Comments | following_sea: If I am cross eyed tired it is my own fault

eglantine_br in following_sea

If I am cross eyed tired it is my own fault

Feb 15, 2013 16:13

I started reading Stephen Taylor's book on Pellew ( Read more... )

character: edward pellew

Comments 8

vespican February 15 2013, 22:31:30 UTC

I'll have to add it to my "to be read" list!
Dave

eglantine_br February 15 2013, 23:25:20 UTC

Oh, do. You will no doubt see things in it that I have missed. And it is just plain fun too. We can all use more of that.

anteros_lmc February 15 2013, 23:12:13 UTC

Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I thought it was excellent. It's very well written isn't it? Taylor is a Times journalist and the only other one of his books that I've read (Storm and Conquest) has a slightly more journalistic edge, it's still enormously readable and I can highly recommend it, but you're a bit more aware he is telling a story. You're right about the way that in Commander he allows the story to unfold under its own momentum though.

You can tell that he's really fallen for Ned can't you? But at the same time he makes absolutely no attempt to gloss over his faults and failings, it's a very honest portrait of the man.

I'm really glad that Taylor has written this book because it corrects so many of the casual misconceptions that have become common currency as a result of Parkinson's woeful biography. I really hope it gets the readership it deserves :)

eglantine_br February 15 2013, 23:28:10 UTC

I think one of the most moving things for me was his own description of rescuing that tiny baby-- and how he said it was so important to him that the woman trusted him with her 'bantling.' I can just imagine the care he would take with a tiny infant in a situation like that.

anteros_lmc February 15 2013, 23:57:22 UTC

Yes, he never forgot that woman and her child. I think it's hard to over estimate the importance children and family to Pellew, both his own family and the wider extended family of officers and men that served with him.

eglantine_br February 16 2013, 00:01:50 UTC

Having a glimpse of the real man, I feel I love him more than ever.

mylodon February 16 2013, 12:20:03 UTC

Right. That goes straight onto my TBR list. Have just got two new books - one about WWI poets and the other about Bernard Spilsbury - so Pellew will be the dessert after the main courses!

rikibeth February 17 2013, 23:06:20 UTC

Those disgruntled noises you just heard were me, upon finding out that one of the local in-network libraries has a copy but it's checked out and they don't allow holds. :(