Jane and Patrick
Original Jane Austin Portrait Here I have been working my way through the Patrick O' Brian novels (there are something like 20) and as I was reading the first 3 I thought "These are really amusing" and "The writing is almost like Austen's" and then I thought,"well, that is a little over the top". But in fact, I am not the first reviewer to think this. There isn't a lot of plot, the books are mostly character studies with the occasional bout of naval violence, but it's highly enjoyable. (And much more fun than the movie Master and Commander ) While I thought Russel Crowe was fine as Captain Jack Aubrey, it needed someone sunnier; like a British John Goodman--and maybe David Tennant as Dr. Maturin, with his combination of daffiness and determination. Here's O'Brian's note about Mrs. Harte, who Aubrey is having a career-limiting affair with in Book One. "...she poured out a bumper and drank it off with a very practi...