Bought a dozen Dick Francis novels on Ebay recently, bargain price. Ideal reading matter for the long drawn out hours of dialysis.

Nerys

Picked up this book yesterday.
Fascinating,brilliant read.Cant put it down.
Well worth looking at.
Regards Bill.

Just finished another Maisie Dobbs novel this morning. Only five left to read in the series.

It is all of +2C here today with gusty westerly winds. Snow is falling several hours north of here, but tis not slated to blanket our area. Yea!

Good day for a spot of tea and a good book. The Last English Man, The Double Life of Arthur Ransome is my next read.

James Clavell books were some of my favorite to read King Rat ,Tia-pan, Shogun and Noble House were some I remember reading. Another writer for me is Fred Saberhagen The Complete book of Swords ,The Lost Swords .
Rick

Clive Cussler, Judy Nunn and Di Morrissey.

Canabus

Forgot the Rhodesian author John Gordon Davis - who lived a life similar to his books - its said that his first book 'Hold my hand Im Dying' was autobiographical. (Sadly the title came from a black Policeman who was set alight by ZAPU "comrades" - and who left dying was comforted by the white woman who found him)
JGD joined the whaling fleet to be able to write several books about it , he also wrote several books about Rhodesia besides hold my hand - Dulamathi about the legendary Elephant and Rhino about the relocation of Black Rhinos to save them from the poachers. He wrote several books about Hong Kong when he moved there (as an Advocate) and after moving to Spain wrote stories based around the world - sadly he passed away several years ago .

The other sea book by Farley Mowat was titled The Serpents Coil - about a rescue by a Foundation Franklin tug in a hurricane off Canada. Based on fact and worthwhile reading

Hector Bywater, "The Great Pacific War"

Nobody seems to have mentioned Brian Callison who wrote some great stories about merchant ships. He must be in his eighties by now - but his last book was published abut 5 years ago - definitely my favourite author of sea books - have all of them - and what of C S Forester - don't like the Hornblower stories much - but he wrote about more modern ships as well - one called The Good Shepherd springs to mind - great book - and the African Queen is one of my favourites. What makes it more interesting is my cousin is married to C S Foresters son .............
Used to read a lot of Douglas Reeman novels - but there was always something too formulaic about them. Alistair Macleans sea stories are great too.

On non ship topics Jonathon Kellerman , John Leather and my favourite author of all John D MacDonald and especially the Travis Magee series................

And Ianh - Wilbur Smith unlike his books is no hero - he once paid a friend of mine to carry him to shore in the swamp area of Kariba as he was scared of crocodiles..............

The Swallows were Captain John, Mate Susan, Able Seaman Titty and Ship's boy Roger Walker. the Amazons were Nancy and Peggy Blackett. The Walkers were visitors to the Lake District and staying at a local farm had the use of the Swallow a clinker built lug sailed dinghy Daddy was a Commander R.N. The Blacketts lived locally. Nancy and Peggy, considered themselves to be amazon pirates, amazon being their nature not the river. They kept their dinghy Amazon in the boathouse of their lakeside home. Later in the series of books they were joined by Dick and Dorothea Callum who have a dinghy named 'Scarab' built for them. They provide a link to another set of children based on the Norfolk Broads

Cheers, Nerys

I remember "Swallows And Amazons", an island, a trusting mother, but don't remember the kids names.

I'm surprised I'm the only person to mention Arthur Ransome. I thought everybody with an interest in sailing read them as a child. though I must admit I still occasionally read one.


cheers, Nerys

I read a lot of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs with a few James Pattison and of course Wilbur Smith

" If you haven't read "Longitude" by Dava Sobel do so!"
Can heartily endorse that Aerostar 👍 A fascinating read.
In the end it was an English amateur clock maker who solved the problem!
(Oops! Was that a spoiler? 😔)
😁😎

Yep, 'fraid so Ron just about a year ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/books/clive-cussler-dead.html
A very interesting guy, one of my favourite authors too, when I feel in need of a good chunk of escapism! But at least there is always a crumb of scientific, engineering or historical truth at the beginning of each novel to give an 'almost' solid basis for what happens thereafter.

Rick; I'm with you 👍 Must have at least 4 or 5 unread Patterson and Cussler novels on my Kindle! Plus revelations of the Trump regime by various of his cast-offs!
Usually read 'em in hairy-planes or in a beach bar somewhere! Not since Spain May 2019 thanks to Covid 🤔
Others fads in earlier years; Isaac Asimov, anything I could get my mitts on, C.S. Forrester Hornblower series, Ian Flemming, John le Carre (also pegged out last year ☹️) , Tom Clancy.
And now and again I like to dip into
'A Seaman's Pocket-Book, June 1943.
By Authority of the LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY.'
"... a unique evocation of of the rules of life on the lower deck of the busy wartime Royal Navy."
"Every officer and man in the Navy must fight his fleet, his squadron, his ship or his gun so that it will inflict the maximum possible damage on the enemy , and continue to do so long as one gun remains above water." 😮
ISBN 10. 184486037X
I love the very first lines of the first paragraph chpt 1 'Sea Terms', describing the hull-
"The main body of the ship is called the HULL.
There are two ways of dividing the hull into two equal parts, just as there are two ways of splitting a sausage." ... ! Welcome to the Royal Navy at war in 1943!
In later chapters it gets more serious.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi
Yes he passed away in Feb 2020, a great loss.

