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Recommendations based on Beat to Quartersby C.S. Forester
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Lieutenant Hornblower
by C.S. Forester
An adventurous naval officer navigates the dangerous high seas of the Napoleonic Wars.
William Bush , who becomes Hornblower's faithful companion and best friend, is introduced boarding HMS, Renown, as the third lieutenant . Hornblower is the fifth and most junior lieutenant. It is ... (Wikipedia)
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
by C.S. Forester
Follow the adventures of Horatio Hornblower, a young midshipman in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
This novel is episodic, with named chapters (that begin with Hornblower) that often focus on a self-contained incident. In this story, a gawky and seasick Hornblower comes aboard his first ship. He ... (Wikipedia)
Sharpe's Rifles
by Bernard Cornwell
A tale of heroism and courage in the Napoleonic Wars, as one man rises to become a legendary soldier.
Sharpe's battalion, acting as rearguard to the British Army in its retreat to Corunna , are cut down by a squadron of French regular cavalry. Sharpe takes up Captain Murray's heavy cavalry sword ... (Wikipedia)
Desolation Island
by Patrick O'Brian
Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin are stranded on a remote island, facing harsh conditions and a dangerous enemy.
Jack Aubrey, having recovered financially in, The Mauritius Command, , expands his house, pays off his mother-in-law's debts, and his wife is no longer pinching pennies. His household staffed with ... (Wikipedia)
The Mauritius Command
by Patrick O'Brian
Captain Jack Aubrey leads the Royal Navy in a battle against the French in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars.
Jack Aubrey and Sophia Williams are married and the parents of twin girls. They live at Ashgrove Cottage on his half-pay, not enough to support fellow navy men in the household. Sophia's mother has ... (Wikipedia)
Sharpe's Eagle
by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe, a British soldier, must retrieve a stolen regimental eagle during the Napoleonic Wars in Spain.
It is July 1809. During the Talavera Campaign , Sir Arthur Wellesley 's army has entered Spain to confront Marshal Victor . Richard Sharpe and his small group of thirty riflemen, separated from their ... (Wikipedia)
Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
Epic tale of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.
It is the late 1870s. , Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers , run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border ... (Wikipedia)
The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
A retired detective called to investigate a mysterious murder.
The story is set in New York City in December 1932, in the last days of Prohibition. The main characters are a former private detective , Nick Charles and Nora, his clever young wife. Nick, son of a ... (Wikipedia)
The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas
An adventurous tale of friendship, courage, and battle in 17th century France.
In 1625 France, d'Artagnan leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard . At a house in Meung-sur-Loire , an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted, ... (Wikipedia)
Nine Princes in Amber
by Roger Zelazny
A man discovers he is a member of a royal family from another world and embarks on a quest to reclaim his rightful place.
Carl Corey wakes in a medical clinic, with little to no knowledge of who he is or how he got there. He suspects he is being over-medicated, so he overpowers the nurse and doctor and escapes his room. ... (Wikipedia)
Treason's Harbour
by Patrick O'Brian
Adventure tale of a daring British naval officer and his mission to thwart a French spy.
The Surprises wait at Malta while their ship is slowly repaired after their successful mission on the Ionian coast. Aubrey and Maturin meet Mrs Laura Fielding at music parties she holds. She is ... (Wikipedia)
Sharpe's Tiger
by Bernard Cornwell
A young British officer fights against the forces of the Indian ruler Tippoo Sultan during the 1799 siege of Seringapatam.
Richard Sharpe is a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot in the British army. The British invade Mysore and advance on the Tippoo Sultan 's capital city of Seringapatam . Sharpe is contemplating ... (Wikipedia)
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A young man's thrilling escape from kidnappers and the pursuit of justice.
The main character and narrator is 17-year-old David Balfour. (Balfour is Stevenson's mother's maiden name.) His parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. He is given a ... (Wikipedia)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
by Philip José Farmer
A journey of exploration through a mysterious afterlife, revealing the secrets of life and death.
British adventurer Richard Francis Burton dies on Earth and is revived in mid-air in a vast dark room filled with human bodies, some only half-formed. There, he is confronted by men in a flying ... (Wikipedia)
The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
Private eye investigates a complex case involving a wealthy family and blackmail.
