Oh, very much +1 for O'Brien. His works (like John Le Carre's) really amount to minor literature, so well does he depict character and the way it drives action and reaction, for his technical knowledge of fully-rigged sailing (he has been praised for accuracy by sailors, apparently), and his light but compelling style with a tongue in cheek quality that does not diminish the drama.
Le Carre's earlier works, particularly the Karla Trilogy and up to about Absolute Friends. I don't think his earliest or his later books are as good. And you can find the BBC's excellent dramatization with Alec Guiness; far better than subsequent adaptions, IMO. Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. Cornwell is not at all as good as O'Brien or Le Carre, but he's good enough historically and literarily; but avoid his medieval stuff that is just psychologically and emotionally anachronistic; people didn't think like that in the "dark" or middle ages. And since characterization drives plot and action ... BBC or some British TV company dramatized the Sharpe series and did it well. MacBeth. MacBeth is a very modern character, but one that fits with the chronological setting as someone who bets his soul on advancement only to see it, very consciously and clearly, all slip through his fingers despite horrible crimes committed to preserve it, and he can find no other recourse than to continue pursuing his destructive course. Enough literary criticism. But there is so much good adventure fiction available. Patrick Moore, who was raised without TV in various places by a MLS mother and a father who at one time managed the Library of Congress's Stack and Reader Division before managing some of the library's overseas offices. On Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 12:50 PM velomann <velom...@gmail.com> wrote: > Most of what's mentioned here so far are not novels but non-fiction. If > you're loking for "novel" ideas, several years ago I read through all 20.5 > of Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series (the movie Master and Commander > is based on 2 or 3 of the early books). It's the best historical fiction > I've ever read, and over the course of the series a remarkable portrayal of > an unlikely friendship. I found the sailing/naval battle details > fascinating, as well as the politics of Napoleonic Europe of the early 19th > century. Recommend. > > Mike M > > On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 7:15:14 PM UTC-7 J Imler wrote: > >> Recently I noticed the book, *The Long Walk*, in a thread with a holiday >> flyer linked, or an older catalog maybe. I'm enjoying the true story. Years >> ago, I was at Bike, Book, & Hatchet and Grant recommended *In the Heart >> of the Sea* and a book about the Galveston hurricane. And one other I >> just remembered *The Devil in the White City*. >> >> I've enjoyed reading most of these types of books, that involve >> adventure/danger/even death, like *Into Thin Air*. >> >> Would anyone care to share any other novels that you'd recommend as the >> darker months loom? >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f3fb4483-6d72-44ce-b622-03e2cefdb1e6n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f3fb4483-6d72-44ce-b622-03e2cefdb1e6n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgubhHBmZ-foZs20rPM69-w_6FDGAQxhUQORZS%2BNX4FOUQ%40mail.gmail.com.
