Wednesday, January 27, 2010

[Books] Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

My cousin sent me the whole series of Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin novels a couple of years ago to read. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to read any of them at the time (graduate school + working full time + girlfriend makes for a very busy Matt).

Since I finished my degree and wanted to actually justify his faith that I would read them, I picked up Master and Commander, the first of the series, a few weeks ago.

To be honest, I'm not a "read a single book" person. I dabble from book to book and usually have a half-dozen or so that are in the works at any one time, reading bits here and there. And the same with this one.

But I have to say I am enjoying it. I don't know all the nautical terms yet but I get the gist fairly well and I've requested several books about the series from my local library.

The plot is that Lt. Jack Aubrey is finally given command of the sloop HMS Sophie and gets to sail along the coast of Spain, taking ships and fighting enemies of England. Jolly good. Along the way, he managed to convince a physician named Stephen Maturin to come aboard (being one of the few physicians in the fleet - most ships only have surgeons) and it outlines their budding friendship in the midst of war, surly sailors and maritime politics.

I'm not doing the plot any sort of justice and nor did I expect to do so. If you are interested in the book, you'll pick it up (or see the movie, which isn't the same plot but bits of three plots from three books).

I'm only a couple hundred pages in, so far so good.

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