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of the wealthy and elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with an attempt by a bookseller named Arthur ... (Wikipedia)
Red Harvest
by Dashiell Hammett
A private detective infiltrates a corrupt town to clean up the crime and corruption.
The Continental Op is called to Personville (known as "Poisonville" to the locals) by the newspaper publisher Donald Willsson, who is murdered before the Op has a chance to meet with him. The Op ... (Wikipedia)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
A soldier's story of courage and survival in the Spanish Civil War.
The novel graphically describes the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. It is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan. It draws on Hemingway's own ... (Wikipedia)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
A thrilling adventure beneath the depths of the sea, discovering a strange and wondrous world.
During the year 1866, ships of various nationalities sight a mysterious sea monster , which, it is later suggested, might be a gigantic narwhal . The U.S. government assembles an expedition in New ... (Wikipedia)
Smiley's People
by John le Carré
Retired spy Smiley is thrust back into the world of espionage to uncover a deadly conspiracy.
John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him – and his hero, British ... (Goodreads)
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
by Hannah Tinti
A father-daughter journey of healing, as they confront the secrets of the past.
A father protects his daughter from the legacy of his past and the truth about her mother's death in this thrilling new novel from the prize-winning author of, The Good Thief., After years spent ... (Goodreads)
Stormbird
by Conn Iggulden
The beginning of the War of the Roses, as seen through the eyes of powerful men and women who fought for the throne of England.
King Henry V - the great Lion of England - is long dead. In 1437, after years of regency, the pious and gentle Henry VI, the Lamb, comes of age and accedes to the English throne. His poor health and ... (Goodreads)
His Majesty's Dragon
by Naomi Novik
A Napoleonic-era naval captain and a dragon join forces to battle their enemies.
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes ... (Goodreads)
Libriomancer
by Jim C. Hines
A magical librarian who can pull objects from books must save the world from a dangerous enemy.
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw ... (Goodreads)
The Last Enchantment
by Mary Stewart
Epic adventure of a young man's quest to save Camelot from destruction.
This novel covers the time from when Arthur Pendragon first becomes king to the time Merlin, now getting on in years, begins to lose his powers and becomes a sort of master spy to assist King Arthur ... (Wikipedia)
A Trail Through Time
by Jodi Taylor
Time-traveling historians face danger and adventure as they try to fix historical events.
St Mary’s is back and is facing a battle to survive in this, the fourth instalment of the Chronicles. Max and Leon are re-united and looking forward to a peaceful lifetime together. But, sadly, they ... (Goodreads)
I, Claudius
by Robert Graves
An epic tale of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, told through the eyes of a dynasty's forgotten leader.
Into the 'autobiography' of Clau-Clau-Claudius, the pitiful stammerer who was destined to become Emperor in spite of himself, Graves packs the everlasting intrigues, the depravity, the bloody purges ... (Goodreads)
City of Thieves
by David Benioff
Two young men embark on a perilous mission in the besieged Leningrad of WWII.
The story is introduced as the recollections of the narrator's grandfather Lev Beniov, a contemporary Russian Jewish émigré. It is set in the first week of 1942, with the 17-years-old Lev trying to ... (Wikipedia)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
by John le Carré
A retired spy is called back into action to uncover a mole in the British Secret Service.
Control , chief of the Circus, suspects one of the five senior intelligence officers at the Circus to be a long-standing Soviet mole and assigns code names with the intention that should his agent ... (Wikipedia)
Ice Station Zebra
by Alistair MacLean
An explosive mission to rescue a British spy from a remote Arctic base.
Drift ice Station Zebra, a British meteorological station built on an ice floe in the Arctic Sea , suffers a catastrophic oil fire; several of its men die, and their shelter and supplies are ... (Wikipedia)
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A thrilling adventure of a young boy and a crew of rogues in search of buried treasure.
An old sailor named Billy Bones comes to lodge in the rural Admiral Benbow Inn on the Bristol Channel , in England. He tells the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins , to keep a lookout for "a one-legged ... (Wikipedia)
