I'm going to nominate Patrick O'Brian's
Master and Commander. This is the first book in his superb Aubrey/Maturin series of naval adventures set in the Napoleonic Wars, and there could be no more appropriate books for this category. The primary
best friends story is that of Jack Aubrey --an officer in the British Navy -- and Stephen Maturin -- a physician, naturalist, British spy, and surgeon in the British Navy. However, there isn't just the one set of
best friends in here, but others as well, and they reinforce the whole.
I've read this book many times, in many formats, and I was not going to nominate it simply because it would be a re-read for me. But then I thought about it some more, and realized this club is about
discovery, and I should allow -- nay, positively encourage -- folks to discover this series. Really, truly, you should read it -- it's simply wonderful.
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Originally Posted by Goodreads
The beginning to the sweeping Aubrey/Maturin series. "The best sea story I have ever read."—Sir Francis Chichester
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by AmazonUK
Set sail for the read of your life …
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now, for the first time, they are available in electronic book format, so a whole new generation of readers can be swept away on the adventure of a lifetime.
Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey/Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It contains all the action and excitement which could possibly be hoped for in a historical novel, but it also displays the qualities which have put O’Brian far ahead of any of his competitors: his depiction of the detail of life aboard a Nelsonic man-of-war, of weapons, food, conversation and ambience, of the landscape and of the sea. O’Brian’s portrayal of each of these is faultless and the sense of period throughout is acute. His power of characterisation is above all masterly.
This brilliant historical novel marked the début of a writer who grew into one of our greatest novelists ever, the author of what Alan Judd, writing in the Sunday Times, has described as ‘the most significant extended story since Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time’.
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Length: 457 Pages
Cost:
Overdrive: Various editions available in various countries
Audible: At least three different unabridged narrations exist. Patrick Tull's, Simon Vance's, and Ric Jerrom's. My personal preference is for the Patrick Tull one.
issybird's is for the Simon Vance one, and the Ric Jerrom one is quite acceptable.
This is a great series, and this book is a wonderful start to the series. Even those of you who think you couldn't possibly like a book set aboard a British navy ship during the Napoleonic Wars, please give this serious consideration. It transcends that simple description in so many different ways. Even my DW, who had little interest in such things, was totally captivated by these books.
Highly Recommended!