Mohammed's comments
(member since Feb 27, 2009)
Mohammed's comments from the Armchair Sailors group.
(showing 1-19 of 19)
Thats why i joined really. Reading about sailing in historical setting,fiction is so interesting to me. C.S Forrester gave me a huge craving for that.Have you read Ramage series ? Its my first in search for other historical nautical series post Hornblower.
You mean non-fiction or historical fiction?
I finised read just now Ramage book 1 by Dudley Pope. Which was good,solid book. Very realistic in sailing sense,historical realism.
Interesting topic. I added several historical naval books from the recommendations.Sailing Alone Around the World will be my first nautical non-fiction. It sounds too interesting.
I know of those books and will try them.But after i finish Hornblower i will look more for new naval historical fiction.
Any read The Blighted Cliffs, by Edwin Thomas ?I hear good things about it. I dont care about the character type, im looking to read good enough naval books.
I thought in this topic we could talk about contemporary good historical naval books. I dont see a topic like this around here. For people who know all there is to know about C.S and O'Brian books,wants more.
Which book was it ?I know her series are famous for being Napoleonic wars with dragons. May not be much navy and very historical.
Still i find the idea of blending that type of fantasy with history so interesting so i hope that series of hers is good. Napoleonic era interest me alot in historical or fantasy doesnt matter much.
I know of Naomi Novak and i have had her recommended to me cause of what kind of series she wrote with Napoleonic fantasy series.Joseph Conrad nautical series i checked up too but they werent too interesting. Short stories that didnt see to be much compared to what he is famous.
SF SQRL wrote: "You didn't add the book to GR, mon?I saw a book in Waterstones by an author I wanted to try, but it was over £30 (for a paperback!) so I didn't. There's also Alexander Kent but I haven't read hi..."
Same here cause im on my 6 book of 11 Hornblower in few months. Eventually i will run out of books.
I have to look for other authors. Both early writers and contemporary writers.
Heh they seem pretty easy to remember to me. Maybe you read too many in a row. About prefering adventure on the screen i must say i have never seen a good historicl movie,tv show of any kind that could be near as good as a historical book. Unlike other genres.
A good action,horror,western,fantasy on screen for example for example.
Tv,movies seem to struggle with historical stories. They overdo it. Braveheart for example....
Thats why i admire my favorite Historical fiction writers so much.
Favourite part in book ?Since i read the books chrono order i must the first book Happy Return/Beat Quarters is stronger when its about characters than the prequals/younger Hornblower books.
Also i must wonder have you guys read any other good historical fiction about naval stories,sailing stories ? Doesnt have to be about the english navy or the same time period.
Ryan wrote: "I continue to disagree. I didn't say I liked POB better because it is "literary fiction." You assumed that. I like POB better for a number of other reasons. But I still really like Forester, I ..."
I assumed because you said literary fiction like its something higher. Its just another type of fiction.
It doesnt matter to me who you really like of them two. I just reacted to the way you put it. I know there are writers that are more literary than others. I have read those in Science fiction,fantasy,horror,classic mainstream fiction.
But literary fiction is just another type of fiction. There are crappy lit there too.
Thats what i reacted to. I didnt mean to call you snob, it just sounded like that to me.
Ryan wrote: "I respectfully disagree. I think that Forester is writing historical fiction (wherein the historical aspect is of utmost importance) and uses an interesting character as his protagonist, while POB ..."Style contemporary to the period is good and all but saying he is writing literary fiction is very snob way out of putiting it,just like people who think you cant write quality in genre fiction.
Of course i got the style while reading POB. I dont read historical fiction for books that are adventure oriented or books that tell more calm story about the times. You read good historical stories of any kind.
Like i said you can say 100 better reasons why you think POB series are better than saying writing "literary fiction"....
Literary story part is hype to me. Its historical fiction, its not Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe....Dont mean any disrespect but just say POB series is simply better. I have heard that literary part too much. Dont make excuses like that.
Just because his writing style is different and not as straigtforward doesnt change that the fact both series are the same type of book. C.S Forester writing just is more fit for historical fiction.
Hornblower is both adventure and also a good account of the times. Sailing,naval part wise is really good too.
The first book i ever bought was a historical bio about the war century of europe in 1600s. The 30 years war.Now i have interest in other times too. I will go after Asian,african. The Ottman Empire history. Since they conqured my homeland in 1700s,1800s(Somalia) our family name is Osman from the turkish Ottman.
Also Napoleon era history. The guy was a fascinating man.
Who wouldnt be interested in a guy that went from a small island that wasnt seen as French to Emperor,almost conquered most of europe. I always wish in school that the history class was more Napoleon and his times,less French Revolution,WWII was something you learned about every year...
Yeah i could and i could do the same with Hornblower and the people,history its based on but i quite like historical fiction.I have interest in historical non-fiction books too. But there is no hurry to this part of history.
Reading the real history about those days would ruin the books.
Nautical terms arent a problem for me.The first Hornblower book i read i didnt understand a word of the terms. I used wiki every 5-10 mins until i find a wiki page that explained everything from the tack,abaft and many more complicated stuff.
So it wasnt the terms that was the problem for me. Maybe i will have a different perpective reading it again after several books of another Naval series. I have a big interest in the naval story,action but characters make or break series like these.
I tried Master and Commander but it wasnt as interesting read as Hornblower. Sailing wise,character wise,showing the historical times in a good way i think Hornblower is unbeatable.I will read O'Brian again after Forester only because im interesting in historical nautical tales now and there isnt many series like that that might actually be good.
I have read many historical fiction writers from Conn Iggulden to Cornwell but C.S Forester is a must read to me. You dont even have to be intersted naval story to like it. I never even cared about nautical,navy stories before it in any genre from historical to fantasy.
Any fans of Hornblower books in this group that are reading the books ?An old topic but i was wondering if there were any fans that arent decades old fans of the books.
I discovered him with The Happy Return only late 2008 and was so impressed that i have read chrono wise from Mr Midshipman Hornblower,Lieutenant Hornblower,Hornblower and the Hotspur,Hornblower under The Crisis and currently reading Hornblower and the Atropos.
Are you talking about the tv show only or is this thread for the books too ?I became C.S Forester and Horblower dec 08 when i read Beat to Quarters/The Happy Return.
I have seen the tv show when it was shown on tv, wasnt impressed and forget it even existed. Until i got Mr Midshipman Hornblower Omnibus. The books are great read, the hole historical feel of the times,the character,the adventure awed me.
I cant now believe they could do such a bad tv show on such strong stories.
