Horatio Hornblower series - CS Forester

***Valandil*** · 07-06-2004, 11:22 AM

Has anyone read these books? I read them all in my teen years - and have re-read at least some (most) in years since. They're about a British sea captain during the Napoleonic wars. There are something like 10-11 books in the series. They were actually written about the same time Tolkien was cranking out his works.

A&E has recently made some of the stories in the first book (chronologically, not as written) into a couple mini-series. In 1951, Gregory Peck starred in a feature film which combined the first three books written.

In Chronological order:

1. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
2. Lieutenant Hornblower
3. Hornblower and the Hotspur
3A* Hornblower During the Crisis
4. Hornblower and the Atropos
5. Beat to Quarters (aka - 'The Happy Return')
6. Ship of the Line
7. Flying Colors (Colours)
8. Commodore Hornblower
9. Lord Hornblower
10. Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies

#1 begins in 1793, Hornblower at 17 has just joined the Navy as a junior officer. #3A was published posthumously - and actually has a collection of stories, but the main one (incomplete) fits where I show it. #5 was the first written, and features Hornblower in command of a medium-sized / smaller ship (called a 'frigate') on special assignment to the west coast of Central America in 1808... great story. #9 is set at the end of Napoleon's rule - and #10 has Hornblower in command of a small squadron of British ships in the early 1820's.

Good stuff... and Forester is accurate with his seamanship. There's also a nice companion book available that details Hornblower's sailing escapades.

Count Comfect · 07-06-2004, 09:01 PM

Read 'em all, Loved 'em all.

I read in a very odd order, something like 325768921(10)(3A) - so I can definitely say reading them out of order (in either internal chronology or writing order) doesn't diminish how much fun they are to read.

I think that these books are what started both me and my dad in our great liking for Napoleonic history.

sun-star · 07-12-2004, 06:33 AM

...Ioan Gruffudd... *drool*

*hits self over head for being shallow*

I haven't read the books, but the adaptations are great.

Grey_Wolf · 07-14-2004, 09:49 AM

Here's a site for all you CS Forester fans:

http://www.csforester.org/info.asp

Lief Erikson · 07-31-2004, 06:46 PM

I've not read the books like some of my family members have, but I've watched the films and love them

.

Mercutio · 08-08-2004, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun-star

...Ioan Gruffudd... *drool*

*hits self over head for being shallow*

I haven't read the books, but the adaptations are great.

That's really funny. I just watched adaptation I & II and plan on getting some more tomorrow (They are so wonderful! And I really like naval stuff (yes I am a girl). I am in complete agreement with your first statement

. I've only read a condensation of some of the books.

tolkienfan · 04-02-2005, 06:51 PM

I'm reading the series (in chronological order), I'm on #5. I watched some of the movies, really liked them, now I'm reading the books and I watched the rest of the movies. I really like the books too.

Mercutio · 04-03-2005, 12:05 AM

ah between the post two above this and now I have seen all the films, looked at all the dvd extras, yes even the "parts of a cannon" and "types of ships." I also studied some diagrams of ships in another book...written a little more recently...about this individual guy on a voyage...blanking out on its title.

did you know Ioan Gruffud played oboe for a good while in school? Up to a pretty decent level too.

tolkienfan · 04-03-2005, 12:38 AM

Did he really? That is interesting. Have you seen any other movies with him in it? I've just seen 102 Dalmations and King Arthur.

Mercutio · 04-03-2005, 05:20 PM

Great Expectations...that was a good adaptation. And he's in the first part of the Forsyte Saga...those were...interesting and very pretty and the acting was good, however the movies completely missed the point that the author of the novels (John Galsworthy) was satirizing the corrupt, immoral society it portrayed. Whoops.

Elvellyn · 06-22-2005, 01:52 AM

I'm almost embarassed to admit this, but I have a sort of literary crush on Horatio Hornblower. Just his awkwardness and then brilliance... And yes, Ioan Gruffudd is very attractive; that may have something to do with it as well.

Mercutio · 07-08-2005, 09:13 PM

I've now read Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian and am picking up #2 of the series tomorrow. I liked it even more than Hornblower...O'Brian writes serious historical fiction. Excellent novels. He's style is similar to Jane Austen's, just in a different setting of the same era.

Here is the publishers website on O'Brian and his work.

...reading over some web-sites it appears that O'Brian's favorite writer was Austen and that #2 of the Aubrey/Maturin series pays homage to her...

This is a long but good journal article I read on his work.

04-02-2005, 06:51 PM	#7
tolkienfan Elf Lord Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: The Internet Posts: 803	I'm reading the series (in chronological order), I'm on #5. I watched some of the movies, really liked them, now I'm reading the books and I watched the rest of the movies. I really like the books too. __________________ Don't be hasty! Thanks so much to Last Child of Ungoliant, Twista, and BeardofPants for my avatar!

06-22-2005, 01:52 AM	#11
Elvellyn The Redneck Elf Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: In a house Posts: 539	I'm almost embarassed to admit this, but I have a sort of literary crush on Horatio Hornblower. Just his awkwardness and then brilliance... And yes, Ioan Gruffudd is very attractive; that may have something to do with it as well. __________________ Oliphants make great pets.

