Showing posts with label aubrey-maturin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aubrey-maturin. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Out of Nowhere Aubrey-Maturin Moment
Also, was delighted to discover this very rare recorded interview with Patrick O'Brian. You have to lean in to hear him because he speaks quite softly and the sound is not exceptional; but it is worth it to hear him address The Mariner's Museum in VA. He speaks to Audrey-Maturin syndrome ( which I completely suffer from ) and proves he has the same, intelligent, quick and sparkly wit that pervades his narrative and recalls Jane Austen
Monday, September 05, 2011
Out-of-Nowhere Aubrey/Maturin moment
The Peter Weir film (a.k.a. Rachel's favourite literary adaptation of all time ), does not just draw (as presumed) on the first book in the Patrick O'Brian canon (Master and Commander) and the tenth book (The Far Side of the World); but also on the third book, H.M.S. Surprise.
Remember when Stephen operates on himself on the Galapagos islands after Jack has turned from his pursuit of the Acheron to save his friend? In H.M.S. Surprise (one of my favourites in the 20+ volume series), Stephen operates on himself after fighting a duel with his true love, Diana Villiers' (bitch. she is such a bitch, she treats Stephen mercilessly. For 20 books. bah) lover.
Remember when Stephen and Jack are walking on the Galapagos near the harboured Surprise and Stephen mentions he will name a great tortoise after Jack? Testudo Aubreii?
Yah. Also from H.M.S. Surprise.
Don't worry. This is fun and we can talk more about what Aubrey/Maturin moments are inspired and from where later on....
Monday, August 10, 2009
Listed: Favourite Male Characters
Courtney has been doing some lists over the past weeks and I thought I would jump on this one....because, seriously, what girlie bibliophile doesn't want to talk favourite fictional men?
Ahem!
Without further ado!
The list!
1.) Sherlock Holmes ---he needs no introduction. He is not at all how he is usually portrayed in film. He is, instead, young, spry, athletic and sharp. Oh! and he may loathe all of humanity but he loves Watson!
2.) Melrose Plant from Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series. Melrose leapt off the page at me when I first read him in "The Man with a Load of Mischief" ---e'er since I pine for the next Jury installment---especially the first obligatory scene in Long Pidd where Melrose is spotted at the Jack and Hammer: perhaps languidly reclining with his nose in Rimbaud. This Lou Reed-loving; emerald eyed; gold-rimmed bespecked wonder is an absolute fictional favourite!
3.) Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey and Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
Stephen is just so demmed interesting. So complex and so vulnerable. I sort of want to brush him up and put him in my pocket. Plus, I love that he plays the cello and that his heart "beats to quarters" every time he sees his one love , Diana Villiers
4.) Horatio Lyle from Catherine Webb's The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, etc., Sort of a Horatio Lyle/ Doctor Who hybrid, Horatio sprung off of the page and into my heart within ten pages of his first, eponymous novel. I LOVE him! I love that a young adult series boasts an adult protagonist and I LOVE that he loves the children: his proteges Tess and Thomas. His repartee with Tess is one of the best bits of Webb's sparkling writing.
5.) Dr. Neil MacNeil from Catherine Marshall's Christy. Oh goodness. Neil MacNeil sets my heart all aflutter. A smart, rapier-witted Scottish doctor whose loyalty to his people keeps him sequestered amidst poverty and ignorance in the Great Smokies of Tennessee. Young, impressionable Christian school teacher Christy is given more than she bargained for in this stern agnostic. The two spar and battle and fight through one of the most palpable chemistries I have ever read.
6.) Sir Percival Blakeney --The Scarlet Pimpernel of Baroness Orczy's series.
Percy is a swashbuckling; sword-wielding; romantic. He loves stealing to France to slight the intelligence of Robespierre and his personal rival, Chauvelin. Indeed, he may just be the first costumed superhero: disguising himself as a fop to slip into France under guise of attractive clothes. From lavish balls at Lord Grenville's to imprisonment to banter with the Prince Regent himself, Percy is ready for anything. Perhaps what most endears me to him is his adoration of his wife Marguerite. He kisses the stones her feet have trod.
7.) Dean Priest --from the Emily Trilogy by LM Montgomery
Someone please tell me what he is doing in what are otherwise harmless kunstleroman novels? Hunchbacked, emerald eyed and honey-tongued, "Jarback" Priest is undoubtedly the most complex of Montgomery's heroes ( followed closely by Andrew Stuart of Jane of Lantern Hill and Barney Snaith of The Blue Castle). He saves Emily from death and then claims her life for his own. All the while, exorcising his inner Rochester and proving himself the most byronic of byronic heroes. Wracked with jealousy and with a tendence to oddly skulk in corners, Dean just gives me shivers and keeps me diving back for more. I wrote my thesis on Montgomery and Dean figured prominently; creeping into each paragraph, but also into my thoughts for a year consistently. Montgomery mentions a novel-in-embryo she thought might have been her crowning glory entitled "Priest Pond." Perchance Maud shelved the epic that would never be but kept dear Dean and slid him into some of her best work.
8.) Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities ( Dickens)
Sydney Carton is a drunk lawyer who wears his wig askew, who piddles around his office with Stryver long after closing time and who loves Lucie Manette with all of his heart. Sydney never quite lives up to his vast potential. Moreover, he knows it. Instead he bottles all heroism into one of the most shockingly redemptive acts in all of literature. A very big literary crush of mine.
