|
Desolation Island might be my favorite because after all that horrible poo poo Stephen ends up in paradise and everyone is happy at the end.
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2023 18:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 03:45 |
|
|
My background music for reading today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6iNGprcxFI quote:[CAPTAIN] 
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2023 20:40
|
|
|
I just finished the series for the first time. Goddamn that was good. Time to reread it all I guess!
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2023 22:36
|
|
|
I didn't realize Stephen was a drug addict until Mauritius Command because it didn't dawn on me what laudanum was or how he was abusing it until McAdam called him out on it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 00:03
|
|
|
‘The captain is under way’ / ‘He has catted his fish’ what on earth does that mean?
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 03:51
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:‘The captain is under way’ / ‘He has catted his fish’ what on earth does that mean? Context? He's launched his boat and is moving forward and has secured his anchor.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 03:55
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Context? He's launched his boat and is moving forward and has secured his anchor. HMS Surprise, dinner on Sunday, before Stephen goes to pester boobies.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 03:57
|
|
|
Oh! I think I’m overthinking it. It just means Jack finished and left dinner before Stephen noticed, and Stephen is using metaphor.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 04:02
|
|
|
What do cats do with fish?
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 04:03
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:‘The captain is under way’ / ‘He has catted his fish’ what on earth does that mean? Outside of other context it means securing the anchor to the cathead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathead quote:The process of securing the anchor is called catting and fishing it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 04:58
|
|
|
PlushCow posted:Outside of other context it means securing the anchor to the cathead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathead To expand, "He has catted his fish" is one of Stephen's maritime malapropisms. He's mangled the phrase "catted and fished [his anchor]," i.e., completely raised and secured the anchor ready to proceed to sea.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 05:17
|
|
|
Picked Master & Commander up due to this thread (legitimately thought it was only a movie from the early 00s for the longest time? I am not good at research) and I just finished the second chapter. This is real good and I honestly had a hard time stopping last night. Thanks, goons, this is an extreme treat for my 19th century reenactor's sensibilities.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 15:53
|
|
|
Mudlark posted:Picked Master & Commander up due to this thread (legitimately thought it was only a movie from the early 00s for the longest time? I am not good at research) and I just finished the second chapter. This is real good and I honestly had a hard time stopping last night. Thanks, goons, this is an extreme treat for my 19th century reenactor's sensibilities. I'm sure you're going to hear this a lot, but if you are enjoying Master & Commander you've got a lot to look forward to. The quality of the books broadly remains consistent across the entire series. I just finished HMS Surprise, which has a much more upbeat tone than Post Captain, even with there being a fair amount of misfortune in it. I'd forgotten entirely about one of my favourite bits (and it's hard to pick favourites out of all the good ones in that book)near the end. When the Surprise manages to sneak up on Euryalus, which clearly is extremely embarrassing to the captain of that ship, a captain who has seniority on Jack. There is a great line where Jack muses to himself that the officer of the watch and the lookouts on Euryalus are going to have an absolutely awful day. I also very much enjoyed the bit where Jack is at a dinner after Stephen's duel with Canning and the people around him start talking poo poo about everyone involved, right up until a staff member approaches one of them and tells them exactly who Jack is. At which point they all stumble over themselves to tell Jack that of course they were referring to an entirely different set of people.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2023 17:36
|
|
|
I understand Post Captain is a big ask for a lot of people but I guess the solution is go read a bunch of Jane Austen and then you'll find the land parts of PC charming instead of frustrating. Yes, that's right, read thousands of pages combined in multiple books just to be okay with this one book. Clearly, the most efficient strategy  (or, really, I don't think there's any problem with looping back to it later)
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2023 07:39
|
|
|
Psion posted:I understand Post Captain is a big ask for a lot of people but I guess the solution is go read a bunch of Jane Austen and then you'll find the land parts of PC charming instead of frustrating. Yes, that's right, read thousands of pages combined in multiple books just to be okay with this one book. Clearly, the most efficient strategy everyone should be reading a bunch of Jane Austen anyway
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2023 11:38
|
|
|
buffalo all day posted:everyone should be reading a bunch of Jane Austen anyway I never really read that style of book until Pride and Prejudice came pre-downloaded on one of my old Kindles. I was really surprised how much I really liked it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2023 12:03
|
|
|
Psion posted:I understand Post Captain is a big ask for a lot of people but I guess the solution is go read a bunch of Jane Austen and then you'll find the land parts of PC charming instead of frustrating. Yes, that's right, read thousands of pages combined in multiple books just to be okay with this one book. Clearly, the most efficient strategy The great thing about this series is, you become so invested in the characters and so desperate for more interactions with them, that you'll eventually go back and re-read books you didn't like such as Post Captain, only to find that O'Brian has changed how you read and you'll find yourself actually enjoying PC. I didn't like Jane Austen until a few reads of this series.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2023 18:12
|
|
|
HMS Surprise: Goddamnit Jack, you debauched the sloth! Why must you debauch a sloth, Jack? Also for HMS Surprise, while I dearly love the audiobook versions of these books, they were recorded a long time ago and the audio quality can be spotty at times. As a result, I'm rather confused as to what Stephen's experiment with the rats was about. Something about getting a certain substance absorbed into their bones, measuring the rate of absorption? I assume that substance was toxic, given his reaction, but what was it?
