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Discussion What Arrrrr Ye Reading? A Place to Discuss the Piratical Tomes You're Perusing

M

Mad Jack Wolfe

Master Mariner
Storm Modder
Pirate Legend
I'm halfway through "The Golden Age of Piracy: The Truth Behind Pirate Myths" by Benerson Little. It's the fourth book of his I've read, and he's doing a fine job of casting the harsh light of fact on many of the pirate myths and tall tales we thought were facts. As a historian, this work is sublime in the way it burns away popular fiction. As an aficionado of things pirate, it's a sobering eye-opener.

As with Little's other works, this is a must-read. Balance it against the works of Cordingly and Konstam, but you'll come out with a clear understanding of what really happened during the Golden Age of Piracy.
 
You actually caught me right in your middle of reading a book myself!
Nothing involving pirates though, I'm afraid; lots of Star Wars instead.
Do space pirates count?

I've never really read a lot of pirate fiction.
I read the entire Hornblower stores several times though, which is absolutely brilliant.
And I read "On Stranger Tides" (the Sparrow-less version!) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom".

But that's about it, I think...
I'm probably missing out on a great many gems, but I can always investigate them eventually.
After I've read all those other books that I bought and haven't really touched yet...
I'll be going a while! :rofl

LarryHookins said:
I'm working through the Aubrey-Maturin series by O'Brian.

Patrick O'Brian | Open Library

These have been surprisingly good. Heavy on the nautical jargon but it adds to the immersion.

Hook
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Congratulations on plowing through those!
I bought the first book in that series and the first Hornblower one back in 2007 from a book store I found in Vancouver.
Hornblower I finished in no-time and I bought the second one upon returning a week later.

But ten years later I still haven't succeeded in finishing that first Master & Commander.
I do intend to one day, but that's a difficult book to get through.
I've got the same difficulty with The Lord of the Rings, where I started on the series twice in my life, but never got further than halfway into The Two Towers.

I definitely believe they're both very good series though and one day I intend to succeed getting through them! :read
 
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Space pirates count. If you liked Firefly, for example, the Drifter's Alliance series by Elle Casey is very similar.

I had no problems with Lord of the Rings... once. I couldn't plow through it a second time. Dune was heavy going as well. I've read Starship Troopers many many times though, and when I was much younger The Spirit of St Louis at least 4 times (I like airplanes).

I read The Black Corsair on a recommendation by someone here, then found the Aubrey-Maturin books available for loan. Corsair was just a story, and I didn't find it to be a very good one, but O'Brian is excellent. Most of the material in his books is taken from real life and he's fictionalized it wonderfully. It has an authentic feel to it. It may be easier to read online where you can quickly google any term you don't understand. I'm up to Nutmeg of Consolation, still waiting on the previous book to be available for loan. I doubt I'd pay $200 for the entire series on Kindle though.

I tried Stockwin's Kydd series but couldn't get past about 3 chapters.

Hook
 
I have started to collect Pirate novels. Meaning just about everything I can find on that theme. Read about 40 new novels . Right now it's Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini.
Sorry to say but it's still Treasure Island topping the list.
 
Jack Rackham said:
Sorry to say but it's still Treasure Island topping the list.
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Thanks for reminding me of that one! I forgot yesterday.
I do have that book in my collection and might even have finished reading it done time.
Can't remember now as it was a long time ago.
Good story for sure!
 
For proper pirate stuff we are talking "Sea wolves - Pirates and the Scots" Eric J Graham.
To quote the foreword "it is an account of brutal criminals preying on legitimate merchants sometimes scarcely less brutal than themselves ..... What novelist could outdo the contemporary description of Bartholomew 'Black Bart' Roberts, pirate captain, fighting to his death dressed in a 'rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand and a pair of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling, hung over his shoulder'? "

However if we count space pirates I recently found on-line the E E Doc Smith Lensman series which I first read 50 years ago . Yes there are space pirates but the main reason they get a mention is not necessarily the quality of writing (50 years on I did finish them again but perhaps mostly for old times sake and as a test of memory) but for the presence of Gray Roger for whom I have always presumed our own @Grey Roger, properly anglicised, pays homage
 
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Last night I finished O'Brians "21", the final unfinished twenty-first book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. It has been incredible. Three of the books I've read twice, and I'll be re-reading at least some of the series from the beginning. Reading the entire series has taken almost exactly two months.

Thank goodness for Open Library. :) I did buy three of the books on Kindle, and I'll probably buy a few more, just to have something to read when I'm away from my computer.

Hook
 
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