( I made him a facebook account).
9.) Barney Snaith from Montgomery's Blue Castle.
Barney is sort of my leading man. I adore him. I just want to put him in my pocket. In many ways he embodies my ideal: well-read; sarcastic; adventurous; thoughtful; bookish and smart. Barney's independent and has a wonderful, quick humour. He is also the best companion a gal could have. He respects Valancy ( his leading lady) and treats her as an equal. They share one of the most romantic friendships I have ever read. I like that their romance blooms out of comradery: the preternatural kinship Maud often writes of. Barney also has dimples and just happens to be an author---triple word score!
10.) Joseph Gargery from Great Expectations
I am not in love with Joseph; nor do I find him a particuarly attractive hero. He is not, indeed, the hero of the tale at all. But, without Joe, there would be no Pip to star in the tale and to have great expectations realized. Joe is the salt-of-the-earth blacksmith who would give his right arm to make his young, orphaned brother-in-law happy. No matter how badly the rich Pip hurts and mistreats Joe, Joe always holds the forge door wide open.
Joe also boasts a tremendous respect and tolerance of women: even his treacherous wife, Mrs. Joe. The son of an abused mother and a drunken father, Joe vowed never to see a woman put in such a shameful position again. Thus, he bears a difficult marriage having saved his wife and her young brother from destitution.
Honourable Mentions:
Alan Woodcourt (Dickens' Bleak House)
Patrick Harper ( the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell)
Locke Lamora and Jean Tannent ( by Scott Lynch)
Horatio ( from Shakespeare's Hamlet)
Ahem!
Without further ado!
The list!
1.) Sherlock Holmes ---he needs no introduction. He is not at all how he is usually portrayed in film. He is, instead, young, spry, athletic and sharp. Oh! and he may loathe all of humanity but he loves Watson!
2.) Melrose Plant from Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series. Melrose leapt off the page at me when I first read him in "The Man with a Load of Mischief" ---e'er since I pine for the next Jury installment---especially the first obligatory scene in Long Pidd where Melrose is spotted at the Jack and Hammer: perhaps languidly reclining with his nose in Rimbaud. This Lou Reed-loving; emerald eyed; gold-rimmed bespecked wonder is an absolute fictional favourite!
3.) Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey and Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
Stephen is just so demmed interesting. So complex and so vulnerable. I sort of want to brush him up and put him in my pocket. Plus, I love that he plays the cello and that his heart "beats to quarters" every time he sees his one love , Diana Villiers
4.) Horatio Lyle from Catherine Webb's The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, etc., Sort of a Horatio Lyle/ Doctor Who hybrid, Horatio sprung off of the page and into my heart within ten pages of his first, eponymous novel. I LOVE him! I love that a young adult series boasts an adult protagonist and I LOVE that he loves the children: his proteges Tess and Thomas. His repartee with Tess is one of the best bits of Webb's sparkling writing.
5.) Dr. Neil MacNeil from Catherine Marshall's Christy. Oh goodness. Neil MacNeil sets my heart all aflutter. A smart, rapier-witted Scottish doctor whose loyalty to his people keeps him sequestered amidst poverty and ignorance in the Great Smokies of Tennessee. Young, impressionable Christian school teacher Christy is given more than she bargained for in this stern agnostic. The two spar and battle and fight through one of the most palpable chemistries I have ever read.
6.) Sir Percival Blakeney --The Scarlet Pimpernel of Baroness Orczy's series.
Percy is a swashbuckling; sword-wielding; romantic. He loves stealing to France to slight the intelligence of Robespierre and his personal rival, Chauvelin. Indeed, he may just be the first costumed superhero: disguising himself as a fop to slip into France under guise of attractive clothes. From lavish balls at Lord Grenville's to imprisonment to banter with the Prince Regent himself, Percy is ready for anything. Perhaps what most endears me to him is his adoration of his wife Marguerite. He kisses the stones her feet have trod.
7.) Dean Priest --from the Emily Trilogy by LM Montgomery
Someone please tell me what he is doing in what are otherwise harmless kunstleroman novels? Hunchbacked, emerald eyed and honey-tongued, "Jarback" Priest is undoubtedly the most complex of Montgomery's heroes ( followed closely by Andrew Stuart of Jane of Lantern Hill and Barney Snaith of The Blue Castle). He saves Emily from death and then claims her life for his own. All the while, exorcising his inner Rochester and proving himself the most byronic of byronic heroes. Wracked with jealousy and with a tendence to oddly skulk in corners, Dean just gives me shivers and keeps me diving back for more. I wrote my thesis on Montgomery and Dean figured prominently; creeping into each paragraph, but also into my thoughts for a year consistently. Montgomery mentions a novel-in-embryo she thought might have been her crowning glory entitled "Priest Pond." Perchance Maud shelved the epic that would never be but kept dear Dean and slid him into some of her best work.
8.) Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities ( Dickens)
Sydney Carton is a drunk lawyer who wears his wig askew, who piddles around his office with Stryver long after closing time and who loves Lucie Manette with all of his heart. Sydney never quite lives up to his vast potential. Moreover, he knows it. Instead he bottles all heroism into one of the most shockingly redemptive acts in all of literature. A very big literary crush of mine.
