2013 11:33
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ItalicSquirrels posted:This. Don't have the book on me at the moment, but the quote from Jack is something like, "Do you know the great thing about fighting the Spanish, Mr. Ellis? They are never, never ready." Yea this is familiar. But these books. These books I tell you: "The carrier has brought you an ape." "What sort of an ape?" asked Stephen. "A damned ill-conditioned sort of an ape. It had a can of ale at every pot-house on the road, and it is reeling drunk. It has been offering itself to Babbington." 
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Mar 26, 2013 03:31
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PlushCow posted:Yea this is familiar. All the animal gags are amazing, but my favorite will always be the sloth.
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Mar 26, 2013 06:18
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BananaNutkins posted:All the animal gags are amazing, but my favorite will always be the sloth. I'm very partial too the bees, making Jack's cabin into a combat zone.
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Mar 26, 2013 07:01
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I've been wondering about Diana's relationship with Jagiello the Swedish cavalry officer: After Stephen and Diana are married, he gets an anonymous letter (I've always assumed from Wray) that says she's cheating on him with Jagiello. He just thinks it's funny. After she hears that he was seen around with another woman, she runs off with Jagiello. I've been wondering what O'Brien wanted us to understand about their relationship. My take has always been that Diana wasn't cheating on Stephen when she thought he was faithful, and he knew her well enough to believe that even when he got a letter. After she runs off with Jagiello, though, I've always assumed that they were a couple until Stephen came to get her, but Stephen is "modern" enough not to really care. It's ambiguous, though.
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Mar 29, 2013 01:02
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I love these stories so much that I started an ill-fated thread in GWS wherein I made recipes from the books. Some of it was surprisingly good. The Little Balls of Tripe a Man Might Eat Forever were surprisingly bad.
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Mar 29, 2013 01:15
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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.
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Mar 29, 2013 11:02
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Blog Free or Die posted: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. You know, I never assumed those letters were from that guy. I always assumed it was just some random person or other friend who was either mistaken about what they'd seen or were, well, trolling Stephen. And as for Jagiello, from everything he's said about Diana, I think he'd be very much in favor of sleeping with her if given half of a chance, even if you account for his friendship with Stephen. Dude is smitten with Diana. And as to Diana running off, Stephen compared her to a falcon he had known as a boy that he had once not fed first and which had never come when he called ever again. Diana heard rumors about Stephen running around with another woman, sent him letters asking what was up, and never heard back from him, so she left. The reason she never got the letter was because Stephen handed the responses to Wray, who is a dick. The Dregs posted:I love these stories so much that I started an ill-fated thread in GWS wherein I made recipes from the books. Some of it was surprisingly good. The Little Balls of Tripe a Man Might Eat Forever were surprisingly bad. Hey, I loved that thread! I just was afraid I was doing too much. Never got up the courage to try making the Tripe Balls, though.
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Mar 29, 2013 14:58
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Blog Free or Die posted: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. Yeah, I saw that as the polite fiction Stephen and Diana told themselves afterwards. It's open to interpretation though.
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Mar 29, 2013 15:22
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, I saw that as the polite fiction Stephen and Diana told themselves afterwards. It's open to interpretation though. Stephen is pretty prickly about his honor though. He's all set to duel with Jagiello when he goes to retrieve her, until he receives an explanation.
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Mar 29, 2013 15:51
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Stephen is pretty prickly about his honor though. He's all set to duel with Jagiello when he goes to retrieve her, until he receives an explanation. Yeah, it depends on how much you believe Diana and how much you believe Stephen was willing to believe Diana.
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Mar 29, 2013 15:59
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, it depends on how much you believe Diana and how much you believe Stephen was willing to believe Diana. I think her explanation is pretty emphatic though. She mentions that when she first went to Sweden with him he assumed she wanted to sleep with him, and that it took quite a lot of refusing on her part before he took the point. That goes along with her speech on how she'd never let any man hurt her again, or put herself in any man's power.
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Mar 29, 2013 20:41
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Finished Post Captain, really enjoyed it. The bees, the BEES! And the bearsuit. So great. I liked the one part where those baliffs were trying to touch Jack with their staffs to arrest him and he had the sailors hold up some boards around him in a circle protect him while he went to the ship, and THEN impressing the brutes into service! Haha. It really helped reading it on the kindle, the dictionary had a lot more nautical terms than I'd guess and I also have A Sea of Words I'd switch to sometimes to search for a term and it worked out pretty well. I'll probably read a couple of other things that have been waiting for my attention before moving onto the next one, looking forward to it.
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Apr 8, 2013 15:50
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I just finished The Hundred Days. It was really bizarre how Diana died "offscreen", and aside from the flippant explanation by two characters who mean nothing, you never hear about it again. Even Stephen barely cares. It was like the actress quit the show or something. EDIT: I should state that I'm aware it does affect Stephen, but it doesn't last very long.
