This one's a lot more recent - about a month ago. Already have the next book in the series...
Master and Commander
by P. O'Brian
I decided to read this because I loved the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. And because I loved the Hornblower series of books (and of course the movie Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.). The book starts much earlier than the movie, and the main protagonist, Captain Aubrey, is as imposing a presence as Russel Crowe is physically, however much heavier… The book was hard to start, with all of the 18-19th century nautical terminology, but got easier as I got along in it. Although a very serious book, it is peppered with the humor one would expect to find in the company of men at sea… “Pray watch the beam. I must beg your indulgence for the smell: it is probably young Babbington here.” “[Our ship could go faster if the convoy we were escorting weren’t] determined to travel very slowly until full daylight, no doubt for fear of tripping over the lines of longitude.” As the ship;s surgeon anticipates a new voyage - “It is a great while since I felt the grind of bone under my saw, he added, smiling with anticipation.” “The senior post captains here [were shrivelled men], (shrivelled in essence: alas, not in belly).” - and many more. Make no mistake though, this is a serious book, very entertaining, with lots of action, as well as slower-moving at-sea and on-shore passages that are less action-packed, but no less interesting. The dialogue and description very convincingly place the reader into the Mediterranean Sea, at the very start of the 19th century. One might think that it was written in 1805 rather than in 1970. And while a work of fiction, the narrative holds very true to the events of the day. Even better, it nicely sets up the sequel, which is now high on my “up next” list.
8/10
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