( I made him a facebook account).
9.) Barney Snaith from Montgomery's Blue Castle.
Barney is sort of my leading man. I adore him. I just want to put him in my pocket. In many ways he embodies my ideal: well-read; sarcastic; adventurous; thoughtful; bookish and smart. Barney's independent and has a wonderful, quick humour. He is also the best companion a gal could have. He respects Valancy ( his leading lady) and treats her as an equal. They share one of the most romantic friendships I have ever read. I like that their romance blooms out of comradery: the preternatural kinship Maud often writes of. Barney also has dimples and just happens to be an author---triple word score!
10.) Joseph Gargery from Great Expectations
I am not in love with Joseph; nor do I find him a particuarly attractive hero. He is not, indeed, the hero of the tale at all. But, without Joe, there would be no Pip to star in the tale and to have great expectations realized. Joe is the salt-of-the-earth blacksmith who would give his right arm to make his young, orphaned brother-in-law happy. No matter how badly the rich Pip hurts and mistreats Joe, Joe always holds the forge door wide open.
Joe also boasts a tremendous respect and tolerance of women: even his treacherous wife, Mrs. Joe. The son of an abused mother and a drunken father, Joe vowed never to see a woman put in such a shameful position again. Thus, he bears a difficult marriage having saved his wife and her young brother from destitution.
Honourable Mentions:
Alan Woodcourt (Dickens' Bleak House)
Patrick Harper ( the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell)
Locke Lamora and Jean Tannent ( by Scott Lynch)
Horatio ( from Shakespeare's Hamlet)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Summer of Patrick O'Brian: Post Captain the Condensed Version
JA: Oh no! Treaty of Amiens! No ship! I have no money and I am not any good on land!
SM: sulks.
JA: Stephen! Stephen! Are you going to desert me now that the war is over and go to Spain?
SM: *shrugs*
JA: I know! Let's round up Barrett Bonden and Pullings and Mowatt and Killick and all the people we like and rent Melbury Lodge in the South Downs. We can hoist up rigging, raise halliards and live like we did on the Sophie....'cept on land!!!!! Wanna come? PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE! I have some new Corelli and Boccherini sheet music in my bag!
SM: Yah!
Stephen and Jack find the South Downs just as a fox hunt is taking place. What?! Is that a woman in a blue riding habit galloping after that fox? Woman in a man's sport! Wowza!
*Enter Diana Villiers to ruin the next 18 and a half books by treating Stephen like a heel*
*enter Mrs. Williams Sophia, Cecilia and Frances*
Mrs Williams: We are the Jane Austen portion of the book! I am a silly, frivolous woman trying to marry my girls off to the handsome bachelors ( well....Stephen isn't THAT handsome ) at Melbry lodge. Oh! And I have to put up with my widowed niece Diana. She has no money.*
JA:*thinks* hmmm. I like Sophia. She has a great complexion. But Diana is fascinating.
SM: * thinks* I am madly in love with Diana and may fall over due to infatuation at any moment but I am going to supress my feelings by taking her numerous blows and calling her by her last name. In turn, she will call me by my last name.
DV: *thinks* Hmmm! Stephen Maturin is like a kind little basset hound that I can toy with and tease who will look up at my mopily. I think I will keep him. But, I also want to keep Jack because he is 6'4 and brawny and that will teach my cousin Sophia and my stupid aunt.
----Lots of balls and hunting and polo and landsports.
---Maturin writes in his diary about Diana
---Jack and Diana have nightly trysts
---hark! Diana plays the piano well!
---look! Sophia has the greatest complexion ever!
---Stephen is jealous but has nothing to say. Nurses morphine addiction
---Diana calls Stephen ugly and he still follows her around like a mangy dog
---Jack is in debt (shock) and mean people come to Melbury to round him up for debtor's prison
---Stephen sneaks him out the back door
JA: where are we going?
SM: I happen to have a castle in spain. It has sheep and lemon groves
JA: La! My dear! you are an old file!
SM: *skulks*
---Stephen and Jack cross France just as war is declared and English are rounded up
JA: I am a 6"4 blonde captain with a missing ear. They will recognize me right away!!!
SM: Where is a bear costume when you need one?
----Stephen sneaks Jack into Spain disguised as bear
----They end up near Diana Villiers again
*enter Canning*
Canning: Hi! I have a privateer you might want. A Letter of Marque. You can pirate things and make money.
JA: hmmm. Nope. I think I should wiat til the admiralty gives me a commission. I wanna be a post-captain!!
Canning: *shrugs*
Admiral Harte: I am still mad at you because you had an affair with my wife. Take this soggy little sloop called Polychrest. But be warned. It might sink. Also, I cannot promise you any good officers. You might have to find them off the street.
JA: I have a ship!
SM: *secretly* I don't know if I can come this time. I have *wink* stuff to...erm....stuff to do
(Stephen is now an intelligence agent)
JA: I cannot live without you!
SM: Fine. I'll meet you at the end of the week after I finish *wink* doing *wink* stuff.... *nudge*
AT SEA:
---Lt. Parker makes everyone mad ( including Stephen)
---Jack spends way too much time on shore with Diana and Stephen can smell her perfume on his uniform when he gets back to the ship
---Stephen starts to hate Jack
----Polychrest sucks and there is no prize money.
