Recent reading
Dec. 13th, 2023 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaThe Interloper by Violet Jacob (1904)
This is by the author of the slashy Jacobite novel Flemington, but alas there is not a trace of slashiness in this one. Nevertheless I quite enjoyed this het romance set in 1801 in Lowland Scotland: the male protagonist Gilbert has lived most of his life in Spain and then returns when he inherits the estate of Whanland, of which there are some lovely descriptions--but there are Dark Secrets in his family's past. The romance is a little too much love-at-first-sight for me, but I did like that Gilbert falls for Cecilia in a moment when she is calmly and competently telling him what to do, at which he realizes that she is a woman and not a girl. But alas, the Dark Family Secrets keep them apart! There are some interesting female characters: an independent middle-aged woman who is Cecilia's guardian and who loves to ride, and an old tenant woman at Whanland who used to be a fish monger and speaks her mind to anyone (she also gets to have what is basically a car chase near the end, though with horse and carriage). The one thing I didn't like about the book is a plot-convenient death in the middle. The ending was actually suspenseful to me, because the two previous books of Jacob's that I've read have been tragedies. WILL Gilbert get back to Scotland in time? And if he does, WILL Cecilia jilt her rich fiancé whom she doesn't love at the altar? I do also appreciate that having made it clear in the beginning that Gilbert is a good swordsman, Jacob does not cheat us of a duel.
A Ship of the Line by C S Forester (1938)
Having tried it once perhaps ten years ago and noped out of it, I am skipping the very first-written Hornblower book, but I thought I'd try the second. And yeah, I can tell the difference compared to the later books, mostly in the first part when Hornblower is on land. The characterizations feel more simplistic to me and his interaction with his love interests more wince-inducing, and also I feel that it leans a little too heavily on Hornblower regretting the cruelties of the navy (I suppose as a way of getting the reader's sympathy). Yes, you're like a god on your ship, how awful for you that you're flogging your sailors and pressing men! So on the whole I like the later books better. But once it got into the actual naval adventure, it was tense and entertaining as always, and had some good Bush-Hornblower interaction. And wow, that was an intense ending, leading up to the next book! Whew.
This is by the author of the slashy Jacobite novel Flemington, but alas there is not a trace of slashiness in this one. Nevertheless I quite enjoyed this het romance set in 1801 in Lowland Scotland: the male protagonist Gilbert has lived most of his life in Spain and then returns when he inherits the estate of Whanland, of which there are some lovely descriptions--but there are Dark Secrets in his family's past. The romance is a little too much love-at-first-sight for me, but I did like that Gilbert falls for Cecilia in a moment when she is calmly and competently telling him what to do, at which he realizes that she is a woman and not a girl. But alas, the Dark Family Secrets keep them apart! There are some interesting female characters: an independent middle-aged woman who is Cecilia's guardian and who loves to ride, and an old tenant woman at Whanland who used to be a fish monger and speaks her mind to anyone (she also gets to have what is basically a car chase near the end, though with horse and carriage). The one thing I didn't like about the book is a plot-convenient death in the middle. The ending was actually suspenseful to me, because the two previous books of Jacob's that I've read have been tragedies. WILL Gilbert get back to Scotland in time? And if he does, WILL Cecilia jilt her rich fiancé whom she doesn't love at the altar? I do also appreciate that having made it clear in the beginning that Gilbert is a good swordsman, Jacob does not cheat us of a duel.
A Ship of the Line by C S Forester (1938)
Having tried it once perhaps ten years ago and noped out of it, I am skipping the very first-written Hornblower book, but I thought I'd try the second. And yeah, I can tell the difference compared to the later books, mostly in the first part when Hornblower is on land. The characterizations feel more simplistic to me and his interaction with his love interests more wince-inducing, and also I feel that it leans a little too heavily on Hornblower regretting the cruelties of the navy (I suppose as a way of getting the reader's sympathy). Yes, you're like a god on your ship, how awful for you that you're flogging your sailors and pressing men! So on the whole I like the later books better. But once it got into the actual naval adventure, it was tense and entertaining as always, and had some good Bush-Hornblower interaction. And wow, that was an intense ending, leading up to the next book! Whew.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-13 10:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 07:42 pm (UTC)I can imagine! I was pretty well spoiled from having read the sequel, and I kind of wish I hadn't been. But even so, after a whole book of Hornblower succeeding and getting away with difficult things with no harm, it was...pretty overwhelming. Not that he didn't succeed in doing exactly what he set out to do.
