Grand unified books thread

[Barrister]

Nah.  Too many different ship battles in Master and Commander.  Too hard to keep track of in a 2 hour movie.

There's two involving the Sophie: the Algerines and the Cacafuego.  Plus a bunch of prize chases.

The battle with the Cacafuego is my favourite battle so far and was a significant defining moment in Aubrey's career.  It would have been perfect for the purpose of introducing the Movie audience to the books.

But the chase of the Acheron was the unifying plot of the movie.  It's what held the whole thing together, even though the Acheron herself only shows up at the start and end of the picture.  I still think the problem with just making a movie out of Master and Commander (the book) is that it lacks that overall plot - it's just a bunch of adventures of a new captain in the Med.

The book I think would have made for an interesting movie by itself would be Desolation Island though.  It's a single mission - transporting prisoners to Australia and to take care of the "Captain Bligh problem".  They fight through plague, then a desperate struggle with the unspellable Dutch ship, then a desperate struggle for survival in the Antarctic Ocean.  Finally they seek refuge at Desolation Island, only to find an American vessel, and the two countries are at the brink of war.

Only trouble I see is it lacks a climactic battle sequence.  Not sure if you can amp up the spy tension with the Americans enough for a climax, or if you have to insert some kind of action sequence into the end.

[mongers]

Still haven't decide which is the book I read this year. 

[Admiral Yi]

The book I think would have made for an interesting movie by itself would be Desolation Island though.  It's a single mission - transporting prisoners to Australia and to take care of the "Captain Bligh problem".  They fight through plague, then a desperate struggle with the unspellable Dutch ship, then a desperate struggle for survival in the Antarctic Ocean.  Finally they seek refuge at Desolation Island, only to find an American vessel, and the two countries are at the brink of war.

So your prefer a bunch of adventures of an old and established captain. 

Master and Commander has great dialogue scenes, great action scenes, a great story of a friendship forming, and the evolution of Aubrey from a punk to a man, plus the Aubrey/Harte backstory of jealousy and revenge.

Being cheered by the Amelia as they leave Minorca would make a *perfect* ending.

[crazy canuck]

Nah.  Too many different ship battles in Master and Commander.  Too hard to keep track of in a 2 hour movie.

There's two involving the Sophie: the Algerines and the Cacafuego.  Plus a bunch of prize chases.

The battle with the Cacafuego is my favourite battle so far and was a significant defining moment in Aubrey's career.  It would have been perfect for the purpose of introducing the Movie audience to the books.

But the chase of the Acheron was the unifying plot of the movie.  It's what held the whole thing together, even though the Acheron herself only shows up at the start and end of the picture.  I still think the problem with just making a movie out of Master and Commander (the book) is that it lacks that overall plot - it's just a bunch of adventures of a new captain in the Med.

The book I think would have made for an interesting movie by itself would be Desolation Island though.  It's a single mission - transporting prisoners to Australia and to take care of the "Captain Bligh problem".  They fight through plague, then a desperate struggle with the unspellable Dutch ship, then a desperate struggle for survival in the Antarctic Ocean.  Finally they seek refuge at Desolation Island, only to find an American vessel, and the two countries are at the brink of war.

Only trouble I see is it lacks a climactic battle sequence.  Not sure if you can amp up the spy tension with the Americans enough for a climax, or if you have to insert some kind of action sequence into the end.

I don't know BB, if I had read Desolation Island without the benefit of Master and Commander I would not likely have gone any further.  The only thing that gets the reader through the books with little action is that the characters are now well known and we can put up with some slower arcs now and then.  And Far Side of the World is the epitome of that.  Nothing happens until the last chapter.  It is just an homage to the friendship between Aubrey and Maturin.  Which is fine, because by the time the reader reaches this stage in the series we are committed to the characters.  But we came to like them because of their exploits in the early books.

[The Brain]

I recently came into possession of Tyskland går sista ronden, by Swedish journalist Gunnar Th:son Pihl who was thrown out of Germany in 1943. Published in Sweden in 1943 and in the US in 1944 (as Germany: The Last Phase) it is really interesting to read what people knew and thought in 1943. On the Jews for instance Pihl estimates a total number of "eliminated" (dead or practically dead deported to hellish conditions) Jews of 4.3 million, with an estimated 1.3 million still on the to-do list.

[celedhring]

Master and Commander is a very fine movie, imho. I agree that Far Side of the World was chosen over the actual Master and Commander book because it had a more cohesive plot, that lead up towards a climatic battle. It's a better standalone story. Master and Commander would've been great if they were sure they would get to make more movies after it.

[Maladict]

Broke down and both some books without first reducing my to-read stack 

Kershaw - It never snows in September
Seneca - Letters from a Stoic
De Botton - The art of travel (bought solely because of glowing reviews by Jan Morris and Colin Thubron on the cover  )
Sebald - Austerlitz

[crazy canuck]

Master and Commander is a very fine movie, imho. I agree that Far Side of the World was chosen over the actual Master and Commander book because it had a more cohesive plot, that lead up towards a climatic battle. It's a better standalone story. Master and Commander would've been great if they were sure they would get to make more movies after it.

The plot of the movie Far Side of the World and the plot in the book have almost nothing in common except for the fact that the Aubrey is supposed intercept an enemy ship heading for the Pacific.  The enemy is different, the events which occur during the voyage (including the reason the enemy ship is not intercepted in the Atlantic) are completely different and there are no battles at all in the book.  Unless one considers the interaction with the raft of radical Polynesian feminists 

Rather than trying to piece together a story from parts of other stories there was an already existing cohesive plot and much more compelling introduction to the characters (including the need to go after enemy shipping) in Master and Commander

[Admiral Yi]

Master and Commander was passable on first viewing.  Doesn't hold up on further viewing.

Very much enjoying "Ike" right now.  Prose is good, detail is good.  Some padding, at times lacks flow, but overall good.

[The Brain]

Golf.

[celedhring]

Anyway, I'm struggling to finish "Way of Kings" by Sanderson. The world is interesting, but it's way too long and drawn out. It feels like 1000 pages of foreshadowing and characters doubting themselves.

[Grey Fox]

It's Sanderson's schtick. I yell "grow a spine" a lot when reading his books.

[jimmy olsen]

Anyway, I'm struggling to finish "Way of Kings" by Sanderson. The world is interesting, but it's way too long and drawn out. It feels like 1000 pages of foreshadowing and characters doubting themselves.

The end of his books are an avalanche of action.

[crazy canuck]

Anyway, I'm struggling to finish "Way of Kings" by Sanderson. The world is interesting, but it's way too long and drawn out. It feels like 1000 pages of foreshadowing and characters doubting themselves.

I enjoyed it from cover to cover.  Couldn't put it down actually. 

[celedhring]

The story and the world feel interesting enough. If things pick up in these last 200 pages, I'm decidedly checking out the following book in the saga. It's just that so far it feels like a prelude, hints that something "big" is going to happen, but nothing really big happens.