SM: Jack, you suck! You shouldn't keep going on shore to *cough* visit Diana because you will get arrested for debt. After I snuck you 'cross the border in a bear costume and fed you lemon juice. THIS is how you repay me? Just take Sophia and be done with it
JA: *humph* mebbe we aren't friends anymore
SM: Fine! I challenge you to a duel!
JA: NOT ANOTHER ONE!
SM: hmmm ....yep!
---Stephen goes to find duelling pistols
----Jack finds out that Diana is sleeping w. Canning
---Jack goes to the pub and gets drunk:
JA: I cannot fight Stephen. This is stupid. I'm gonna end up just standing there and letting him shoot a bullet in me. And, I think I love Sophie. But, her mum won't let me marry her because she has a dowry and I am in debt. DRAT!!!
SM: hmm. I thought everyone liked me on this ship. Apparently they only liked me because Jack likes me. Damn. I have no friends.... ow!
*Polychresters "accidentally" bump into Stephen
---Stephen overhears talk of mutiny
SM: Erm... Jack. I still don't like you and you smell and I am not your friend but they are planning a mutiny. Oh! and this ship will probably sink.
JA: MUTINY! OH NO!
----To avoid planned mutiny, Jack steers the Polychrest into battle and discovers the mutiny is as a result of the men hating Parker and not him.
----FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
SM: Oh no! Jack, you're wounded
JA: Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?
SM: Nah! I can't stay mad at you.
JA: I think I'll stick with Sophie. You can have Diana!
SM:*brightly* Thanks!
----Jack is made Post-Captain
----Jack and Stephen sail away
---Diana continues affair with Canning and continues to ruin Stephen's life
Summer of Patrick O'Brian: love letter to Post- Captain
I know you are just a book ( if anything can ever be just a book ) but I absolutely, ardently, passionately love you.
You are a brilliant novel.
You are enough Jane Austen to make me want to slip into a drawing room and sit like a lady whilst discussing how many couples were at the last ball and people's health and the weather and whist and so forth while listening to the pianoforte.
You are enough CS Forester to make me want to jump aboard and spirit away to the Antipodes atop a 36 gun frigate with the wind in my mainsail and an old ditty about spain and rations in my heart.
You are just a remarkably well-plotted; well-structured work of genius.
I hang on every word of your sparkling dialogue
I laugh at your subtle wit
I forgive the more implausible moments of your outline ( Jack Aubrey disguised as a bear as Stephen sneaks him across France to their destination: Stephen's castle complete with sheep and lemon groves---ha!) and I get infuriated at you ----- and the havoc you wreak on my susceptible emotions. How CAN Diana Villiers be so fascinating and simultaneously so poisonous?
For your dichotomy; your smart turns-of-phrase; your unbelievable narrative and the best editing known to man, I salute you.
For your representation of strong, determined and smart women in a man's world of seamanship and war, I will raise thirteen guns to larboard.
I absolutely adore you.
I know it is a little unorthodox to write a love letter to a book, but I cannot help myself.
Summer of Patrick O'Brian: Master and Commander the Condensed Version
I am re-reading the entire Aubrey/ Maturin canon..... no easy feat. My first read-through took well over a year and was not chronological ( I started reading them during a summer studying in England and would pick them up at used bookstores everywhere just before I boarded trains with my Britrail pass).
Now, I started back at one. Instead of "reviewing" each in the series, I start my homage to some of my favourite literary works of all time ....with the ever popular format of abridgement!
Master and Commander: the condensed version
Port Mahon 1800
Enter Jack Aubrey:
Hi! I'm Jack Aubrey I am at least 15 stone and I love concerts. I am a lieutenant in the navy. I am having an affair with Molly Harte. This does not make Admiral Harte happy. He might wreck my career some day but zounds! Molly plays the harp well---among other things
Some of my ship mates call me goldilocks because my hair is blonde. Later I will be called Lucky Jack Aubrey. But, I am not so lucky now. I owe tons of money. I need a ship. Drat!
I still, however, have time to go to a concert ashore:
I really like music ( especially Corelli) but this Locatelli chamber concert is awesome. They are playing the C major quartet. Music is going to pervade this long, long book series.
I am going to beat my knee cap with my fist in time with the music
Oh look! There is a little, sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes. I think he is angry that I am making noise and humming along at the concert.
Jack Aubrey: hum-hum-hummmm!
Little sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes: Shuddup!
More music “pom pom pom”
Jack Aubrey: I can keep time with the cello part. I am making a lot of noise.
*Chair scuffle. Concert over*
Sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes *angrily*: you ruined the concert you oaf. You made so much noise!
Jack Aubrey: I am thinking I would like to beat you over the head with my chair. But I will not say this aloud. Instead, I will glare at you, you ill-looking cove!
Sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes *angrily*: You cannot beat time! You suck!
Jack Aubrey: Who are you to tell me I can'tbeat time? I challenge thee to a duel! Let’s deke it out!
Sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes.:Name the time and the place. My name is Stephen Maturin and I am staying at Joselito’s coffee house!
Jack Aubrey: You are a sparse looking fellow with pale eyes
Maturin: humph!