(Re: Hornblower's feelings about naval cruelty, of course there must have been a range among captains as to how much they used corporal punishment, and I would not enjoy reading about a main character who is on the cruel end. It's just that a sentence like "Hornblower was the only captain he had ever heard of who bothered his head about the use of starters." made him seem kind of unique and anachronistic.)
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 08:54 pm (UTC)I was pretty well spoiled from having read the sequel, and I kind of wish I hadn't been.
Sorry about that. Would you have wanted to have been recced this one first? I don't feel like it's a strong enough novel to be rec'd solely as a setup for Flying Colours, which is the reason I didn't, but I'll revise my opinion if you think I should have rec'd this first.
It's just that a sentence like "Hornblower was the only captain he had ever heard of who bothered his head about the use of starters." made him seem kind of unique and anachronistic.
This is a problem that Georgian sea fiction has, if you're writing about the officers. It was a much more brutal era, and the officers were neck deep in it. But if they're supposed to be heroic/sympathetic to modern eyes... It's been long enough since I've read the Aubreyad that I don't recall how it was handled there, but Bolitho and others take a very similar line to Hornblower, re having our heroes being nauseated by it but not seeing another way.
I think in this, as in a number of other things, Hornblower is much more a creature of the 20th century than the Long Eighteenth (and Bush is deliberately constructed to be a Long Eighteenth foil to him!), but it's a problem that exists across the genre.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 09:19 pm (UTC)Oh, I think you did it right. I mean, if I'd read this one first I would have been less likely to have been hooked by the series.
Re: the brutality, I guess it's just a tension you have to sit with. Like, I'm reading this for entertainment, and I do enjoy it! And the history was brutal! Both of those are true. OTOH, if you're reading, say, regency romances for your entertainment, then probably the duke the main character gets married to earned their family money partly from slavery and colonialism, etc. It's just more swept under the rug there and easier to suspend disbelief about various cruelties.
Re: Jack Aubrey, I recall him having spent half a year before the mast during his time as a midshipman, which is perhaps part of the way in which O'Brian handled it.
Somewhat relatedly, I know of an m/m romance currently being written which is about two men trying to escape the press gang! If one wants also to read about the common people.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 09:43 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's one of the reasons I rec reading by internal chronology, if choosing between that and pub order. That starts with three solid books (Midshipman, Lieutenant, Hotspur), and by the time you hit the weaker stuff, you know whether you're in for the full count or not. And you still get to read A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours unspoiled. The jump from Atropos to Beat to Quarters is still weird and difficult, but not usually enough to throw someone out of the series.
But good to know that the order I rec'd is so far largely working out, thank you!
Re brutality, dukes, etc: yup, yup, yup. It is a problem with writing and reading historical fiction. Modern sesibilities and historical sensibilities don't quite match up, and there are only so many strategies for dealing with it.
I know of an m/m romance currently being written which is about two men trying to escape the press gang!
Old Bridge Inn?
If one wants also to read about the common people.
I've only read one Bolitho novel, but it had a multiple POV that included press-ganged sailors, which was a refreshing change.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-15 06:14 pm (UTC)I will neither confirm nor deny! I don't want the author to feel any pressure, since the book is not publicly announced yet...
ETA: I see the Bolitho novels are even more numerous than the Aubrey-Maturin ones! Thirty books, wow. Did you enjoy the one you read?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-15 08:03 pm (UTC)Fair enough!
Bolitho: I did, although I remember almost nothing about it now, beyond a few scattered impressions and it being an enjoyable enough read.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-16 08:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 07:07 pm (UTC)(Hmm, just going to Gutenberg now to download it, they have one book of hers that I don't recognise, called Irresolute Catherine—now there's an intriguing title. *downloads it also*)
And wow, that was an intense ending, leading up to the next book! Whew.
:D Isn't it! And there is a lot of good stuff coming in the next book...
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-14 07:45 pm (UTC)I've read the next Hornblower book already, though! It was one of the first I read, so it meant that I was spoiled for the ending, but it was still good.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-15 04:59 pm (UTC)Agh, I'd forgotten, sorry!