The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian: 5 stars

quotes:

"A Barmecide feast, sir, I am afraid," said Jack.

"Not at all, sir," said Martin. "There is nothing I prefer to..." He hesitated, trying to find a name for salt beef, eighteen months in the cask, partly desalted, cut up very small and fried with crushed ship's biscuits and a great deal of pepper. "... to a fricasse." p. 223

"Sir," said Stephen, "I read novels with the utmost pertinacity. I look upon them- I look upon good novels- as a very valuable part of literature, conveying more exact and finely-distinguished knowledge of the human heart and mind than almost any other, with greater breadth and depth and fewer constraints. Had I not read Madame de La Fayette, the Abbe Prevost, and the man who wrote Clarissa, that extraordinary feast, I should be very much poorer than I am; and a moment's reflection would add many more." p. 253

"Obstruction at every infernal step," said Jack. "How I hate an official." But his face cleared when Stephen told him of the little girls' escape and asked whether he disliked having them aboard.

"Never in life," he said. "I quite like to see them skipping about. They are far better than wombats. Last time we touched here, you bought a wombat, you remember, and it ate my hat." p. 275

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