--Jack visits Molly Harte( Jack should not do this it is bad for his naval career)
---Jack is given command of the "Sophie" and is set to sail
---Jack is happy.
---Jack runs into Maturin downtown the morning after the concert-- He is no longer angry because he has a ship
JA: Sorry I was so loud and obnoxious at the concert. I have a ship
SM: cool!
JA: wanna go on a man date?
SM: I have not eaten since the peace. Be there
JA: cool!
SM: Let me buy you some hot chocolate
*drink hot chocolate*
---Jack does important naval things for the next 30 pages and it looks like one of his new shipmates did something inappropriate with a goat.
---Jack and Stephen Maturin go on another man date. Here, they eat boar and sheep and drink lots of wine:
JA: I have a ship!
SM: cool!
JA: and look! I have a shiny gold epaulette!
SM: cool!
JA: wanna go on another man date?
SM: yah! *distractedly looks out window*
JA: are you paying attention?
SM: there's a bird! I am a naturalist. I like birds. I also speak eighteen different languages, play the cello and am strangely introverted.
JA: I play the violin
SM: let's talk music
play and talk.....play and talk.....
Friendship solidified
JA: what do you do?
SM: I am a physician. But my rich patient died and I have no money
JA: wanna sail across the world with me? You can see lots of bugs and we can play music!
SM: ‘kay!
Night-time
---Stephen Maturin sleeping under a tree and eating leftover lamb he snuck in his pocket after his dinner the night before: “ I came all the way out here for this patient and he died on me and now I am an overqualified physician ( none of that common surgeon nonsense) and oh look! There’s a bug! I like bugs. I am a naturalist. Now I have nothing to do.
I must go to sea!
SEA:
JA: I have good people here! I like Barrett Bonden and James Pullings and I like that guy who everyone thinks is gay… but… wait. I am not sure if I like this red-headed guy who is my lieutenant Oh! maybe I do!
Red Headed Guy: My name is James Dillon. I am a lieutenant. I am also Irish. I am also Catholic. But, shhh! You cannot tell ppl in the British navy you are catholic so I will be pouty and secretive.
Stephen Maturin * recognizes James Dillon from his rebel stint as a United Irishman*: I know your secret!
James Dillon: You are a sparse-looking fellow with pale eyes. Go hang out by the water pump.
*Stephen hangs out by the water pump*
---James Dillon sulks for the next three hundred pages
---Stephen Maturin writes in his diary for the next three hundred pages when he is not tripping over things or falling into the sea because he is a landlubber where Jack is a sea-lion ( note dichotomy). He writes about birds and insects and how Jack and James do not get along.
--Jack Aubrey has lots of great victories and lots of wine and gains eight pounds eating soused hog’s face and disguises the Sophie as a whaler to trick the much larger Spanish xebec-frigate the "Cacafuego"
---More music playing
----More nautical terminology
---Stephen becomes introverted and pouts. Jack loses part of his ear.
---Battles and Nautical jargon
---Stephen sees a tree frog
----Jack visits Mrs. Harte again
-----Stephen dissects a dolphin.
-----Jack is put to court martial because he let some prisoners off on an island
----Jack is acquitted but has no commission.
----lots of drinking
---Jack and Stephen sit under the stars and basically declare their undying love for each other ( in a platonic way) and plan to sail again.
THE END
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
literary doppelganger
And we had not talked about this before...how?
I was chatting with a friend at work yesterday. Someone with whom I have shared a SUITE at past conferences, yipped to ad nauseum during the day, eaten meals with and somehow (???!!!!!! ) we had never discussed that her favourite authors include
How does that not come up? HOW?
I mean, sometimes, I will find someone who intersects genres with me ...mayhap a Reginald Hill fan ( they are few and far between in my world, so it would seem ) but Reginald, Martha Grimes AND Patrick O'Brian?
I was chatting with a friend at work yesterday. Someone with whom I have shared a SUITE at past conferences, yipped to ad nauseum during the day, eaten meals with and somehow (???!!!!!! ) we had never discussed that her favourite authors include
- Maureen Jennings
- Martha Grimes
- Patrick O'Brian
- Reginald Hill
How does that not come up? HOW?
I mean, sometimes, I will find someone who intersects genres with me ...mayhap a Reginald Hill fan ( they are few and far between in my world, so it would seem ) but Reginald, Martha Grimes AND Patrick O'Brian?
Saturday, December 01, 2007
NEW PATRICK O'BRIAN
Well, "new" isn't quite the word we are looking for, for obvious reasons (posthumous writings of novels have been known to be difficult. Though, I bet Arthur Conan Doyle believed in them ).
Anyways, 'tis a reprint from 1954 and entitled The Road to Samarcand and yes, most action is aboard ship!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME !
Anyways, 'tis a reprint from 1954 and entitled The Road to Samarcand and yes, most action is aboard ship!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME !
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
and furthermore....
In conjunction with the whole I- love- the- new Read -Red -Penguin series, I am excessively infatuated with the Harper Perennial reprintings of the Aubrey-Maturin canon.
DEAR GOD THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL !!!
DEAR GOD THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL !!!
I am usually sceptical of photographs on covers, but the two I have purchased in as many days have proven me wrong.
