Recent reading

[luzula]

Armadale by Wilkie Collins (1866)
I read what regshoe tells me to, apparently! It was a great choice to listen to this as an audiobook rather than read it with my eyes; the reader doing Lydia Gwilt was particularly good. I enjoyed this dramatic ride, but I won't attempt a proper write-up when such good ones already exist. Currently I am reading this Lydia Gwilt fic, with a delightful narrative voice.

Hornblower and the Hotspur by C S Forester (1962)
I am really appreciating these books now, and greatly enjoyed this! It has some good Hornblower-and-Bush interaction, along with some exciting naval adventure. And some peak Hornblower passages such as They had not done this as a joke, or in a silly attempt to win his favour. He had to believe the unbelievable, and accept the fact that they had done it because they liked him. That showed their poor judgement; gratification warred with guilt in his mind, yet the fact that they had dared to do such a thing was a strange but undeniable confirmation that the Hotspur was welding herself into a fighting entity. Wow. And then there’s the bit where he goes through with a wedding to someone he doesn’t love because he can’t say no and feels guilty about disappointing her...

Am reading various Hornblower fic now, and enjoying that, too!

Comments

[sanguinity]

There's a movie starring Gregory Peck, too, which adapts the original three novels (Beat to Quarters through Flying Colours). Aspects of it have not aged well, but parts of it are fun.

But if you like radio dramas, there are also two good Hornblower radio dramas. CBS did one in 1952-1953 (iirc) covering Beat to Quarters through Commodore, plus Midshipman and Lieutenant (which is nearly as much as had been published at the time). Sound quality is iffy (it's very 1950s radio drama!), but there's a lot of fun over-the-top dramatic musical cues that make me laugh. You can find copies of that all over, including on Internet Archive.

And in the 1980s the BBC did a high-audio-quality adaptation of Midshipman, Lieutenant, Hotspur, and Lord. It's difficult to lay hands on, but I can hook you up if you're interested.

[princessofgeeks]

Thank you so much! I'm not really much for radio dramas, but I am glad to know they were made!