There is Not a Moment to Lose

In the summer of 1992 I travelled to London with my then girlfriend. Naturally, I dragged her into any bookstore that we passed that looked promising. And it was in one of these stores that I came across a book caled Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian. From the cover and the blurb on the back I learned it was the first in a series about an officer in the Royal Navy, set during the Napoleonic wars - much like C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books. 'Well,' I thought, ' I doubt it's anywhere near as good as Forester's books, but what the hell - it'll probably be a decent airplane book for the flight back.'

I was wrong of course. It was better than Forester. I devoured Master and Commander and raced on to the succeeding volumes in the series. When I finished all the existing books, I waited in all eagerness for the latest one to be published. The series stood at 20 installements when O'Brian died in January 2000, and I wish he had written 20 more. I am certainly not alone in feeling this way. After 20 years of obscurity, the novels grained fame and a growing audience, beginning in the 1990s.

So it's with great delight that I read the excellent reviews of Peter Weir's film treatment of the books. I'll see this film this weekend - as 'Lucky' Jack Aubrey would say - there is not a moment to lose.