Harper Perennial has perfectly cast a physical double of Maturin ( HE LOOKS LIKE MATURIN DAMMIT!!!---specs and ALL). Though Paul Bettany captured the "spirit" of Maturin in the film, he never looked at all like him. This physical double is brilliant. I cannot believe the brilliance here.
Rendered inarticulate and prone to redundancy but am not at fault. OBSERVE THE BRILLIANCE !
Friday, October 05, 2007
meme
Taken from A Work In Progress
1. Hardcover or paperback, and why? Trade paperbacks are my favourite for every day reading. But, for collector's editions and classics I like hardcover.
2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…Mycroft's .... it would be a Mystery bookshop, naturally.
3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is... Emily Climbs by LM Montgomery :
"I will just have to fix my thoughts on the moonlight and the romance and ignore the mosquitoes."
4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….L.M. Montgomery, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte ( deceased ) ( I would say Patrick O'Brian byt he might be a little prickly ) Living: Ian Rankin. Hello! Anthony Horowitz.
5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…Les Miserables.
6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…. turned the pages of a hardcover for me in bed. Or somekind of indescructable type of paper you could take in the bathtub.
7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…. home. in the fall or winter. mellow light and a comfy chair.
8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….Sherlock Holmes, ( I still believe I am Sherlock Holmes ), or maybe Marianne in Sense and Sensibility because she gets Col. Brandon and a big house . I would say Anne in Persuasion but I would have had to have undergone that treacherous upbringing. Valancy of The Blue Castle because I could live w/ Barney..... any heroine who ends up with a great guy. Rich.
9. The most overestimated book of all times is…. oh Where shall we start?
Dan Brown ( naturally), the Secret ( Come on people, don't be so stupid ), the Shopaholic Series ( come on people, don't be stupid), everything by Jodi Picoult, The Kite Runner, and, of course, last year's over rated award goes to The Thirteenth Tale.
And more Dan Brown.
10. I hate it when a book…. is written by Dan Brown, includes badly rendered dialect (i.e., most Scottish or Newfie dialect in novels, sometimes some really bad pioneer-type dialect..... I am thinking, here, of all the Janette Oke books I read as an undiscerning kid in the Church Library ....in fact most Christian novelists screw up dialect!)
1. Hardcover or paperback, and why? Trade paperbacks are my favourite for every day reading. But, for collector's editions and classics I like hardcover.
2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…Mycroft's .... it would be a Mystery bookshop, naturally.
3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is... Emily Climbs by LM Montgomery :
"I will just have to fix my thoughts on the moonlight and the romance and ignore the mosquitoes."
4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….L.M. Montgomery, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte ( deceased ) ( I would say Patrick O'Brian byt he might be a little prickly ) Living: Ian Rankin. Hello! Anthony Horowitz.
5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…Les Miserables.
6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…. turned the pages of a hardcover for me in bed. Or somekind of indescructable type of paper you could take in the bathtub.
7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…. home. in the fall or winter. mellow light and a comfy chair.
8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….Sherlock Holmes, ( I still believe I am Sherlock Holmes ), or maybe Marianne in Sense and Sensibility because she gets Col. Brandon and a big house . I would say Anne in Persuasion but I would have had to have undergone that treacherous upbringing. Valancy of The Blue Castle because I could live w/ Barney..... any heroine who ends up with a great guy. Rich.
9. The most overestimated book of all times is…. oh Where shall we start?
Dan Brown ( naturally), the Secret ( Come on people, don't be so stupid ), the Shopaholic Series ( come on people, don't be stupid), everything by Jodi Picoult, The Kite Runner, and, of course, last year's over rated award goes to The Thirteenth Tale.
And more Dan Brown.
10. I hate it when a book…. is written by Dan Brown, includes badly rendered dialect (i.e., most Scottish or Newfie dialect in novels, sometimes some really bad pioneer-type dialect..... I am thinking, here, of all the Janette Oke books I read as an undiscerning kid in the Church Library ....in fact most Christian novelists screw up dialect!)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
desert island.
Okay, unexpectedly ( and largely due to facebook and my part in the Spring Musical in my town ), I have been absent. I also joined two committees and finished my role as reader for a Canadian literary award.
That being done, and wanting to come back with a *bang! *, here I am again----with some desert island picks.
I have been skulking in the blogger background and reading some people's memes about the books they cannot live without.
I could never choose five ( are you kidding ) , or ten ( too low, still ) and so fifteen was a challenge for me:
but here it is:
DRUM ROLL:
FIFTEEN BOOKS I WOULD NEED WITH ME/CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT/WOULD DIE SHOULD THEY FALL FROM MY HANDS
In no particular order:
1.) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo--- the size itself would keep my happy for a long while.
2.) The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery----Barney has an island. Perchance if I am stuck on an island he will show up....wishful thinking.
3.)Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte ----funny thing is, from a literary standpoint, I always list Villette as my favourite of her works and one of my top five books, but I cannot imagine being stranded without Thornfield or Rochester
4.)Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-----we deserted castaways need something representative of Austen, so this is my pick of her works. It is my representation of the whole Austen canon, if not my personal Austen favourite.
5.) The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain ----I love this book. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. It has that uncanny ability to capture Twain's humorous heart, acts as a perfect YA novel ( we all know how I love those ) and is a riproaring representative of the historical fiction genre.
