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  • EalingEagle
    EalingEagle Posts: 15
    Going back to original post and Aubrey/Maturin....I believe that Patrick O’Brian based a lot of the stories on the exploits of a real sea captain of the day. I can’t remember the historical person, but I believe a biography exists. Any ideas?
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    EalingEagle wrote:
    Going back to original post and Aubrey/Maturin....I believe that Patrick O’Brian based a lot of the stories on the exploits of a real sea captain of the day. I can’t remember the historical person, but I believe a biography exists. Any ideas?

    I wasn't aware of that.
    I have read some of the Julian Stockwin series which is similar. Story of a pressed deck hand who rises to rank of Admiral. Which actually did occur on a handful of occasions.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 20,693
    'Une Soupe des Herbes Sauvages' by Emilie Carles. The autobiography of a woman born in 1900 brought up on a farm in the high French Alps, who was determined to get an education and become a teacher, but who never really left her home village. A quite amazing life story, told without fuss. Eminently readable in French, if you have a reasonable amount, and well worth the effort.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • EalingEagle
    EalingEagle Posts: 15
    Ploughing through the Julian Stockwin series as and when through the library. I find less character development in these.
    Basically, I care less about them. Still very interesting from a historical perspective.
  • hommelbier
    hommelbier Posts: 1,556
    EalingEagle wrote:
    Going back to original post and Aubrey/Maturin....I believe that Patrick O’Brian based a lot of the stories on the exploits of a real sea captain of the day. I can’t remember the historical person, but I believe a biography exists. Any ideas?

    I read a biography last year of Sir Edward Pellew entitled "Commander, The life and exploits of Britain's greatest frigate captain" by Stephen Taylor, an exceptionally well written biography which reads almost like a novel.
    Could easily be the inspiration for Aubrey
  • EalingEagle
    EalingEagle Posts: 15
    Pellew! That’s the fellah! Thank you. I shall hunt that down.
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    EalingEagle wrote:
    Pellew! That’s the fellah! Thank you. I shall hunt that down.

    Pellew features in the Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    EalingEagle wrote:
    Ploughing through the Julian Stockwin series as and when through the library. I find less character development in these.
    Basically, I care less about them. Still very interesting from a historical perspective.

    They certainly have less depth of character and don't really tell you much about how ships were run, the language and psychology of the time etc etc.
    More like a good ripping yarn. Like the Hornblower novels they'd actually adapt well to a TV series.
    I've actually corresponded with Julian Stockwin, a very nice and learned chap.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    587369.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587369.The_Third_Policeman

    Found this while browsing Joe Friel cycling coaching books, strangely. Was considered highly original when written, but now a genre all of it's own, probably. Great read.

    9790778.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9790778-the-prince-of-mist

    I didn't realize this is primarily for younger readers, until about a third of the way in. Magical realism, a genre of which I'm not normally a fan. Good adventure yarn.
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • Tashman
    Tashman Posts: 3,497
    419 - A pair of stories that very tenuously link right at the end. Well enough written, but there seemed to be a lot of padding. Things described for no apparent reason. Threads that suddely merged. Not one I'd rush to re-read.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,183
    meursault wrote:
    587369.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587369.The_Third_Policeman

    Found this while browsing Joe Friel cycling coaching books, strangely. Was considered highly original when written, but now a genre all of it's own, probably. Great read.

    Is it about a bicycle?
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    Mad_Malx wrote:
    meursault wrote:
    587369.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587369.The_Third_Policeman

    Found this while browsing Joe Friel cycling coaching books, strangely. Was considered highly original when written, but now a genre all of it's own, probably. Great read.

    Is it about a bicycle?

    Indirectly yes, well a love affair with a bicycle.
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,183
    ^Yes, read it as a teenager, and I'm close to retirement now. Remember it as one of my all time favourites, but I've never re-read it.
    (My comment was, I thought, a quote).
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    Mad_Malx wrote:
    ^Yes, read it as a teenager, and I'm close to retirement now. Remember it as one of my all time favourites, but I've never re-read it.
    (My comment was, I thought, a quote).

    Apologies, I can be a bit slow sometimes. Quote has made me smile now.
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    edited April 2019
    Double post, :oops:
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    The Adjustable Spanner: History, Origins and Development to 1970

    A gripping Read with a strong cast., easy to lose thread with the the multi-facteted plot line though.

    You'd be nuts not to try it.

    Grabs coat and bolts for it.
  • narbs
    narbs Posts: 593
    bonk king wrote:
    pottssteve wrote:
    bonk king wrote:
    I heard of Charles Bukowski some time ago but never got round to reading any of his stuff. He was brought up again earlier in this thread so I read "post office". At first i thought how the hell can anyone write a book about the mundane job of a letter sorter at a post office without the reader falling asleep. I was hooked from page one. When I finished post office I downloaded "pulp" and read that in no time too. I'm totally hooked on this guy. He's brilliant.


