Friends of Montclair Library

Today, September 19th, is the zany and inspired Talk Like a Pirate Day. In past years we’ve featured pirate books for kids and young adults, so it’s time to give adults their due.

Here are seven swashbuckling tales of adventure at sea, one novel about modern-day pirates, and a movie:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – In this classic, the mistress of an inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate’s fortune.

Pirate Talk, or, Mermalade by Terese Svoboda – The story, told entirely in dialogue, of two brothers who fall into piracy, meet a mermaid, and end up in the Arctic.

Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith – In 1667, Sir Francis Courtney and his son Hal lie in wait off the Agulhas Cape of South Africa for one of the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company returning from the Orient.

Pirate King: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King – Mary Russell investigates a series of crimes targeting the production of a silent film version of “The Pirates of Penzance,” and confronts a high-stakes situation when actual pirates orchestrate a hostage situation.

Cinnamon & Gunpowder by Eli Brown – In 1819, kidnapped chef Owen Wedgwood transforms meager shipboard supplies into sumptuous meals at the behest of his kidnapper, pirate queen Mad Hannah Mabbot, while she pushes her exhausted crew to track down a deadly privateer. (not at Montclair)

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton – In the Caribbean of 1665, pirate captain Charles Hunter, with backing from a powerful ally, assembles a crew of ruffians to take a Spanish galleon. (not at Montclair)

The Pirates! In An Adventure with Communists by Gideon Defoe – “From the gloomy streets of Soho to the leafy boulevards of Paris, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists is a story of intellectual giants, enormous beards, volcanoes and valkyries, doubloons and dancing girls, and a quest to discover whether ham might really be the opium of the people.” (GoodReads) (not at Montclair)

Djibouti by Elmore Leonard – In a modern-day pirate story, ambitious documentary filmmaker Dara Barr and her right-hand man, Xavier LeBo, a seventy-two-year-old African American seafarer, get more than they bargained for on the Horn of Africa.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (DVD F PIRATES) – Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must sail off the edge of the map, navigate treachery and betrayal and make their final alliances for one last decisive battle.

Image: Joe Throckmorton via Flickr