6.)Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene---- not a great work of literature, no. But, it is my Christmas book ---and even we marooned on islands need to celebrate the holidays.
7.) The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ---Do not try to tell me this doesn't count because it acts as a range of different stories....they all come in the same friggin' book . I sell many editions that boast the "Complete" works. So there. It's in!
No cheating.
8.) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens---Once again, this is a tough choice because Our Mutual Friend is probably my favourite of all things Dickensian. However, GE and I have the most history and we go the furthest back. And, like Austen, I feel it is a good representation of his tone, voice, setting....tis a complete package
9.) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell ---- I need Mr. Thornton. I need Mr. Thornton
10.) Christy by Catherine Marshall. Girl moves to the Smokies in the early 20th Century to teach school to the mountain people and live at a mission there. Upon arrival, she meets two fascinating men who both fall equally in love with her. Every girl's dream.
11. ) According to Jake and the Kid by W.O. Mitchell ----- We outcasts need to laugh and The King of All Country remains one of the funniest short stories in my memory. Further still, the Canadian content on my island needs to be maintained.
12.) HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian---- Picking one Aubrey/Maturin book out of the lot is a dismal prospect, but, being thus so, I cho-cho-choose this one !
13.) The Stargazey by Martha Grimes ---You think for one second I would go to my island without Melrose Plant. Humph!
14.) Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers ---- theologically intuned, romantically sprawled amidst gothic spires, lots of Wimsey and that brilliant, fiesty, feminist Harriet Vane, I am packing her in my bag!
15.) Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb ----a recent acquistion, I have only been Lyle's acquaintance for a year, but he is the embodiment of everything that makes YA literature my passion. Funny, smartly written, filled to the brim with eccentric characters that make my heart leap---and all by a 19 year old.
Hope the hiatus is over. If anyone still reads this, welcome back.
OH ------------and by the way!!! The Lies of Locke Lamora is BRILLIANT !
I am getting the ARC for the second one and anxiously check my mailbox everyday!
That being done, and wanting to come back with a *bang! *, here I am again----with some desert island picks.
I have been skulking in the blogger background and reading some people's memes about the books they cannot live without.
I could never choose five ( are you kidding ) , or ten ( too low, still ) and so fifteen was a challenge for me:
but here it is:
DRUM ROLL:
FIFTEEN BOOKS I WOULD NEED WITH ME/CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT/WOULD DIE SHOULD THEY FALL FROM MY HANDS
In no particular order:
1.) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo--- the size itself would keep my happy for a long while.
2.) The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery----Barney has an island. Perchance if I am stuck on an island he will show up....wishful thinking.
3.)Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte ----funny thing is, from a literary standpoint, I always list Villette as my favourite of her works and one of my top five books, but I cannot imagine being stranded without Thornfield or Rochester
4.)Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-----we deserted castaways need something representative of Austen, so this is my pick of her works. It is my representation of the whole Austen canon, if not my personal Austen favourite.
5.) The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain ----I love this book. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. It has that uncanny ability to capture Twain's humorous heart, acts as a perfect YA novel ( we all know how I love those ) and is a riproaring representative of the historical fiction genre.
6.)Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene---- not a great work of literature, no. But, it is my Christmas book ---and even we marooned on islands need to celebrate the holidays.
7.) The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ---Do not try to tell me this doesn't count because it acts as a range of different stories....they all come in the same friggin' book . I sell many editions that boast the "Complete" works. So there. It's in!
No cheating.
8.) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens---Once again, this is a tough choice because Our Mutual Friend is probably my favourite of all things Dickensian. However, GE and I have the most history and we go the furthest back. And, like Austen, I feel it is a good representation of his tone, voice, setting....tis a complete package
9.) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell ---- I need Mr. Thornton. I need Mr. Thornton
10.) Christy by Catherine Marshall. Girl moves to the Smokies in the early 20th Century to teach school to the mountain people and live at a mission there. Upon arrival, she meets two fascinating men who both fall equally in love with her. Every girl's dream.
11. ) According to Jake and the Kid by W.O. Mitchell ----- We outcasts need to laugh and The King of All Country remains one of the funniest short stories in my memory. Further still, the Canadian content on my island needs to be maintained.
12.) HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian---- Picking one Aubrey/Maturin book out of the lot is a dismal prospect, but, being thus so, I cho-cho-choose this one !
13.) The Stargazey by Martha Grimes ---You think for one second I would go to my island without Melrose Plant. Humph!
14.) Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers ---- theologically intuned, romantically sprawled amidst gothic spires, lots of Wimsey and that brilliant, fiesty, feminist Harriet Vane, I am packing her in my bag!
15.) Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb ----a recent acquistion, I have only been Lyle's acquaintance for a year, but he is the embodiment of everything that makes YA literature my passion. Funny, smartly written, filled to the brim with eccentric characters that make my heart leap---and all by a 19 year old.
Hope the hiatus is over. If anyone still reads this, welcome back.
OH ------------and by the way!!! The Lies of Locke Lamora is BRILLIANT !
