Passage 24 is from Desolation Island. However, I would not call myself particularly well-read, but I feel well-read enough to have a favorite author! Doesn't make POB the best author in the world, it just means that he gets my vote. I hope that the passages that I have included below will give you a little taste of his style, and particularly his humor.
The vast majority of POB's novels take place in the era and are related to ships at sea and sailing. Ostensibly, the main character is Jack Aubrey, a British naval officer, whom we learn, within a few pages of his introduction, may be carrying on an intrigue with his commandant's wife. At sea, Jack is a fighting man's man; ashore he bungles matters in general, even with women, whom he likes a lot.
Jack occasionally, often accidentally, makes a slightly clever comment or a weak joke; and that for him is an unforgettable event which delights him no end.
Although an intellect to the nth degree, after 20 books of naval life he has learned nothing about ships or sailing; however when among landlubbers he loves to impress his listeners with naval jargon, which neither he nor anyone else understands as Jack delights in saying something he perceives to be funny, Stephen delights in talking nautical before the unknowing - that and opium are his only vices that readily come to mind.
He is also a brilliant spy for the British in their war against France and Bonaparte. The leading female character is Diana, a young, drop-dead-beautiful, willful and fiery but penniless widowed wildcat of good breeding. She smokes cigars and drinks whisky.