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 02:26
|
|
|
Madder, I believe.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 02:47
|
|
|
It's just a red dye, IIRC, and he was going to dissect them and see if their bones turned red. Why? :Thatsmaturin: And I figured his response was calculated to make the midshipmen feel worse than if he'd just yelled at them, let their own fears of what might happen be the punishment. Pretty sure the dye was harmless .
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 11:09
|
|
|
This was posted in the A-M subreddit, and I always loved how it describes some of Stephen and Jack's relationship. Hell, just reading it again right now made me tear up a bit. Contains minor spoilers from HMS Suprise! -Stephen’s reflexions upon waking up to a distant fiddle at his guest room in Ashgrove: “Like many other sailors Jack Aubrey had long dreamed of lying in his warm bed all night long; yet although he could now do so with a clear conscience he often rose at unChristian hours, particularly if he were moved by strong emotion, and crept from his bedroom in a watch-coat, to walk about the house or into the stables or to pace the bowling-green. Sometimes he took his fiddle with him. He was in fact a better player than Stephen, and now that he was using his precious Guarnieri rather than a robust sea-going fiddle the difference was still more evident: but the Guarnieri did not account for the whole of it, nor anything like. Jack certainly concealed his excellence when they were playing together, keeping to Stephen's mediocre level: this had become perfectly clear when Stephen's hands were at last recovered from the thumb-screws and other implements applied by French counter-intelligence officers in Minorca; but on reflexion Stephen thought it had been the case much earlier, since quite apart from his delicacy at that period, Jack hated showing away. Now, in the warm night, there was no one to be comforted, kept in countenance, no one could scorn him for virtuosity, and he could let himself go entirely; and as the grave and subtle music wound on and on, Stephen once more contemplated on the apparent contradiction between the big, cheerful, florid sea-officer whom most people liked on sight but who would have never been described as subtle or capable of subtlety by any one of them (except perhaps his surviving opponents in battle) and the intricate, reflective music he was now creating. So utterly unlike his limited vocabulary in words, at times verging upon the inarticulate. 'My hands have now regained the moderate ability they possessed before I was captured,' observed Maturin, 'but his have gone on to a point I never thought he could reach: his hands and his mind. I am amazed. In his own way he is the secret man of the world.”
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 11:27
|
|
|
That's from the commodore, one of the later books and that quote really hits like a ton of bricks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 19:08
|
|
|
Lockback posted:That's from the commodore, one of the later books and that quote really hits like a ton of bricks. The light spoilers part was referring to the whole torture thing. But yea, it really does.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 19:23
|
|
|
It really is the most complete piece of writing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 14:54
|
|
|
HMS Surprise is being a little slow to read not because it's bad, but because cramming three of the same novel into my brain repeatedly kills the adhd. But! I've still been in the mood for ships, so I wound up watching a movie I wanna rec: Captain Blood a movie from 1935 is worth your time! It's a swashbuckler, about a doctor who will treat any patient, even if they're rebelling against the English King, and so he's condemned to being a slave. The first half of the movie is him dealing with this and escaping, and the second half is swashbuckling! There's a cool-rear end sword duel on a beach, there's an even cooler ship to ship action with them fighting two French ships followed by boarding action, and it was SO cool to see stuff in motion - cannons firing, masts falling over, bits of the hull being holed, etc. I don't know enough ship lore to tell you if it was accurate, but by god it was fun.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 18:28
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:HMS Surprise is being a little slow to read not because it's bad, but because cramming three of the same novel into my brain repeatedly kills the adhd. But! I've still been in the mood for ships, so I wound up watching a movie I wanna rec: I enjoyed that movie a lot when I was a kid but I found the stagey-ness and general trappings of that era of cinema rather distracted me when I went to watch it again as an adult. Re realism, the thing that stuck out to me was Captain Blood and the female lead having these uber dramatic conversations in a large, richly appointed bedroom which was supposed to be the cabin in his ship!