I am getting the ARC for the second one and anxiously check my mailbox everyday!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
The Side-Kick syndrome
I finished Sharpe's Fury last weekend. I love these books. They are like Hallowe'en candy; they can get sickeningly sweet somewhere in the middle what with the same scenarios, green rifle-coat one-liners, and Sharpe's attraction to women who string through the novels like Bond girls, but they are addictive.
And, as always, my opinion of Cornwell's long serial was heightened by my fervent enjoyment of Patrick Harper.
I love Patrick Harper. In the television series as well as in the books. Harper always commences a stream-of-consciousness loop that leads back to my high school English ISU: Side-kicks in Literature and how they are often stronger than the lead character themselves. Watson is more than a "whetstone for Holmes' mind", he is the moral centre of the book, the counterbalance between the willing reader and Holmes' egotism.
Along with Watson and Holmes I delved into Robinson Crusoe and his good man Friday ( however politically incorrect his portrayal seems nowadays with its "savage" overtones ) and Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
My love for the "side-kicks" never fails me. I wonder if the "everyman" in me ( the every "person" for those who hate the gendering of terms ) leads me to relate more to those slightly out of the spotlight.
Consider Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations: often Pip's compass and moral advisor; Consider Gabriel Utterson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Often times the sidekick is made of sterner stuff than the man or woman given the leading role. Or, for a different splash of flavour, Harriet in Jane Austen's Emma: certainly not the centre of attention but the reason that our titular heroine is able to play out many of her schemes. The sidekick becomes project, thus. The sidekick becomes essential to the unravelling of the plot.
Modern literature, as well as 18th and 19th C literature aforementioned, is peppered with sidekicks worthy of our acclaim. The major root of my love for the mystery genre lies in its serialized format. Should a devout reader fall hard for a sidekick---legman Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe books, Meyer in John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George's Lynley books and Melrose Plant the sidekick who supersedes the traditional role of sidekick and turns it on its ear----they have publication after publication to watch them grow and evolve.
The historical adventure novel lends itself well as a landscape where happy sidekicks can exist. Think the interesting role of Maturin the secret agent/nautical surgeon in the brillian Patrick O'Brian series, Ate in the Jack Absolute series by Humphreys, and Renzi in Julian Stockwin's interesting "Kydd" books.
Ron in Harry Potter, Brom in Eragon, Miles Dorrington in the Pink Carnation books by Lauren Willig---the list goes on and on.
They are far more than foils. How many fandoms on the internet arise from sidekick love? Think the fabulous Doctor that plays roomate to the uptight House, Archie Kennedy ( or even Lieut. Bush ) in A and E's Hornblower, Milner in "Foyle's War."
In a Scandal in Bohemia, Holmes famously informs Watson that he is "lost without my Boswell."
After another bout into Sargeant Harper-land, the sentence starts ringing true for many a delightful character and drives my respect for a well-drawn second-player even more.
And, as always, my opinion of Cornwell's long serial was heightened by my fervent enjoyment of Patrick Harper.
I love Patrick Harper. In the television series as well as in the books. Harper always commences a stream-of-consciousness loop that leads back to my high school English ISU: Side-kicks in Literature and how they are often stronger than the lead character themselves. Watson is more than a "whetstone for Holmes' mind", he is the moral centre of the book, the counterbalance between the willing reader and Holmes' egotism.
Along with Watson and Holmes I delved into Robinson Crusoe and his good man Friday ( however politically incorrect his portrayal seems nowadays with its "savage" overtones ) and Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
My love for the "side-kicks" never fails me. I wonder if the "everyman" in me ( the every "person" for those who hate the gendering of terms ) leads me to relate more to those slightly out of the spotlight.
Consider Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations: often Pip's compass and moral advisor; Consider Gabriel Utterson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Often times the sidekick is made of sterner stuff than the man or woman given the leading role. Or, for a different splash of flavour, Harriet in Jane Austen's Emma: certainly not the centre of attention but the reason that our titular heroine is able to play out many of her schemes. The sidekick becomes project, thus. The sidekick becomes essential to the unravelling of the plot.
Modern literature, as well as 18th and 19th C literature aforementioned, is peppered with sidekicks worthy of our acclaim. The major root of my love for the mystery genre lies in its serialized format. Should a devout reader fall hard for a sidekick---legman Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe books, Meyer in John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George's Lynley books and Melrose Plant the sidekick who supersedes the traditional role of sidekick and turns it on its ear----they have publication after publication to watch them grow and evolve.
The historical adventure novel lends itself well as a landscape where happy sidekicks can exist. Think the interesting role of Maturin the secret agent/nautical surgeon in the brillian Patrick O'Brian series, Ate in the Jack Absolute series by Humphreys, and Renzi in Julian Stockwin's interesting "Kydd" books.
Ron in Harry Potter, Brom in Eragon, Miles Dorrington in the Pink Carnation books by Lauren Willig---the list goes on and on.
They are far more than foils. How many fandoms on the internet arise from sidekick love? Think the fabulous Doctor that plays roomate to the uptight House, Archie Kennedy ( or even Lieut. Bush ) in A and E's Hornblower, Milner in "Foyle's War."
In a Scandal in Bohemia, Holmes famously informs Watson that he is "lost without my Boswell."
After another bout into Sargeant Harper-land, the sentence starts ringing true for many a delightful character and drives my respect for a well-drawn second-player even more.
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