Community Profile

The Patrick O'Brian Readthrough of the World!

We are reading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubreyad books, one chapter a week, and discussing them here. Please join in!



Please note that discussion in this community is likely to involve "adult" themes, including (but not limited to) sex, violence and trigonometry. In addition, while this is not a slash comm, it is slash-friendly. If you are not old enough or do not wish to deal with these themes, please be responsible and don't participate.

More about how it works

We read one chapter a week of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books. We began our first read-through in January 2008 with Master and Commander, reached the end of the saga and started again, and you can see where we're up to now on this calendar. Membership is open to all. Every Friday or Saturday, one of the moderators posts three or four posts about the chapter, and then anyone can add comments about whatever they like: discussion of a particular character, historical information, nautical jargon etc.

Please join in with whatever thoughts you have, serious or silly. This comm is predicated upon love for the books, and upon the principle of sharing that love with other fans. All are welcome! If you've missed the beginning, feel free to join in at whatever point we're at, or to post your observations of earlier chapters on posts gone by.

Now, briefly, what few rules we have:

The main rule here is: play nice. This is intended to be a happy squeeful place, and we like a happy ship. No one is obliged to agree with anyone else, but as this is a long voyage and we're going to be in each other's company for a long time, we do ask that people be friendly and polite.

Please be aware that this comm is open to fans of all persuasions, including slashers and non-slashers alike, so it's possible that someone else's interpretation or squee may not be your cup of tea. We encourage you to live and let live.

We're not hard-horse captains, but flaming will be dealt with by the bosun's mates (and the bosun's cat) and trolling will result in a Jonah's lift for the perpetrator (i.e. banning). No duelling is allowed on shipboard: if you have disagreements that need resolving, please deal with them off-comm so as not to spoil other people's enjoyment.

Spoiler policy: because we want *everyone* to enjoy themselves, first voyagers and old hands alike, we ask that people be spoiler-conscious. Not everyone will have read all the books, so if discussing anything at all spoilery in the comment threads please mark it clearly in the comment header and if necessary leave spoiler space like this:
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We know this is inconvenient, but it's better than ruining someone else's pleasure in the process of reading these wonderful books!

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask away!