Over the past two & 1/2 years my 40 year-old son and I have listened to the Aubrey/Maturin novels, the Sharpe series with other adventure novels thrown in as the whim strikes us.

We are careful to stay at about the point in the recording. As my son leaves work each day—about 3:30 PM my time--he calls and we laugh and talk about what we are listening to. Many times we just say, “Can you believe how much detail is in the book? I know I have said it before; but, how does O’Brien know so much?”

The two of us are not really so anal—well my son is  But, what a wonderful experience for the both of us. I tell this to friends and most of the time they look at me with a crocked face.

We would “never” listen to anyone other than Patrick Tull—what snobs!

Like someone else in this group--I started with "The Wine Dark Sea." At the same time I sent a copy of the recording to my son and got about 20 pages in the book and said, O'my god this is outstanding, I have to start from the begining. So I sent Steve a copy of book one and the rest is history.

I started with Master and Commander a few years back and went through all 21 books. I read the first three back to back to back, then realized I never wanted them to end, so to prolong the experience I started throwing a couple of books in between. I took about a year off after I finished the series, and I started reading the Sharpe books in chronological order (the next is Sharpe's Rifles), but then my Dad started Aubrey/Maturin a month ago and I found myself picking up Master and Commander again. I can't stop myself.

I started with Master and Commander about a dozen years ago, on the recommendation of one of my brothers. I then hopped around the series for a few years. I tried to take them in chronological order, but in the 1990's it was hard to find all the books in the US. Eventually, they started to come out in sequence and I got on track. Over the years, I thinlk I have read all 21 novels at least twice (except for number 21, only once). Many I have read three or four times. I once spent about half a year reading the whole series in order (with a book or two between each). Now I just grab a favorite off the shelf every now and again.

I read all 21 in order, back to back. I only read them during my lunch breaks at work, so it took about a year and a half to get through them all. I'd like to read them again, but I have too many other maritime history books to get through right now! What a wonderful experience it was to spend that much time in company with Jack & Stephen. I'd love to listen to the audiobooks sometime.

Cheryl wrote: "I'd love to listen to the audiobooks sometime...."

I've only listened to the Letter of the Marque, but it was a great experience. I have heard that there is a real difference between readers on the audio books.

yes, i believe some of the books are read by a man named bryan brown (?) not the australian actor. the ones i love are read by patrick tull. i think they are great. the others are ok...still fun to listen to. and i like to sit down to read them all starting with #1 about once a year.

by the way,
i would try the local library if you want to listen to them. you might want to reserve in advance and maybe use the inter-library lending system to make sure you get them in order and not miss any.

then again, if cost is no object (with me it is...) you can rent them online. if at all possible get the ones narrated by patrick tull.

patrick tull
he is the best and the only reader that has read all the books

Patrick Tull is absolutely the best. I believe you can get all of them from Audible.com and they'll work on an Ipod. I started with one in the middle by accident, then just had to go back and start at the beginning. Wonderful series.

I have read the entire series in order 5 times.
I started in the early eighties when the series was only about half finished. The OBrian biography is interesting if you haven't read it.
Because of the group comments here I will listen to the series when I start through the books again.
I got into audio books while I exercise last year and am almost through the whole of the Sharpe's Rifles series. This series is almost the equal of the Aubrey/Maturin books. You will like the series if you are not already a fan.

I normally don't like audiobooks unless they're unabridged. I like to actually read the books while I'm listening (weird maybe but that's me). If anyone knows of unabridged versions, let me know.

I can't say enough about Cornwell either-Sharpe is wonderful, along with everything else he writes.

If you live in New York State the NYC public library has essentiall all the Aubrey/Maturin and Sharpe books unabridged. If your state doesnt have audio books available from the library, Audible has all of them for $5-$7 per book.
I like most of Cornwell, especially the Saxon Stories but I did not care for the civil war series or Excalibur.
Ross

The audiobooks read by Patrick Tull are unabridged.

I've listened to a couple of them, and I like hearing the proper pronunciation of the nautical terminology and the French (except when Jack speaks it, of course) but I think the humor comes across better on the written page.

I first read the books ten years ago. By the end of the first, I was hooked; by the time I reached the Dill portion of the third, I realized these were brilliant, and I couldn't do much of anything else short of bare necessities while I read.

Since then I've been through them three or four times--savoring favorite moments, reading closely for puzzling bits (like figuring out who shot Ledward and Wray), deeply appreciating not just the breadth of research or the insight into human behavior, but the generosity of spirit that breathes through the books.

I love the humor, the passion, the steady-eyed gaze on what is least admirable in people, as well as what is best, and how people can change.

Another, unexpected advantage: rereading Jane Austen's Persuasion afterward, and suddenly finding all the nautical references taking on different meaning to the extent that it became a different book. It did not surprise me to discover that O'Brian was an Austen fan.

Great connection to Persuasion, Sherwood. I have had the same experience. Persuasion is improved by the knowledge I gained from O'Brian.