There's a contributor's review of Patrick O'Brian's novels at
http://www.casualsailor.com/PatrickOBrian.html . It's a thoughtful
piece, but O'Brian fans should not expect it to be uncritical. I tend
to agree with the reviewer that the novels are enjoyable but that
their quality has been overstated.

E.J. Bleendreeble
http://www.casualsailor.com

Hmm, it seems you are wrong. O'brian's character was based upon a real
person named Cochrane, and he was much larger than life!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anthony.../r/thomas.html
Also, the latest issue of Smithsonian Magazine has a great article on
the guy!
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/s...ccurrent.shtml





EJBleendreeble wrote:
There's a contributor's review of Patrick O'Brian's novels at
http://www.casualsailor.com/PatrickOBrian.html . It's a thoughtful
piece, but O'Brian fans should not expect it to be uncritical. I tend
to agree with the reviewer that the novels are enjoyable but that
their quality has been overstated.

E.J. Bleendreeble
http://www.casualsailor.com

Been watching a couple of TV movies of Hornblower. Much better than
Master and Commander. Even if the bad guys were all Irish.

As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more real
character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the last
tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.

That might explain why I found O'Brian the only author I did not finish
reading a book of. Actually, I read 1 1/2 of his novels. Forgot which ones
they were by now. Struggled through the first one but gave up halfway
through the second.
I like reading books with this nautical theme. Read any I can get hold off.
But the utterly boring writing style of O'Brian is hard to stomach. Why does
he have to write sentences so endlessly long? It kills any action that might
be in there. It's very hard to follow what he's rambling on about. Its a
very boring style of writing.
Too bad, no more O'Brian novels for me.

Klaus

Gogarty wrote:



As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more real
character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the last
tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.

Klaus, your remarks about POB's writing "rambling on" brings Emperor Joseph
II's famous observation, 'Too many notes, my dear Mozart' to mind.



"Klaus" wrote in message
...
That might explain why I found O'Brian the only author I did not finish
reading a book of. Actually, I read 1 1/2 of his novels. Forgot which ones
they were by now. Struggled through the first one but gave up halfway
through the second.
I like reading books with this nautical theme. Read any I can get hold
off.
But the utterly boring writing style of O'Brian is hard to stomach. Why
does
he have to write sentences so endlessly long? It kills any action that
might
be in there. It's very hard to follow what he's rambling on about. Its a
very boring style of writing.
Too bad, no more O'Brian novels for me.

Klaus

Gogarty wrote:



As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more
real
character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the last
tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.

I read all the POB Aubrey novels. I struggled through the first, but became
accustomed to POB's style and then found the rest of the books easy
(although some were dreadfully boring). I found that there were two types of
readers: those who hated the books and those who loved them. There is no way
to tell who will like them and those who won't. Nevertheless, when I had the
opportunity to visit HMS Victory a few years ago, the memories of POB's
description of Trafalgar were vivid. I felt that I was re-living those
events as I stood on deck and below where Nelson died. As for the movie, I
thought it was spectacular. I brought my wife who I did not think would like
a guy movie like that. She loved it and told me to buy the sequel tickets
early.

Everyone's taste is different. Thank the god of your choice.

Tom


"padeen" wrote in message
...
Klaus, your remarks about POB's writing "rambling on" brings Emperor
Joseph
II's famous observation, 'Too many notes, my dear Mozart' to mind.



"Klaus" wrote in message
...
That might explain why I found O'Brian the only author I did not finish
reading a book of. Actually, I read 1 1/2 of his novels. Forgot which
ones
they were by now. Struggled through the first one but gave up halfway
through the second.
I like reading books with this nautical theme. Read any I can get hold
off.
But the utterly boring writing style of O'Brian is hard to stomach. Why
does
he have to write sentences so endlessly long? It kills any action that
might
be in there. It's very hard to follow what he's rambling on about. Its a
very boring style of writing.
Too bad, no more O'Brian novels for me.

Klaus

Gogarty wrote:



As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more
real
character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the
last
tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was
having
them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.

I read all the POB Aubrey novels. I struggled through the first, but became
accustomed to POB's style and then found the rest of the books easy
(although some were dreadfully boring). I found that there were two types of
readers: those who hated the books and those who loved them. There is no way
to tell who will like them and those who won't. Nevertheless, when I had the
opportunity to visit HMS Victory a few years ago, the memories of POB's
description of Trafalgar were vivid. I felt that I was re-living those
events as I stood on deck and below where Nelson died. As for the movie, I
thought it was spectacular. I brought my wife who I did not think would like
a guy movie like that. She loved it and told me to buy the sequel tickets
early.

Everyone's taste is different. Thank the god of your choice.

Tom


"padeen" wrote in message
...
Klaus, your remarks about POB's writing "rambling on" brings Emperor
Joseph
II's famous observation, 'Too many notes, my dear Mozart' to mind.



"Klaus" wrote in message
...
That might explain why I found O'Brian the only author I did not finish
reading a book of. Actually, I read 1 1/2 of his novels. Forgot which
ones
they were by now. Struggled through the first one but gave up halfway
through the second.
I like reading books with this nautical theme. Read any I can get hold
off.
But the utterly boring writing style of O'Brian is hard to stomach. Why
does
he have to write sentences so endlessly long? It kills any action that
might
be in there. It's very hard to follow what he's rambling on about. Its a
very boring style of writing.
Too bad, no more O'Brian novels for me.

Klaus

Gogarty wrote:



As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more
real
character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the
last
tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was
having
them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.

Gogarty wrote:
| Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
| them ghost-written .....

Is there any EVIDENCE of this?

Vic

--
__________________________________________________ ______

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KC2GUI

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long
and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
- Winston [Leonard Spencer] Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
-Count Oxenstierna (ca 1620) to the young King Gustavus Adolphus

"Klaus" wrote in message
...
| That might explain why I found O'Brian the only author I did not finish
| reading a book of. Actually, I read 1 1/2 of his novels. Forgot which ones
| they were by now. Struggled through the first one but gave up halfway
| through the second.
| I like reading books with this nautical theme. Read any I can get hold
off.
| But the utterly boring writing style of O'Brian is hard to stomach. Why
does
| he have to write sentences so endlessly long? It kills any action that
might
| be in there. It's very hard to follow what he's rambling on about. Its a
| very boring style of writing.
| Too bad, no more O'Brian novels for me.
|
| Klaus
|
| Gogarty wrote:
|
|
|
| As for O'Brain's novels, they are not better than CS Forester's
| Hornblower series but different. In a way, more real-life. Aubrey is a
| much more flawed human being than is Hornblower and thus a much more
real
| character. But I do feel that O'Brian ran badly out f steam on the last
| tyhree or so in the series. Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
| them ghost-written by that time. They had certainlky become formulaic.
|

In article ,
says...


Gogarty wrote:
| Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
| them ghost-written .....

Is there any EVIDENCE of this?

Only hearsay that I know of. But the last three are devoid of inspiration.
Of course, O'Brian was quite old by then.

In article ,
says...


Gogarty wrote:
| Indeed, I read somewhere that he was having
| them ghost-written .....

Is there any EVIDENCE of this?

Only hearsay that I know of. But the last three are devoid of inspiration.
Of course, O'Brian was quite old by then.