January 01, 2006
The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian, 
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans now of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now senior captain commanding a line-of-battleship in the Royal Navy's blockage of toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate action of his early days. A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where all his old skills of seamanship and his proverbial luck when fighting against all odds come triumphantly into their own.
The Ionian Mission is the eighth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series and it’s my least favorite so far. Though the book does have its interesting character moments it’s mostly boring and nothing happens through a good deal of it. Stephen had very little to do and the focus was more on Jack this time around. I did like Jack’s renewed rivalry with Admiral Harte and his attempts to advance Tom Pullings’ career.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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September 11, 2005
The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian, 
Book description: Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest vitory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the Fren intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers soon become menacing. The chase that follows is as thrilling and unexpected as anything O'Brian has written.
Review: The Surgeon?s Mate is the seventh novel in the Aubrey/Maturin series. I loved the beginning and ending of this book. I took a break from this series for a few months when I was in the middle of reading this installment. Bad idea. As a result, I forgot what the mission was about and had no clue what was going on. I?ll try not to do that again.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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July 09, 2005
The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian, 
Book Description: Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N.,arrives in the Dutch East Indies to find himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best-armed frigate in the navy. He and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a dispatch vessel. But the War of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody actions precipitate them both into new and unexpected scenes where Stephen's past activities as a secret agent return on hime with a vengance.
Review: The events in the sixth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series closely follow those of the previous book, Desolation Island. This is the first book in the series that is interesting from start to finish. The action is non-stop and Stephen?s many near misses with rival intelligence agents had me on the edge of my seat. I was slightly disappointed in the turn Stephen and Dianas? relationship took but have mostly recovered from it. I?m already reading the next book.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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July 07, 2005
Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian,
Book Description: Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Stephen Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy--and a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the under-manned, out-gunned Leopard sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic where, in mountainous seas, the Duthman closes...
Review: The fifth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series is another solid installment. It?s a little less action oriented than the previous books in the series and Jack?s role is reduced. The focus is on a few interesting new characters and Stephen?s interaction with them. Anyway, great fun. I?m moving on to the next one.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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July 05, 2005
The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian, 
Book Description: Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half pay without a command--until Stephen Maturin arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a commodore's pennant, there to mount an expedition against the French-held islands or Mauritius and LaReunion. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains--Lord Clonfert, a pleasure-seeking dilletante, and Captain Corbett, whose severity pushes his crew to the verge of mutiny.
Review: I did not enjoy the fourth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series quite as much as the first three. The plot takes a while to get interesting and there wasn?t as much character development as I would have like. Still, I did like seeing Stephen take a larger role in the action. I also liked reading a bit about Jack?s married life.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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July 01, 2005
H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian, 
Book Description: Third in the series of Aubrey/Maturin adventures, this novel is set among the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams; the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet . . .
Review: This is the third book in the Aubrey/Maturin series. It?s another amazing installment. It?s also quite a bit darker than the first two. I especially enjoyed Stephen?s adventures in India. I was also glad to see Diana Villiers back. She amuses me to no end.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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June 26, 2005
Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian,
Book Description: In 1803, Napoleon smashes the Peace of Amiens, and Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., is interned in France. He escapes from France, from debtor's prison, and from a possible mutiny and pursues his quarry straight into the mouth of a French-held harbor.
Review: It?s hard to put my finger on exactly why I loved this book so much. It has been a long time since I?ve enjoyed a group of characters so much. This book builds on the relationships set up in the first and adds a bit of romance into the mix. There?s also quite a few hilarious moments. This book was hard to put down and I?ll quickly be moving on to the third in the series.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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June 24, 2005
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian,
Books Description: This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
Review: What I really like about this book is watching the friendship develop between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. They?re two characters that have almost nothing in common and yet become fast friends. Their personalities complement each other so well that they hold the series together for me. The naval warfare stuff is fun too but I find it a bit hard to follow in places because I know next to nothing about it. I can?t wait to continue with this series and see how these two characters? relationship develops.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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October 06, 2003
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, 7
Speculative fiction about Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer or, more specifically, about the girl in one of his most famous paintings, Girl with a Pearl Earring. Griet starts off as a maid in the painter's house but she is soon made his assistant and eventually his model. While this is going on she also has to deal with being away from home for the first time, Vermeer's wife and daughter's jealousy, and her growing attraction to the painter.
Not the kind of book I usually read but it was enjoyable. It was a bit on the slow side but the book itself was short so that didn't really bother me. It could also be vague in places but this is one of those books where some things are better left to the imagination. If you are an art dork or you just like good fiction in general you'll probably enjoy this book.
Category, Historical Fiction|
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