April 30, 2004

New to the gunroom?

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 -

  1. the gunroom discussions
  2. Gibbons Burke's list of O'Brian web sites
  3. W.W. Norton's O'Brian pages [can you find the history of horchata?] and backlist of series titles

Titles

In our catalog?

Where can you get it?

Master & Commander

We have: hardbound, paperback and an abridged sound recording


Post Captain:

no

Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

H.M.S. Surprise:

hardbound and an abridged sound recording


The Mauritius Command

hardbound


Desolation Island

no

Hyattsville (which also has the unabridged CDs)

The Fortune of War

no

White Oak (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

The Surgeon's Mate:

no

Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

The Ionian Mission

no

Bethesda (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

Treason's Harbour:

no

Longbranch (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

The Far Side of the World

no

Silver Spring (Hyattsville has the unabridged CDs)

The Reverse of the Medal:

no

White Oak

The Letter of Marque

hardbound

 

The Thirteen Gun Salute

hardbound


The Nutmeg of Consolation

hardbound


The Truelove

no

Longbranch

The Wine-Dark Sea

hardbound


The Commodore

hardbound


The Yellow Admiral

hardbound


The Hundred Days

hardbound and large print


Blue at the Mizzen

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.

Posted by library at 01:15 PM

April 14, 2004

Do you remember the author or title?

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

Posted by library at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2004

Blowfly by Patricia Cornwell

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!

Posted by at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2004

My 'Dam Life by Sean Condon

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.

Posted by Liz at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
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New to the gunroom?
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My 'Dam Life by Sean Condon
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