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Apr 22, 2013 02:43
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Colonial Air Force posted:I just finished The Hundred Days.  ).Didnt the book actually span several months in just a few chapters so that his reaction wasnt all that quick? Also, I think that at that point he was so used to hurting because of Diana, that he basically has been there, done that 3 times over. vvvv You are actually right. The death of Bonden was also dealt with very quickly. Wasn't the last book actually written by someone else because of O'Brians age? Perhaps he just did not have the time left to deal with those stories in the same way as before. Nektu fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 13:55
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It does, but it still felt to me, as the reader, like there was very little impact. Even moreso the death of Bonden. Looking forward to the last novel, though.
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Apr 22, 2013 14:01
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Quote != Edit
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Apr 22, 2013 15:41
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I think the death of Bonden was written at around the time O'Brian's wife died.
Raskolnikov2089 fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 15:45
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Colonial Air Force posted:I just finished The Hundred Days. There's just not that much that can be done with Diana at that point as a character, and (correct me if I'm wrong) she's said she never wants him to leave her again, i.e., never go to sea. She basically had to die in order for the series to keep going.
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Apr 22, 2013 15:58
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When she was left alone in the ship's cabin after being rescued from America, I really thought/hoped that she was going to blow her brains out with the flintlock Maturin gave her. I got the feeling she was going to, but wimped out.
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Apr 22, 2013 17:33
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Nektu posted:vvvv You are actually right. The death of Bonden was also dealt with very quickly. Wasn't the last book actually written by someone else because of O'Brians age? Perhaps he just did not have the time left to deal with those stories in the same way as before. If by last book you mean 21, then yes, but that's because he died before he could finish it (or really start it) and the book is only the compiled notes/manuscript for the first few dozen pages, not a real book. Blue at the Mizzen works as perfect end of the series anyway.
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Apr 22, 2013 18:12
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:There's just not that much that can be done with Diana at that point as a character, and (correct me if I'm wrong) she's said she never wants him to leave her again, i.e., never go to sea. She basically had to die in order for the series to keep going. I think you're quoting The Commodore and forgetting The Yellow Admiral. They have a very happy home life ahead of them, whenever he's back home from his travels. And there's a whole set-up, including Maturin asking Diana explicitly to never have Brigit riding [on some especially dangerous part, the details escape me]. What part did Sophie play in furthering the series?
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Apr 22, 2013 18:40
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:I think the death of Bonden was written at around the time O'Brian's wife died. I don't suppose you'd mind spoilering stuff like the deaths of non-historical characters? I've read just under half the series so I know a lot of what goes on, but not this.
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Apr 23, 2013 00:02
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Octy posted:I don't suppose you'd mind spoilering stuff like the deaths of non-historical characters? I've read just under half the series so I know a lot of what goes on, but not this. Geez man, I'm so sorry. If it's any consolation, it's not a major plot point at all.
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Apr 23, 2013 16:51
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Geez man, I'm so sorry. Still, I kind of liked him. I don't know, I've been slowly going through this series for the last year. It's probably better to just avoid the thread till I'm done.
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Apr 24, 2013 04:00
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Octy posted:Still, I kind of liked him. Everyone liked him, that's why his death hits you pretty hard out of nowhere. One consolation: It happens very, very late in the series, so don't read it with "oh god, is this the moment he dies?" in mind (like I did when I was spoiled the same information). Decius fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 06:22
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Decius posted:Everyone liked him, that's why his death hits you pretty hard out of nowhere. One consolation: It happens very, very late in the series, so don't read it with "oh god, is this the moment he dies?" in mind (like I did when I was spoiled the same information). So it doesn't happen in The Nutmeg of Consolation, I take it? :P
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Apr 24, 2013 06:41
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Leopard_(1790) Today is the 223rd anniversary of the launching of the horrible old Leopard.
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Apr 24, 2013 17:43
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Happy Sophie vs. Cacafeugo day! (Aka Speedy vs. El Gamo) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_May_1801 Working my way through these for the first time now that the omnibus edition is out, after reading the first two years ago. Like so many other readers, I'm surprised and delighted by the copious amounts of witty banter between Aubrey and Maturin. It's like reading one of Dickens' comic novels if Dickens were comfortable making sex jokes. I'm on the Mauritius Command right now, and Mrs. Williams seriously needs to catch yellow fever. She activates all my mother-in-law reflexes. 
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May 6, 2013 17:23
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I just finished the whole series last week. It ends at a pretty good spot (not counting 21 here) that only has ONE unresolved question, and I think it's pretty obvious what the answer to that question was intended to be: Yes.
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May 6, 2013 21:15
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Master & Commander scene They are having dinner near the end of the book and looking around for a knife. Maturin grabs a swedish steel knife they were using to dissect a dead woman and when the host asks if the knife should be clean he just says a good wipe will do 
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May 17, 2013 12:07
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