Yes, great choices. Clive Cussler died recently, correct? He wrote both non-fiction and fiction books.

Hi
I do read a lot as there is not much on the T.V and at this time of the year it is a bit on the cold side to work out side. so this is just part on my list of authors : Steven King - James Patterson - George RR Martin - Dale Brown - Lee Child - Chris Ryan - Terry Pratchett - Matthew Reilly and Clive Cussler.

Fred

Excellent recommendation.

I just finished Messenger of Truth, by Jaqoueline Winspear, this morning. One of the Maisie Dobbs novels.

It is important to have other things to do besides boat building.

Stimulates your brain.

There is a "companion book" to the Master & Commander series called "A Sea of Words" Excellent diagrams and explainations of ships terms and rigging. Also 1800's navel life, medical care and food. By Dean King. This comprehensive lexicon provides definitions of nautical terms, historical entries describing the people and political events that shaped the period, and detailed explanations of the scientific, medical, and biblical references that appear in the novels.

Patrick O'brian Master and Commander series is great! If you haven't read "Longitude" by Dava Sobel do so! Excellent account of the search for a method to obtain Longitude while at sea.

Patrick O'Brian, Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope, C.S. Forrester, all historical novels, but accurate in ship's nomenclature, and descriptions. Farley Mowat ("Grey Seas Under") and several other good titles. Jack London, Joseph Conrad, although I found Conrad a little difficult sometimes.
John Steinbeck ("Grapes of Wrath", "Cannery Row", "Of Mice And Men", ) and many others. Erskine Caldwell, similar to Steinbeck. Other authors and titles that I remember passages and mental images I conjured up during the read, but it's been so long since I read the books I'm sure it would be like reading them the first time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)

lemmerhengst
The Lemmer stallion was first built in Kruispolder in 1899. This oak vessel had a stubby bow and a round stern. A lemmer stallion is a cross between the stallion and lemmeraak with which he shares the round stern. Around the middle of the 20th century, the lemmer stallion disappears as a fishing vessel.
The lemmer stallion was used for fishing all round and flatfish, eel and mussels.
Length: 13.50 meters, width: 4.30 meters, hollow: 1.70 meters, barrel size: 19 tonnes, crew: 3 heads.

Hmmmm MG J2 1932/4, 3000 built, bought RH 6292 for my wife's fortieth birthday, but disability stopped her driving it. After long storage I woke it up and it was last driven by my grandson 2017. He is currently bosun on Ranger J5 (USA) out of Florida, due to cruise N to Greenland later this year. His brother is also a bosun on Lionheart JH1 (Netherlands) based in the Med. They were due to race in the NZ J class Regatta but COVID cancelled the event.
Best Book with a J2 (actually a six cyl version) driven by Author?.....
.....Capt Eric 'Winkle' Brown RN. WW2 fighter pilot and test pilot retired 1970

I'm no longer active so my Lemmerhengst is for sale but I am keeping 60 years of pictures and memories of yachts, sailing smacks and barges. The J2 may yet get woken up again before it is left to a family member.
Happiness and good health to everyone on Model Boats
Lemmerhengst

Nerys,
In your pursuit of Seamanship, have you cracked the cover of “Chapman: Piloting and Seamanship”?

I have gone through most of the Jack Reacher series by Child’s. Also many of the Steve Burrows books, a Canadian author, plus, Peter Mayle, and ScottThornley. We, my wife and I read all the books An Irish Country Doctor, and All Creatures, Great and Small. See also, Robert P. Parker, The Spencer Novel

My earliest favourite reading was, who else, Arthur Ransome, but I must admit to spending a lot of time perusing 'Manual of Seamanship Vols 1 and 2 ' two of the books my father needed in studying for his Mates and Masters certificates. Then came the ' how to' books on sailing, mixed in with the stories of cruising and round the world sailing. I don't think I've changed that much. For Arthur Ransome read Patrick o' Brien and Alexander Kent, the how to books have become an extensive library of books mainly on traditional inshore sailing craft and an ever growing list of modern cruises and round the world voyages. However, I must admit to a liking for the novels of Dick Francis and John Francome.

Cheers, Nerys

My reading is mostly fantasy J.K. Rowling ;Terry Brooks; Stephen King and Dan Brown.Little reading done over the last year as I read mostly when traveling .
Rick

Yes, that was a good movie, “Master and Commander” and the Patrick O’ Brian books are well written too.

I am reading the series by Patrick O’Brian that centers around the Royal Navy about Nelson’s time. If you are not up to speed on square rigger terminology, and 1800’s sailor lingo it could be a difficult read. You might recall a movie “Master and Commander” following Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Maturin.

Slurp slurp drool! 😋😋😋
😎