I think if you are not intimidated by sailing jargon then you will be fine :-)
Other great companion books are Harbours and High Seas and Sea of Words. But only if you want. I went through the first time without any companion books and I had a great time just reading :D
There's a group of us that so love reading the books we read them together (I'm on my fourth trip through the books, others are on their second or they've lost count :-) We help answer each other's random questions about 19th C sailing, naval life, social life, fashion, history, politics, medical and natural history understanding, literature, obscure references, etc, that all comes up in POB's books because he brings in everything (this is one reason why the books are so good) (also POB likes his private in-joke) (but remember you don't need to get all that to enjoy the books! Really! They are loads of fun!).
You can get along fine with just picking up things from context (that's what I did my first couple reads - no problem), but if you want to read our discussions of the books they are at mandc_read.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-02-26 04:31 pm (UTC)Other great companion books are Harbours and High Seas and Sea of Words. But only if you want. I went through the first time without any companion books and I had a great time just reading :D
There's a group of us that so love reading the books we read them together (I'm on my fourth trip through the books, others are on their second or they've lost count :-) We help answer each other's random questions about 19th C sailing, naval life, social life, fashion, history, politics, medical and natural history understanding, literature, obscure references, etc, that all comes up in POB's books because he brings in everything (this is one reason why the books are so good) (also POB likes his private in-joke) (but remember you don't need to get all that to enjoy the books! Really! They are loads of fun!).
You can get along fine with just picking up things from context (that's what I did my first couple reads - no problem), but if you want to read our discussions of the books they are at
M&C Chapter 1 is here: background facts and discussion (the first read through); and we have embarked on a second read - the first chapter discussions were general, nautical, Jack & Stephen, and other characters.
And I loved the imagery from that first chapter so much I made picspam :D
Anyway, do not mean to overwhelm you at all, just welcome you to the joy of the books and further joy of sharing the fun :D