    I enjoyed Pulp as well. I can also recommend "Factotum" and "Ham on Rye". I can't read his poetry though, it gives me a headache..

    Currently on "High Rise" by JG Ballard - weird but enjoyable.

    Yeah, i'm not really a poetry type guy but looking through his work he has wrote a lot of poetry. I think he's wrote about half a dozen novels as well so i'm definitely going to read those, "ham on rye" is next up.

    I love Bukowski.

    Howard Sounes' biog is a great read as well. More long-form profile than traditional biography - Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life.
  • crispybug2
    crispybug2 Posts: 2,915
    Lonely Boy by Steve Jones

    Autobiography of the Sex Pistols guitarist, not very engaging and he comes across as a self serving w@nker!
  • solosuperia
    solosuperia Posts: 333
    The Salmon of Doubt...
    Hitchhiking the galaxy for one last time
    It is a collection of short stories and non-published writings from Douglas Adam's Mackintosh.
    I picked it up in the local charity shop and I'm a couple of chapters in.....
    What can I say? you either appreciate Douglas Adams or not........
    Includes a twelve year old's earnest letter to the Eagle Comic and his hate of short trousers.
    Love it!
  • Tashman
    Tashman Posts: 3,497
    Whilst away last week I got through a couple of books:

    The Butt - Will Self.
    Very hard work to get through. The story was slow paced and overly complicated, the characters unlikeable and too much use of over the top language.

    The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
    A great story, based on 1 mans account of his time in the titular Death Camp. I found it moving and interesting. I appreciate it's not an historical piece so there will be some licence taken with the narrative but it still paints a broad picture of the horror of the place around an iplifting tale.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,587
    meursault wrote:
    Mad_Malx wrote:
    meursault wrote:
    587369.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587369.The_Third_Policeman

    Found this while browsing Joe Friel cycling coaching books, strangely. Was considered highly original when written, but now a genre all of it's own, probably. Great read.

    Is it about a bicycle?

    Indirectly yes, well a love affair with a bicycle.

    When I started a new job in the late 90s two colleagues were reading that and quoting various surreal lines to each other which were obviously very funny to those who had read it but made no sense at all when they tried to explain to us why it was so funny out of context.
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    Pross wrote:
    meursault wrote:
    Mad_Malx wrote:
    meursault wrote:
    587369.jpg

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587369.The_Third_Policeman

    Found this while browsing Joe Friel cycling coaching books, strangely. Was considered highly original when written, but now a genre all of it's own, probably. Great read.

    Is it about a bicycle?

    Indirectly yes, well a love affair with a bicycle.

    When I started a new job in the late 90s two colleagues were reading that and quoting various surreal lines to each other which were obviously very funny to those who had read it but made no sense at all when they tried to explain to us why it was so funny out of context.

    It is heavy on the surreal. I loved it so much I'm going to read it again after current read

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18001202-down-to-the-sea-in-ships

    18001202.jpg

    Also excellent. As a bonus, author hates Clarkson, calls him a TV pantomine bigot. Superb.
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    The Great Gatsby, the film portrays it well.
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    diamonddog wrote:
    The Great Gatsby, the film portrays it well.

    I like that book. Which film do you prefer?
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    diamonddog wrote:
    The Great Gatsby, the film portrays it well.

    Started it twice now, and hated it. Most overated book of all time?
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    A Perfect Spy by the inimitable JLC. The film's good but I prefer the book whereas with the Little Drummer Girl I prefer the TV adaptation.
  • shatema79
    shatema79 Posts: 6
    edited April 2021
    I recently finished reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Incredible book, I'm delighted. At the moment, I am also studying in college and am thinking about what profession to choose in the future. I'm busy doing BTEC right now. BTEC is a list of professional qualifications of a specialist, which are issued in order to get a good job in the future. The company https://assignmentbro.com/uk/btec-assignment helps me with this. BTEC assignments are generally considered the most difficult because of their style and specificity. Unlike many other academic tests, this exam is content-specific, so it needs to be learned well because there will be no sources with similar information. That is why I turned to professionals.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    edited April 2021
    Thanks for joining a cycling forum to tell us you’ve enjoyed reading a book closely associated with the current alt-right movement.


    _
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,833
    The Plague by Albert Camus. Seemed like it was the right time for it...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,587
    Just finished the latest Mickey Haller book from Michael Connelly, The Law of Innocence. Decent read as always with Connelly's books and the first thing I've read making reference to the early days of the pandemic albeit not really integral to the main story.

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