C S Forester Hornblower series

This series of books is where I started my interest in naval fiction. My father bought me one many,many,many.... years ago and i've been hooked ever since. Most of the copies I have are from the old mermaid series. It's just a shame there are so few of them.

Just joined the forum. Doesn't seem to be much discussion in the HH area here which is surprising. Thought I'd tag on to Astrodene's post since the HH series is where I started reading this genre as well. Was getting ready to go on a business trip where I'd be gone for a few weeks and wanted something to read and stopped in a bookstore. This is in the early 80s. There was a display of the HH books that caught my eye and I bought a couple. Got hooked and acquired the whole series. After reading the series I read it again, and got some of the guys at work reading it with me. After I would finish a book I'd pass it to one of the guys who would read it and pass it to the next guy. I think there were four of us reading the series together. I just recently started reading the series again, so this is my fourth time. Interesting reading it now after 20 some years and having read other series by other authors to give me more perspective. Currently I'm in book Seven and about to finish it.

Steve Jones

While O'Brian is probably a more likely candidate today, I wonder, going back a few years, how many people read a Hornblower novel and got hooked on the genre for life.

That's what got me hooked. My father encouraged me to read them when I was but a lad.

Likewise, (and I have only just finished Mr Midshipman for what must have been the tenth time, and still found it very enjoyable). It is one of the benefits of our genre; a book set in the past might have been written fifty years ago, or last week, yet still remains pertinent. Admittedly some of the older titles can be a little "dated" in style, although, to my mind, that only adds to their interest.

Have you tracked down a copy of the Hornblower Companion, Steve?

O'Brian got me into the genre. Forester reinforced the attraction, which has yet to dim through Pope, Kent, Woodman, Lambdin et al.

Funny, I started on Hornblower. I honestly didn't even realize there was a whole genre of books out there like this until I saw the movie "Master and Commander"..... I've been making up for it ever since, much to my wife's dismay.

I read 'Lieutenant Hornblower' a few years ago, and only recently realized that there was a whole series. I think HH was what originally inspired my interest in naval history. Anyway, does anybody know where I can pick up a few of the books for cheap? I've looked on places like Amazon and B&N but they're usually 12-15 USD PER BOOK! And there's 10 or 11 books in the series, I believe. That's a little expensive for my taste but I would love to own the whole series..

If you wait for it to fully load and look at the bottom of the authors page on the web site you can see if some are available on ebay. A used copy of beat to quarters is currently being offered for a $1.87.

Make sure you look at the Used Books sections at Amazon, etc. Yu can get some real bargains.

I was pointed at www.abebooks.com quite a while ago by one of our shipmates. I was able to secure a few hard-to-find books there.

Thanks for the info Astrodene and reb01501

reb01501: thanks for the awesome site reccomendation! I found Mr. Midshipman Hornblower in hardcover in excellent condtition for $1.00 plus S+H!

I "discovered" Lambdin's Alan Lewrie series by accident in my local library about 3 months ago when I was looking for another author. I started with Kings Coat and I was immediately hooked. I've read every book in the series in order. Last night I finished The Invasion Year. Now I don't know what to do with myself!

I've never read any Forester or O'Brian....are they, or any of the other authors similar to Lambdin? The only thing I knew about Horatio Hornblower was that there was a movie by that name starring Gregory Peck. Is the Hornblower series adult fiction or is it aimed at the youth audience?

Similar to Lambdin? Well, they all write about Royal Navy officers during the Napoleonic war ... Lambdin is pretty unique: the closest I've seen is JC Edwards.
O'Brian is definitely not aimed at a younger audience, but his style is much more literate than Lambdin's, which has put some readers off based on comments here in these forums. But if you look at the poll on the first page, you sill see he's very highly regarded among this forum's members.
I would put Hornblower in the young adult camp. I first read it as an adult a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Anyways, have a browse through this forum - members are not averse to posting their opinions, both positive and negative, about the various books and authors.

I can highly recommend Alaric Bond's Fighting Sails series.

Well, I guess I have a mission.....I'm going to have to read all of Forester's Hornblower series plus O'Brian's!

Scoutmaster60 wrote:Well, I guess I have a mission.....I'm going to have to read all of Forester's Hornblower series plus O'Brian's!

In a way I envy you for starting only now. Nothing like the first time...

It looks like most of us started with Hornblower.

The funny thing is that I read the series about three times (which comes to show I have definitely liked the genre) but never tried to look for similar books. I got there in a funny way: I saw Sharpe on TV, bought the series, fell for Benard Conrwell, saw on each book some reviews saying he was the "new Patrick O'brian ". I decided it was time to investigate the true O'brian, there I have been hooked on Aubry and Maturin. Ever since I have been surching for more books and series...

LOL

Hey Joe your last post looks just like my intro thread!!

Cheers seems there is a basic connection on how we got to Age of Fighting Sail books, NICE!!

Tom

TRDG wrote:LOL

Hey Joe your last post looks just like my intro thread!!

Cheers seems there is a basic connection on how we got to Age of Fighting Sail books, NICE!!

Tom

This is one more proof that "Great Minds Think Alike" isn't it?

Yes, I beleave so, or we tend watch the same shows once in a while, LOL!!

Cheers, later bud.

Tom

I kept skirting the edge right by Hornblower for quite some time. As a kid I read the usual suspects of nautical books (e.g. <i>Treasure Island</i>) but didn't delve too deeply into the genre. And then I'd seen allusions to Hornblower in several places growing up. One was that <i>Star Trek</i> was strongly influenced by the idea of "Horatio Hornblower in space". And later I read the Honor Harrington series which was explicitly modeled on the concept of Hornblower in space to a much greater degree than Trek ever was. But I still hadn't read any actual HNF. About that time I noticed O'Brian's books in the book stores. But I still didn't pursue them. Then early in grad school I found that one of the professors was a big fan with the complete library. But I didn't break down then either. Ultimately it was seeing <i>Master and Commander</i> at the student theater right at the end of its run in theaters that finally caught me. I went out and read the first one. And then I was hooked. I blew through the first several books. Then I tried to ration them knowing that the supply was finite. While trying to space them out I explored some of the other series but didn't get into them until I finally did run out of O'Brian. And that's when I turned to Hornblower and Bolitho and the rest. So for me, it was a long and circuitous route to reading the Hornblower series.

While Hornblower was my first full series, I think my very first HNF book was about Mutiny on the Bounty. I read it as high school, and I cannot remember the author. The Hebrew translation I used then, was comprised of three parts: The Mutiny on the Bounty, A boat on the high seas, and Pitcairn Island. The next were two modern HNF books: The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat and HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean. Both on convoy escorts during WW2. I read both several times. I am afraid that elaborating on them will become off topic.

Big Joe wrote:I am afraid that elaborating on them will become off topic.

Quite so, but I am in full agreement with you; The Cruel Sea is one of the finest novels I have read.

Big Joe wrote:Both on convoy escorts during WW2. I read both several times. I am afraid that elaborating on them will become off topic.

Off topic here, but a thread in the wardroom on modern era naval fiction would be a good discussion if someone want's to start it

Question on the series.....After finishing Lamdin's series you all got me interested in Hornblower. I just finished Hornblower and the Atropos. It ended with him coming home without a ship and to find his children coming down with smallpox. I just picked up Captain Horatio Hornblower which starts out with Beat to Quarters. I thought that was the next book in the series after Atropos, but it starts out with him being on the Lydia for 7 months and he's in the Pacific, no mention of his family. Did I miss a book somewhere? I know Forester didn't write the books in order, so is this something that just got lost in the process?