Yarr! Reccomend me some pirate-y books

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I'm in a scurvey mood. Anyone know of any good pirate-ish fiction?

 

[Rackhir]

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini is one of the classics and defining books of the genre.

It's not about pirates, but the Horatio Hornblower books are classics of the Age of Sail adventure books.

 

[Meowzebub]

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Pirates and dark Earth Magic - great fun

 

[Desdichado]

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini is one of the classics and defining books of the genre.

Seconded. Although as a novel, I prefer The Black Swan, also by Sabatini. But if you're looking at cinematic adaptations, then Captain Blood with Errol Flynn is quite a bit better than The Black Swan with Tyrone Power. We also owe a lot of the swashbuckling boom of movies of the post-sound/Douglas Fairbanks era of Hollywood to the success of that movie.

Also, while not specifically piratey (or even nautical) my favorite Sabatini book is far and away Scaramouche, which, aside from missing pirates and ships specifically, is still a great example of swashbuckling panache.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I've read Captain Blood and enough of the Hornblower to satiate me on that particular series. On Stranger Tides is on my all-time best list and the book that made me a huge Tim Powers fan (although Declare has since become my favorite Powers book).

I'll add the other Sabatini's to the to-read list. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[CCamfield]

In the humour category,

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists
by Gideon Defoe

A loopy 19th(!) century adventure involving a band of scurvy pirates, Charles Darwin, Darwin's man-panzee, and an eeevil English Bishop. Short, utterly demented, really funny. I haven't read the sequel, The Pirates! In An Adventure With Whaling.

 

[iwatt]

The Sandokan books by Emilio Salgari. Set in Indonesia, malasia and India.

He also has some traditional piratey goodness set in the carribean:

The Black Corsair
Pirates of Bermuda

He's pretty famous around this part of the world (South America). I have fond memories of growing up reading his stories of Sandokan wrestling with tigers, rescuing malaysian and indian princesses, ad snubbing the Brits.

Emilio Salgari was born at Verona.

After a failed attempt to become a naval officer he turned his passion for exploration and discovery to writing. He wrote more than two hundred adventure stories and novels, setting his tales in exotic locations, with heroes from a wide variety of cultures.

While extremely popular in Italy, Portugal and Spanish speaking countries (known as the Italian Jules Verne, although his works were usually more about cliffhanger adventures than speculative or scientific fiction), he remains less known in the rest of the world.

The deeds of the fictitious Sandokan seem to be loosely based on the exploits of Libau, a Dayak chieftain resisting James Brooke from his hideout at Mount Sandok in Sarawak.

 

[Pielorinho]

If I may hit the obvious, Treasure Island is one to read and reread and rereread.

Slightly less obvious, but only slightly, is The Count of Monte Cristo. The book lacks ninjas, but it has just about everything else possible to make it the perfect adventure novel, including a healthy dose of pirates.

Daniel

 

[Farganger]

George MacDonald Frasier's novel "Pyrates" is comic but nails all the major tropes and archetypes. I'd recommend this highly.

 

[Desdichado]

If I may hit the obvious, Treasure Island is one to read and reread and rereread.

I was just about to return to the thread and make sure that was hit!

I also really wish I could find the adaptation that had Charleton Heston as Long John Silver and a quite young Christian Bale is Jim Hawkins, but apparently that's never been released on DVD.