One of the aspects I loved most is that he never once breaks the sense of time and place. Oh, and Jack's never-ending ability to mangle well known sayings is priceless ('I am afraid I have been like a bear in a whore's bed these last few days' ). I did learn a lot of new words whilst reading these books, though. I think, with the nautical terminology, you end up learning it almost by osmosis, so I just went with the flow. That is an excellent book, I have it as well. This helps to make the stories interesting but also helps the reader to begin to feel that his or her own time is just an historical period, too it is not the 'normal time' over against which every other 'period' deservedly seems quaint, horrible, etc.ДЈ.You feel that O'Brian is introducing interesting threads that can be followed later, e.g. I'm guessing that O'Brian will find ways to ensure that readers without such knowledge are never at a loss when it comes to crucial elements of plot, character, or theme.Дў.It seems to me that O'Brian manages to make his characters interesting and often appealing while avoiding the problem in some authors' books of having what are 'really' just 20th-21st century people dressed in period costume. I've begun the first book, Master and Commander, and will leave some comments here that might prompt discussion as the 'project' officially (?!) begins next month.ДЎ.I'm making no serious effort to understand the nautical terminology, finding that a general sense of the purport of the scenes when Aubrey is assessing the crew of the Sophie and sizing up the vessel seems to be sufficient.

Patrick o'brian novels in order