OK, I have just finished Master and Commander, the first in a long series of books. Our library has about 75% of the titles, but most of the missing ones directly follow the first.
It does have The Far Side of the World, which formed, I am told, part of the plot of the movie with Russell Crowe. I don’t really want to wait to order the books the library doesn’t have, although I will be shopping for them.
So my question is, is it absolutely necessary to read the books in published order? Will I screw things up if, while waiting for 2-5, that I read TFSOTW?
Well, with most of the books, you’ll lose something. Not so much when reading Book 6, but when you backtrack and read 2-5, some of the twists won’t be surprises.
I was afraid somebody was going to say something like that.
Baker heaves a big sigh.
Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait. I can find most of the ones the library is missing on an out of print booksite I go to, and there’s a good used bookstore in town. Darn!
One thing that O’Brian doesn’t do until sometime later in the series, is make multi-book story arcs.
Another thing he does in many, is pick up directly where the last one left off. I can imagine it’d be hard to pick up “The Nutmeg of Consolation” and have half a clue what’s going on.
Have to be read in order not because the storyline necessarily continues but because the guys’ lives continue. The novels aren’t a grouping of self-contained stories, they’re the over-arching stories of two men’s lives and careers. You skip around the timeline you’re going to have parts spoiled a-go-go.
One thing I found intriguing about Aubrey is that he could be such a big boor on land, but when he was at sea he was, almost literally, in his element. How could someone be so good at one point, when it came to dealing with people, but yet a nincompoop at other times? Aubrey seemed a little more real that Hornblower, who seems almost too good to be true.
<tangent>Which is why I think that Russell Crowe was an excellent choice to play him. Great at his chosen career, acting, a fish out of water at all other times. Though Aubrey supposedly has some musical talent - don’t think that applies to Russ.</tangent>
Just finished rereading Desolation Island a minute ago. For God’s sake, stick to reading them in sequence - O’Brien has a nasty habit of dropping in a bit of “what happened in the last book” near the start of a new story. Clever manouevres, stunning victories or defeats, the latest on DV etc, the fate of secondary characters etc are thus a lot less surprising when you go back later and read the previous book.
My pet peeve is something similar - I hate that they drop half the story, skip straight to the meat of the story, on the blurb, especially as voyages don’t always get going straight away, or they end up going somewhere entirely different etc. Had to find out the title of the next in the series and just grab it off the shelf without looking at the back. They’re reliably good, I don’t need to read the blurb to be convinced to buy / borrow…
One of the reasons you want to read them in the order in which they were published is because O’Brien is a magnificant, accomplished storyteller. He is a masterful writer. You will want to put yourself in his hands as you read the books. If you skip around, you won’t let him do his job as a writer.
[Pointless aside] I remember a time when I was in a hotel room on a business trip when I finished one of the middle-period books. This book ended with an escape from America and the highly unlikely marriage of two characters in the series. You know the ones - HE got married to HER? SHE said yes to HIM? I got out of bed, got dressed, and I left my hotel in search of an open bookstore so I could buy the next book in the series and find out what happened next with this marriage. Damn I love these books.[/Pointless aside]
Another vote for reading them in order. I began reading the series because of a story on NPR about the then just-released Wine Dark Sea . I was on vacation at the time and wasn’t able to find #2, so I attempted to read #1 followed by #3. Huge mistake, because the first few pages of #3 resolve most of the plot points that made the middle book so interesting.
The fact that O’Brian doesn’t worry about sticking slavishly to the hostorical calendar also makes it a bit easier for hijm to surprise us, even when Aubrey and Maturin are caught up in major historical events. At times, he keeps us in the dark about the date – does the main action of Desolation Island happen in 1811 or 1812? Is there a war on or not? Thge only time I can recall that he ever really gave anything away in advance was by placing A & N aboard a ship with a name that had an important engagement associated with it. When the ship first appears, someone recognizes it and names it and I thought to myself, “Uh-oh. This is NOT the ship you want to be aboard at this point in history.”
A chronological reading also emphasizes some realtionships simply through their endurance. Stephen and a significant other, Jack and Mrs. Wiliams, and my favorite, Killick’s decent into shrewishness.
I enjoy the books, and I’m committed to reading one per year while on vacation (I’m only up to H.M.S. Surprise)…but my enjoyment isn’t quite as intense as some other here. I find the nautical minutiae overwhelming – there are whole passages involving ship’s maneuvers that I just whoosh through without a clue what’s going on.
Is this common among Aubrey/Maturin lovers, or is it just me?
Well, I am persuaded to read in order. I went to my favorite used bookstore, and to my surprise they didn’t have a single copy of any title. The owner said very few come in, maybe two or three a year.
So I have found some at an out of print booksite, and am awaiting a reply as to whether the title they have listed are still in stock. I need #'s 2-5, and after that I can get them from the library.
It sucks to have to wait for something I want NOW! Hmpff! I feel like a disappointed child.
I like the details of the rigging, although I sometimes have problems keeping the sails straight in my head.
My daughters use the “Something fascinating and nautical just happened, but I have no idea what it is” method. You can gloss over those parts and still follow the relationships.
I love the whole vocabulary, the enclosed world of the ship, and the bizarre meals.
I think the last one I read was The Nutmeg of Consolation. Gotta get more…
Does your library have Interlibrary Loan service. That’s when they borrow the book from another library outside its system. My library in Hershey not only lets you place requests online, they’ve been able to acquire books for me from Pittsburgh libraries, university libraries, even the Library of Congress. It’s a fantastic service.
I became hooked on the books by listening to them, particularly the Books on Tape collection read by Patrick Tull. He conveys the characters’ personalities wonderfully, and gives the correct pronounciation of all the nautical terms, plus the foreign languages. It takes awhile to plow through them, but they’re perfect for commutes, and I’ve spent many a night in my driveway. I even bought a portable tape recorder and would fall asleep listening to them. In fact, on my deathbed, I plan to spent a lot of my time listening to the CDs to help pass the time until I’m collected.
In fact, I’ve listened to the tapes so much that I only have three volumes and haven’t cracked them yet. I much perfer listening to them.
I received an Ipod for my birthday a while back and almost all of my new-bought downloads are the Patrick Tull recorded books. I listen to them on walks and in the car.
