This is the official sign-up post for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. Yes, you read that right. This is a four year challenge to read what some call the greatest historical fiction series ever written, the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin nautical series by Patrick O’Brian. Join me in a long, slow read of this masterful account of life at sea (and on land) during the Napoleonic era. This reading odyssey will require a heart of oak but the journey will be well worth the effort.

Why These Books?

What makes this series worthy of such commitment and effort? First of all, the Aubrey/Maturin series is a grand and epic story filled with naval action, humor, music, romance, espionage, and scientific exploration. Stretching over twenty volumes, it reads like a single continuous narrative, a chronicle of the lives of the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey and his surgeon friend Dr. Stephen Maturin. But it is so much more than that. Written over the course of thirty years, between 1969 and 1999, the series is an acknowledged masterpiece of historical fiction. Richard Snow of the New York Times Book Review called the books “The best historical novels ever written.” And lest you think these books appeal mainly to men, Nicola Griffith of National Public Radio can hardly contain herself as she describes them:

This is Jane Austen on a ship of war, with the humanity, joy and pathos of Shakespeare — and brilliantly written. I have read them perhaps 20 times. I will read them many more…I can’t wait to introduce others to Patrick O’Brian’s erudition, perfect balance of exuberance and restraint, and unerring eye for the exact word and the comic detail.

Lucy Eyre of The Guardian is as equally enthusiastic:

There are two types of people in the world: Patrick O’Brian fans, and people who haven’t read him yet. This second category includes many women who are put off by the seemingly excessive focus on ships. This worried me, too. I thought it would be all battles and no women: perhaps even (shudder) a seafaring Lord of the Rings…

What really makes O’Brian nothing like Tolkien is the humour. The sailors’ indulgence of Stephen’s hopelessness with all things naval, Stephen’s wry reactions to peculiar sea habits, the droll not-quite-insubordination of Jack’s steward. Jack’s mangling of languages, Stephen’s persistent bewilderment at naval customs. O’Brian skewers the pompous in their own words. It’s Jane Austen at sea.

I like to think of the series as one long 6500-page novel, and it is quite possibly my favorite of all the books I’ve ever read, on par with Don Quixote and Lord of the Rings. Like Tolkien’s Frodo and Sam, or like Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Sancho Panzo, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are the epitome of male friendship, and their relationship is the heart of the series. So, when all is said and done, why these books? Simply put, there is nothing else quite like them, and they will reward the reader many times over.

Why Now?

So why am I hosting this read-along now? The answer is pretty simple: It’s been ten years since I last started reading the books and six years since I finished them, and that’s too long. I miss the characters, the history, the language, the humor, the music, the ships, the heroism, the camaraderie, and all the rest that goes in to making the series so enjoyable.

Why Take Four Years?

Why is this read-along organized to be four years long? Well, the last time I read the series it took me four years, so I thought I’d do it deliberately this time and make it an enjoyable and regular part of my week. The chapters are too long to make these books part of my normal chapter-a-day read-alongs, and these are not the kind of books I like to rush through. So I thought a chapter a week might be about right. Each chapter is about 30 pages long and is divided into several unnumbered sections. A chapter might be read throughout the week in small portions or all at once on a chosen day. I plan on doing my reading on Sundays while listening to Musical Evenings with the Captain. I have created an Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Schedule that organizes the books as follows:

Year 1:

• Master and Commander
• Post Captain
• H.M.S. Surprise
• The Mauritius Command
• Desolation Island, chapters 1-5

Year 2

• Desolation Island, chapters 6-10
• The Fortune of War
• The Surgeon’s Mate
• The Ionian Mission
• Treason’s Harbour
• The Far Side of the World, chapters 1-6

Year 3

• The Far Side of the World, chapters 6-10
• The Reverse of the Medal
• The Letter of Marque
• The Thirteen-Gun Salute
• The Nutmeg of Consolation
• The Truelove (aka Clarissa Oakes)

Year 4

• The Wine-Dark Sea
• The Commodore
• The Yellow Admiral
• The Hundred Days
• Blue at the Mizzen
• Twenty-One

Why You?

I can’t answer the question of whether you should participate, but I enthusiastically invite you along for this glorious odyssey. My read-alongs are always very casual. Read as much or as little as you are able, as fast or as slow as you like. If you need more convincing then let these further words from NPR’s Niccola Griffith encourage you:

If the phrase “Napoleonic war fiction” fills you with anticipation, then you don’t need me to convince you to read O’Brian. But for the rest of you, my fellow Horatio Hornblower-haters: Ignore the jacket copy on Master and Commander. Forget it. And please, just trust me.

How Do You Participate?

• First, leave a comment on this post telling everyone that you’ll be reading along and why.
• Next, get a copy of this year’s books. Unlike the books in most of my other challenges, these books are not in the public domain, so you will either have to purchase or borrow them. (If you purchase your books through the links above I earn a small amount in Amazon gift card credit.)
• Then download the four year schedule: Nick’s Aubrey-Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Schedule
• Commit to reading a chapter a week, starting the first week of January, 2021. If you get behind or race ahead, no worries. As 2020 taught us so well, life happens.
• If you feel like it, every so often post a line from the current chapter on social media, using the hashtag #AubreyMaturinReadalong. I’ll be posting to Twitter and Facebook each Sunday and I would love to read your thoughts, too. When you post, I would ask that you please respect the reading experience of those who may not know the full story. In other words, no spoilers!
• You will find the official read-along graphics (one for each year) at the bottom of this post. Feel free to use them on your website if you wish.
• Subscribe to One Catholic Life so you don’t miss any read-along posts throughout the year. You can get updates via email by using the form in the right-hand sidebar or you can subscribe via RSS and read them in your favorite blog reader.

The goal of all my read-alongs is to encourage people to read classic books they might not otherwise read because of their length or age. I look forward to seeing if anyone is as crazy as I am and is willing to commit to a four-year reading challenge.

Stay tuned for my introductory post for the first book, Master and Commander, toward the end of December, and leave a comment to let me know if you’re participating.

Here are the official read-along graphics you can use for your website if you choose.

Maritime images painted by Ivan Aivozovsky and available from Wikimedia Commons.