[HN Gopher] A Private Life - Nikolai Tolstoy Remembers Patrick O...
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A Private Life - Nikolai Tolstoy Remembers Patrick O'Brian
Author : unseenhistories
Score : 70 points
Date : 2025-01-02 15:19 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.unseenhistories.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.unseenhistories.com)
| jvilalta wrote:
| Highly recommend the Aubrey and Maturin series to anyone who
| likes historical novels and specifically has an interest in
| sailing and the British navy.
| hn_go_brrrrr wrote:
| I had no interest in sailing or the Royal Navy before reading
| these books, but I sure do now.
| davidw wrote:
| For anyone curious about the connection with the Russian author
| with the same surname:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Tolstoy#Family
|
| I have also enjoyed the Aubrey-Maturin novels. They have a good
| mix of elements, including humor and action.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| Small world, he lives a few doors down from my mother in law.
| delichon wrote:
| I've read the Master and Commander series once and listened to
| the Patrick Tull narrated audio books three times ... and am
| considering starting it again. (I'm a big fan of O'Brian's other
| stories too, don't miss those.) I love the story, but the "voice"
| of the author in Tull's voice is comfort food for my ears. There
| may be pharmaceuticals with a similar relaxing effect on my
| nervous system but those have worse side effects. I don't listen
| to music but maybe this should count as music.
| dfsegoat wrote:
| I just got the first book on Audible, and it does sound like
| it's going to be a real treat!
| delichon wrote:
| Warning, it's a single novel in twenty one volumes.
| jpm_sd wrote:
| I have also completed three "circumnavigations" with Patrick
| Tull. Incredible story, amazing narration.
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| Horatio Hornblower is for adolescence, Aubrey/Maturin for
| adulthood.
|
| In sci-fi, the Honor Harrington by Weber and Royal Cinnabar Navy
| by Drake are obvious and entertaining pastiches
| sherr wrote:
| You think the C.S. Forester Hornblower's are juvenile? I assume
| you jest a little. I haven't read the O'Brian novels but have
| read the first two Hornblower books. I thought they were
| excellent, and exceeded my expectation. Better written and
| better stories than I thought I would get. I highly recommend
| them.
| RachelF wrote:
| So true, and well put. I read all the Aubrey Maturin books
| first and then read four Hornblower novels.
|
| Aubrey Maturin is better in terms of style, plot, environment
| and language.
|
| I'd recommend the Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series to anyone
| who likes O'Brian. He writes superbly too, but has more action.
| chongli wrote:
| I have read some of the Aubrey-Maturin novels. They are a true
| joy!
|
| If you plan to read them try to get ahold of a dictionary of
| nautical terms. Wikipedia has a free glossary [1] which can be
| helpful but I'd prefer a paper version if I could find a good
| one.
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms_(A-...
| jabl wrote:
| You could try "Sea of Words" by Dean King. It's pretty good.
|
| (Presumably the same Dean King mentioned in the linked article,
| FWIW.)
| saintaardvark wrote:
| +1e9 for "A Sea of Words"
| (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218275.A_Sea_of_Words).
| It's excellent reading in itself and helped a lot
| understanding the vocabulary.
| robterrell wrote:
| Strongly recommend this. I enjoyed "Master & Commander" (and
| read the first three books in the series, which are really
| one continuous story) before finding "A Sea of Words" and was
| astounded, on a re-read, at how much I didn't understand
| about sailing terminology, life onboard, the navy, etc.
|
| But it's also a book that rewards knowledge of French, Latin,
| the history of science, music, geography... really an
| astounding book.
| williamsmj wrote:
| For what it's worth, the use case that caused me to finally
| "get" chatbots was as a support while reading the Aubrey-
| Maturin series. The first conversation in my Claude history is
| me asking it "Compare the relative strengths of cannon and
| carronades. Which was more accurate?"
|
| (But if you prefer a book, https://www.amazon.com/Patrick-
| OBrian-Muster-Book-Aubrey-Mat... is very useful.)
| bandrami wrote:
| The culinarily-minded should also pick up "Lobscouse and
| Spotted Dog" by Grossman and Thomas[1]. This a cookbook by a
| mother and daughter team who cooked every single dish mentioned
| in the series with period recipes and techniques. As they say,
| the proof of the pudding is in its fruit.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Lobscouse-Spotted-Dog-Gastronomic-
| Com...
| jpm_sd wrote:
| This interview with Dean King from the (now-completed) podcast
| "The Lubber's Hole" presents a different viewpoint.
|
| https://lubbershole.podbean.com/e/episode-220-dean-king-inte...
| bookofjoe wrote:
| During a 1.75-year-long severe, debilitating depression in
| 2014-2015 I found the only thing I could read with any
| comprehension at all was the Aubrey-Maturin novels. They were a
| wonderful respite from an otherwise devastatingly terrible time
| in my life. Highly recommend you try them if you find yourself in
| similar straits.
| markbnj wrote:
| I have all 21 of the Aubrey-Maturin novels and have read them
| through twice. At the end of the last time I mentally bid them a
| fond farewell, sure that I would never devote the time to give
| them a third go... but now I doubt my resolve on that point.
| Simply the best historical novels of the sea and the Royal Navy
| ever written.
| Crisco wrote:
| I read through the series my first time last year and as I was
| nearing the end I felt a deep sense of melancholy at not being
| able to continue on for another 20 books. I'm usually a science
| fiction and fantasy reader, so I was not expecting the Aubrey-
| Maturin novels to become one of my favorite series, but here we
| are.
| qrush wrote:
| I'm currently reading through these novels as well, I'm on The
| Mauritius Command (book four). My progression into this has been:
|
| * Played way too much Sea of Thieves
|
| * Helped plan a company on-site sunset sail on a sailboat in
| Boston Harbor
|
| * Learned to sail at Community Boating over the last 2 seasons
|
| * Watched Master & Commander: Far Side of the World after seeing
| too many memes about it
|
| * Listened to the first 3 of the Aubrey-Maturin series on
| audiobook
|
| * Gifted the entire 21 book series for my birthday
|
| * Reading through them all this year (otherwise known as "The
| Circumnavigation")
|
| It's truly a deep well of wonderful content that's witty,
| exciting, and just an amazing example of masculine friendship in
| literature with Jack and Stephen. Excited to read more and learn
| about the author!!
| heikkilevanto wrote:
| I just finished my fifth(?) reading through the whole series.
| Still good stuff! I have sailed a little on an old gaff ketch, so
| I know a little about sailing ships. Nothing in the whole series
| sounded wrong to me. Same with their music, it just sounded right
| for the period. There were some things I suspected were off, like
| the platypus having poisonous claws, or some of the court details
| in North Africa, but every single detail was right when I checked
| it. And on top of that, the story telling, and the persons are so
| great!
| BLKNSLVR wrote:
| Platypus do have poisonous claws. Or at least a single
| poisonous 'spur' on each paw.
|
| They're a fascinating little creature.
| doitLP wrote:
| For anyone that wants to go super deep on the series I cannot
| recommend this podcast enough:
| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lubbers-hole-a-pat...
|
| They unpack each novel paragraph by paragraph and sometimes line
| by line. After reading the novels 5x through I found a whole new
| realm of depth and enjoyment. O'Brian is a truly masterful writer
| and his learning and erudition are simply astounding sometimes.
|
| As for the audiobooks, Patrick Tull cannot hold a candle to Simon
| Vance's sublime narration. Sadly blackstone audio isn't making
| them available right now unless you can find them on your local
| library's app.
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(page generated 2025-01-02 23:00 UTC)