The release of the Master and Commander: far side of the world movie on DVD has created a new group of readers for Patrick O'Brian's books. There are 20 titles in the Aubrey-Maturin series and we have 11. By some careful scooting among the local area libraries you can read them all (use the "continue reading" link below). You really should read this series in the correct order as the underlying stories unfold from book to book.
Don't know a carronade from a long gun? These resources offer fascinating background information.
In the reference room - R 359.003 NAVAL Naval Warfare: an international encyclopedia [fascinating, readable, a great browse on a rainy afternoon.]
Online -
Titles |
In our catalog? |
Where can you get it? |
---|---|---|
We have: hardbound, paperback and an abridged sound recording |
|
|
no |
Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
hardbound and an abridged sound recording |
|
|
hardbound |
|
|
no |
Hyattsville (which also has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
White Oak (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
Bethesda (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
Silver Spring (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs) |
|
no |
White Oak |
|
hardbound |
|
|
hardbound |
|
|
hardbound |
|
|
no |
Longbranch |
|
hardbound |
|
|
hardbound |
|
|
hardbound |
|
|
hardbound and large print |
|
|
hardbound |
|
Hyattsville seems to have the unabridged recordings on CD for all the books through The Far Side of the World.
You can ask to have a book from one Montgomery County branch delivered to you at another. For example, you don't need to drive to Bethesda for The Ionian Mission, you can ask to have it sent over to Silver Spring for you. Of course if you are relishing the series, and that is the next title you need, you would probably drive to Frostburg for it.
And a reminder. We used to have Ionian Mission but the last person who checked it out never returned it. These books are shared property, and carelessness with them hurts many people.
Do we have C. S. Forester's Hornblower series? Oh yes.
We are having trouble identifying this novel? Two brothers; takes place in Italy; perhaps on an island, almost everyone dies of plague; the woman is named something like Esmeralda/Ernestina; they may be building a church; probably published within last 10 years.
We tried bookfinder, bibliofind (now part of Amazon) and allreaders.com without luck.
Thanks, library staff
This book should have been titled "Blown Away", and the publishers should have done just that to the manuscript. The story was boring, boring, boring and not at all like Patricia Cornwell to bore me to death. Interestingly enough, the book she wrote before that, "The Last Precint", was so good I finished it in 4 hours! What happened? Keep it up, Patricia, and I'm going to take back all those mystery book awards you've been getting!
My 'Dam Life recounts the author's adventures while living in Amsterdam, Holland for 3 years with his wife. Condon is a "house-husband" while his wife follows her career in magazine work.
Condon's self-deprecating humor and ramblings on Dutch idiosyncrasies make for a chuckle-inducing read.