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 18:55
|
|
|
Genghis Cohen posted:I enjoyed that movie a lot when I was a kid but I found the stagey-ness and general trappings of that era of cinema rather distracted me when I went to watch it again as an adult. Re realism, the thing that stuck out to me was Captain Blood and the female lead having these uber dramatic conversations in a large, richly appointed bedroom which was supposed to be the cabin in his ship! Oh lord the huge cabin ain't proper at all, you can tell it's fake even before you get to the stage trappings. But still - still, it's fun, and I think y'all will enjoy it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 19:03
|
|
|
Captain Blood's a great movie tho it kind of has as much to do with Pirates of the Caribbean as with Aubrey-Maturin. Flynn + de Haviland + Rathbone as a lecherous Frenchie, what's not to like! Blood is hardly trying to portray the revolutionary-era Royal Navy captain packed tight into his ultra-cramped overmanned ship either though. He's a louche democratic gentleman pirate on a stolen 17th-century Spanish man-of-war. It's apparently based on a book by Rafael Sabatini, anyone know of him? skasion fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Oct 1, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 19:23
|
|
|
skasion posted:
He wrote a bunch of good poo poo in that same vein.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 20:50
|
|
|
skasion posted:Captain Blood's a great movie tho it kind of has as much to do with Pirates of the Caribbean as with Aubrey-Maturin. Flynn + de Haviland + Rathbone as a lecherous Frenchie, what's not to like! My dad, who was a fan of him when he was a kid, bought me paperbacks by Sabatini including Captain Blood. Plenty of swashing and buckling!
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 23:03
|
|
|
skasion posted:It's apparently based on a book by Rafael Sabatini, anyone know of him? I looked up the book years ago, I believe it's available on Gutenberg.org. TBH, much like the film I thought it was interesting, but very dated. Reading what is essentially a thriller, but with the pacing and literary conventions of so long ago, is a bit dull.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 09:51
|
|
|
skasion posted:Captain Blood's a great movie tho it kind of has as much to do with Pirates of the Caribbean as with Aubrey-Maturin. Flynn + de Haviland + Rathbone as a lecherous Frenchie, what's not to like! I'll be honest, I've been struggling to find movies that are related to Aubrey-Maturin outside of the adaptation (haven't seen yet) and like, I want to see more boats! I want even faint glimpses of the sea!
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 14:32
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:adaptation (haven't seen yet) What are you doing here, man Oceans are now Battlefields!
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 14:39
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:What are you doing here, man I don't want to picture Russell Crowe as Aubrey in my head while I'm reading 
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 14:43
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:I don't want to picture Russell Crowe as Aubrey in my head while I'm reading Ok fair Bettany's Maturin is the bigger issue though, too tall and too pretty
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 15:02
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:I'll be honest, I've been struggling to find movies that are related to Aubrey-Maturin outside of the adaptation (haven't seen yet) and like, I want to see more boats! I want even faint glimpses of the sea! I thought the first season of The Terror did a good job at some of the kinds of naval practicalities and mindsets, although it’s fantastical, the period’s a bit later, and of course the ships completely fail to go anywhere. The real thing to watch though is The Bounty (the 80s one with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins). Troubled production and not a perfect movie, but they really did recreate the Bounty and take it out to Tahiti: can’t fault the authenticity.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 15:29
|
|
|
skasion posted:I thought the first season of The Terror did a good job at some of the kinds of naval practicalities and mindsets, although it’s fantastical, the period’s a bit later, and of course the ships completely fail to go anywhere. I tried reading the Terror once, but Dan Simmons spent a lot of time being really creepy - was that translated to the TV show at all? It's annoying because the subject matter is so interesting. I'll check the Bounty out!
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 15:51
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:I'll be honest, I've been struggling to find movies that are related to Aubrey-Maturin outside of the adaptation (haven't seen yet) and like, I want to see more boats! I want even faint glimpses of the sea! There were a number of Horatio Hornblower TV movies that came out in the late 90s that are worth a watch. Nothing on the quality of M&C of course, but still well made.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 17:01
|
|
|
The Sharpe TV series isn't bad at all. My favorite bit was when they put the French soldiers in historically accurate floppy chef hats
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 18:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 03:45 |
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Ok fair Hobbit bonden
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 19:07
|
|