Down to the Sea in Ships - Book Group Oct 2022 discussion thread
9 watchers
Oct 2022
1:27pm, 16 Oct 2022
139,735 posts
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GregP
Me. I would. He writes very well too, your man. And I loved the Singapore rant. |
Oct 2022
7:55pm, 17 Oct 2022
28,304 posts
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fetcheveryone
I have just finished chapter 11 of 23. Enjoying it so far. I’m enjoying the descriptions of the cargo, the passenger birds, and the places visited. And I’m delighted that at least some of you are enjoying it too 
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Oct 2022
9:38pm, 17 Oct 2022
46,531 posts
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
I found a bookmark about 50 pages in (the Oxfam receipt from when I bought it), so I must have read some of it, but I have started again. I like Clare’s writing style; his use of present tense keeps the narrative and descriptions rattling along and he introduces a lot of information - whether historical, geographical or maritime custom - very naturally into the text.
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Oct 2022
9:48pm, 17 Oct 2022
46,532 posts
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
A bit of an aside. For anyone who is really interested in maritime writing, I would strongly recommend “The Outlaw Ocean” by Ian Urbina. It contains a series of articles and reports by Urbina, a New York Times reporter who has investigated assorted types of illegal behaviour on he world’s seas and oceans: stories of modern-day piracy, slavery and fraud on ships that appear to be operating outside any national - or international - jurisdiction. Clare’s book has something of the Michael Palin approach to travelogue (and that is not a criticism in any way; I enjoy Palin’s travel writing a lot); Urbina’s is a much heavier work. |
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Oct 2022
10:10pm, 17 Oct 2022
139,791 posts
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GregP
That Palin comparison is reasonable. I love a good travel book, but so many of them are good tales badly told. This one is, happily, an exception. |
Oct 2022
11:30pm, 28 Oct 2022
51,806 posts
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McGoohan
In cricket (but not international matches since 2011) an injured batsman can use a runner, a stand-in to make their runs for them. In exactly that way, Liebling has read Down to the Sea in Ships on my behalf, jogging up and down the pitch while I stayed back here guarding the crease. So, having completed her reading, I have now quizzed her about it and she has passed her judgement. First off, it’s the second Horatio Clare she has read, the first being Icebreaker which she enjoyed very much. This one she enjoyed even very mucher. She reckoned it may seem slightly weird or dreamlike and that one criticism might be that nothing much happens but that is the point, a depiction of a world, of a way of life that’s not much like the normal world. Clare is able to make the reader feel immersed in that life. The section in the ice floes of the frozen north was particularly evocative and immersive. Also that we get a real sense of the type of person that signs up for it: introverted but stoical. She mentioned the Filipinos being paid a lot less and I wondered if the story had in any way been urged in a less critical direction due to Maersk’s involvement. She reckons no: they don’t appear to have censored any of the criticism at all and Clare seemed to have had a free hand. Overall, Liebling loved it: she is a bit consumer of boaty books and felt this was the epitome of why she likes them, providing a window onto a world we would not otherwise experience. My proxy runner has only gone and awarded this book a definitively large 9 out of 10. Down to the Sea in Ships will now face Middlesex at Lord’s in the next round. |
Oct 2022
12:08pm, 29 Oct 2022
6,737 posts
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westmoors
Love Liebling's review and completely agree with her.
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Oct 2022
6:45pm, 30 Oct 2022
21,976 posts
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Columba
I enjoyed this book, and it certainly was Something Completely Different. A lot of purple prose, but I quite revelled in that.
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Nov 2022
1:37pm, 1 Nov 2022
140,165 posts
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GregP
I've given it a nine. I loved it - as I always suspected I would. Disappointed about the lack of maps, photos and stat sheets. All findable enough with a bit of internet digging, but it would have been nice to have them to hand, particularly in the transition for 'shiny big boat' to 'small rusting boat'. My favourite Fetchenbuchauswahl for many moons. |
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Nov 2022
11:59am, 2 Nov 2022
21,978 posts
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Columba
Agree about the maps. Or should that be charts.
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