07-08-2005, 09:13 PM	#12
Mercutio Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Narnia Posts: 1,656	I've now read Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian and am picking up #2 of the series tomorrow. I liked it even more than Hornblower...O'Brian writes serious historical fiction. Excellent novels. He's style is similar to Jane Austen's, just in a different setting of the same era. Here is the publishers website on O'Brian and his work. ...reading over some web-sites it appears that O'Brian's favorite writer was Austen and that #2 of the Aubrey/Maturin series pays homage to her... This is a long but good journal article I read on his work. __________________ Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from Moscow, eh?". Interested in C.S. Lewis? Visit the forum dedicated to one of Tolkien's greatest contemporaries.

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07-06-2004, 11:22 AM	#1
*Valandil* High King at Annuminas Administrator Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Wyoming - USA Posts: 10,752	Horatio Hornblower series - CS Forester Has anyone read these books? I read them all in my teen years - and have re-read at least some (most) in years since. They're about a British sea captain during the Napoleonic wars. There are something like 10-11 books in the series. They were actually written about the same time Tolkien was cranking out his works. A&E has recently made some of the stories in the first book (chronologically, not as written) into a couple mini-series. In 1951, Gregory Peck starred in a feature film which combined the first three books written. In Chronological order: 1. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower 2. Lieutenant Hornblower 3. Hornblower and the Hotspur 3A* Hornblower During the Crisis 4. Hornblower and the Atropos 5. Beat to Quarters (aka - 'The Happy Return') 6. Ship of the Line 7. Flying Colors (Colours) 8. Commodore Hornblower 9. Lord Hornblower 10. Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies #1 begins in 1793, Hornblower at 17 has just joined the Navy as a junior officer. #3A was published posthumously - and actually has a collection of stories, but the main one (incomplete) fits where I show it. #5 was the first written, and features Hornblower in command of a medium-sized / smaller ship (called a 'frigate') on special assignment to the west coast of Central America in 1808... great story. #9 is set at the end of Napoleon's rule - and #10 has Hornblower in command of a small squadron of British ships in the early 1820's. Good stuff... and Forester is accurate with his seamanship. There's also a nice companion book available that details Hornblower's sailing escapades. __________________ My Fanfic: Letters of Firiel Tales of Nolduryon Visitors Come to Court Ñ á ë ?* ó ú é ä ï ö Ö ñ É Þ ð ß ® ™ [Xurl=Xhttp://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=ABCXYZ#postABCXYZ]text[/Xurl] Splitting Threads is SUCH Hard Work!!

07-06-2004, 09:01 PM	#2
Count Comfect Word Santa Claus Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 2,922	Read 'em all, Loved 'em all. I read in a very odd order, something like 325768921(10)(3A) - so I can definitely say reading them out of order (in either internal chronology or writing order) doesn't diminish how much fun they are to read. I think that these books are what started both me and my dad in our great liking for Napoleonic history. __________________ Sufficient to have stood, yet free to fall.

07-12-2004, 06:33 AM	#3
sun-star Lady of Letters Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England Posts: 2,476	...Ioan Gruffudd... drool hits self over head for being shallow I haven't read the books, but the adaptations are great. __________________ And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool.

07-14-2004, 09:49 AM	#4
Grey_Wolf Elf Lord Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mirkwood, well actually I live in North-west Scania, Sweden Posts: 9,481	Here's a site for all you CS Forester fans: http://www.csforester.org/info.asp

07-31-2004, 06:46 PM	#5
Lief Erikson Elf Lord Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Fountain Valley, CA Posts: 6,343	I've not read the books like some of my family members have, but I've watched the films and love them . __________________ If the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. ~Oscar Wilde, written from prison Oscar Wilde's last words: "Either the wallpaper goes, or I do."

04-03-2005, 12:05 AM	#8
Mercutio Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Narnia Posts: 1,656	ah between the post two above this and now I have seen all the films, looked at all the dvd extras, yes even the "parts of a cannon" and "types of ships." I also studied some diagrams of ships in another book...written a little more recently...about this individual guy on a voyage...blanking out on its title. did you know Ioan Gruffud played oboe for a good while in school? Up to a pretty decent level too.

04-03-2005, 12:38 AM	#9
tolkienfan Elf Lord Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: The Internet Posts: 803	Did he really? That is interesting. Have you seen any other movies with him in it? I've just seen 102 Dalmations and King Arthur. __________________ Don't be hasty! Thanks so much to Last Child of Ungoliant, Twista, and BeardofPants for my avatar! Last edited by tolkienfan : 04-03-2005 at 01:31 AM.

04-03-2005, 05:20 PM	#10
Mercutio Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Narnia Posts: 1,656	Great Expectations...that was a good adaptation. And he's in the first part of the Forsyte Saga...those were...interesting and very pretty and the acting was good, however the movies completely missed the point that the author of the novels (John Galsworthy) was satirizing the corrupt, immoral society it portrayed. Whoops. __________________ Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from Moscow, eh?". Interested in C.S. Lewis? Visit the forum dedicated to one of Tolkien's greatest contemporaries.