Post Captain (1972)

Stuck at home - libraries, etc. closed - I was happy to have this to read. I wish I had checked out a few more in the series. Well - I enjoyed it but still found it difficult to read/understand - different phraseology, strange words and sentence structure, etc. Still I got the gist of what was going on and look forward to #3 in the series. ( )

For me, there is no better summer reading than the Aubrey/Maturin series of Age of Sail adventures from Patrick O'Brian. Mix equal parts Jane Austen and geeked out historical descriptions of sailing, life in the English Navy during the Napoleonic wars on land and at sea all in O'Brian's enviable prose and you get broadsides of narrative firing off every 2 minutes.

Seriously, if you've never considered reading these do yourself a favor and give them a try. The stories are entertaining, the characters are as engaging as any in literature, and did I mention O'Brian's writing? The books are often undersold as adventures at sea but don't let the entertaining stories throw you, these books are indelibly crafted and very worth your time. ( )

For me, there is no better summer reading than the Aubrey/Maturin series of Age of Sail adventures from Patrick O'Brian. Mix equal parts Jane Austen and geeked out historical descriptions of sailing, life in the English Navy during the Napoleonic wars on land and at sea all in O'Brian's enviable prose and you get broadsides of narrative firing off every 2 minutes.

Seriously, if you've never considered reading these do yourself a favor and give them a try. The stories are entertaining, the characters are as engaging as any in literature, and did I mention O'Brian's writing? The books are often undersold as adventures at sea but don't let the entertaining stories throw you, these books are indelibly crafted and very worth your time. ( )

Vintage O'Brian. You can tell it's early in the series as Aubrey and Maturin are not as well fleshed out as characters as in later books, but all the same what page-turning yarn, very evocative of the time, place and people. Feel like reading another AubreyMaturin in straight succession! ( )

After the events of Master and Commander, Captain Jack Aubrey and his good friend Dr. Stephen Maturin find themselves briefly ashore. Jack is hoping to be made post captain after his adventures on the Sophie, but things look grim. He and Stephen both meet some delightful ladies and another Sophia may hold his affections... but then Jack is swindled of his prize money and he's now in danger of debtors' prison if he doesn't get another ship.

This book suffered from length - both itself over 500 pages and it took forever for the story to get going, but also the length of time I spent reading it. I remembered the first book as being pretty high action, but this one was plodding at times and it was often not the first book I wanted to pick up, even though much of the time I had to put it aside to read books more urgent, such as my book club read for this month. Simon Vance's narration is superb, and once I focused on reading/listening to this one almost exclusively, it worked a little better for me. I enjoy the characters and time period, and will try the next book in the series before I decide I've read enough. ( )