Spoiled

[rowyn]

"I am so disappointed in the library," I said to Lut, after checking the hold webpage just to be sure.

"How so?" he asked.

"They still haven't gotten me Post Captain."

"When did you ask for it?"

"Thursday," I said, and he laughed at me. "Thursday morning!"

"You are spoiled."

"They had two copies on the shelves! They got me H.M.S. Surprise on Friday. Just to taunt me, I'm sure. I asked for it at the same time. Also, I actually put the boxed set on hold on Tuesday, without realizing it was on the reference shelf so obviously I'm never getting that. Why do they even let you put a hold on it when it's a reference? Who puts a set of novels on the reference shelf?"

Lut was still laughing at me. "You are so spoiled. If I'd requested it on Thursday, I'd be happy if I got it by November."

I pouted. "I know, but I'm spoiled because the library's spoiled me. It usually only takes them a day to get me a book if it's on the shelves somewhere. alltoseek thinks I should get a copy at a used bookstore instead."

"I doubt you're going to happen to find a copy in stock at a used bookstore."

"... me too."

I checked Google Nav after we left the restaurant. "There's a Half-Price Books four miles from here."

At the store, we ambled about looking for the right section for Patrick O'Brian: I guessed "literary", which turned out to be right, and sorted through the twelve or so books they had by him. "Watch, none of them will be -- aha!" I snagged out Post Captain.

"... You're really going to buy it?" Lut asked.

"Yes."

"Instead of waiting another day or two for the library to get it in?"

"I want to start it now. And alltoseek talked me into joining the chapter-a-week read of it on mandc_read, so I'll probably want to have it in the house for that anyway."

This was not particularly effective -- it was still $7.60 (after tax) to buy it used, so I only saved a couple of bucks over the instant gratification of buying the e-book. But at least none of the other innocent books in my to-read stack have to suffer under the onus of not being Post Captain any more.

Comments

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

HUZZAH!!!

Yes I approve :-)

But feel free to buy the ebook versions if you prefer :D :D :D

For future need, bigger bookstores will have a Nautical Historical Fiction section, a subset of the Historical Fiction. Even though it is clearly literary, as you discovered. I've been able to find nearly all series used, especially the earlier ones. There's tons of Master and Commanders, and a large number of Far Side of the Worlds that came out after the movie.

I didn't like Post Captain much the first time through - too soap opera-y. On subsequent readings I have discovered just tons of wonderful scenes (including plenty between Jack & Stephen, which are always fun :-) In short I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it as much as M&C.

However, I'm pretty sure you will very much enjoy HMS Surprise. Everyone loves that one :D

[rowyn]

I really feel bad for Jack in this one. He spends like 9/10ths of the book entirely out of his element and miserable, which seems so wrong for Jack. And the Polychrest quite makes one miss little Sophie.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, poor little Polychrest. I think of her as the little sloop that could...n't.

Have you finished it? It gets better...

[rowyn]

Very nearly! The last hundred pages are much more cheerful. Stephen's bees crack me up every time they come up. :D

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

I think the only series I ever got that crazy about getting the next one over was Mission: Earth. Which I was reading from the library. Which kept getting them out of order and making me all frustrated.

Are the Aubrey/etc. books the sort of thing you need to read in order?

[rowyn]

Part of the appeal of buying the Aubrey/Maturin boxed set is that I wouldn't have to keep looking up the order of the books before putting them on hold at the library. :D

The books are episodic but chronological (so far, anyway). So it wouldn't be like, say, reading the Lord of the Rings out of order. But there's certainly continuity, so it makes more sense to read them in order

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Total Non-Sequiteur:
There are Casino Ships.
There are Hospital Ships.
There are Abortion Ships.

Wouldn't it be cool, if HMS Surprise was a Birthday Party Ship?

[xyzzysqrl]

I have been on the Internet TOO LONG.
It took me three increasingly confused reads to suddenly snap to parsing this with the "great big boat" meaning of "ship".

[rowyn]

Amusingly, the technical definition of "ship" -- as a character in M&C explains -- is a sailing vessel with at least three masts. Anything smaller isn't a ship, so the proper collective term is "boat". Which just sounds so undignified. n_n

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Wee...eell, boats are the vessels that can be carried on a ship, or sloop, or other large vessel. Boats are smallish.

The best collective term is 'vessel'.

The Naval Reserve member of the read said she'd prefer we called sloops and brigs, etc., 'ships' instead of 'boats'.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

In Aubreyad fandom, our ships ship out on ships :D

[rowyn]

Heehee! That would be cool, actually. n_n