Books about pirates?

[Bouregard]

So after watching the full Pirates of the Caribbean enchilada again, I asked myself if there are some books about pirates to be found...

Treasure Island is quite possible the only one I know. So any other good reads full of monkeys, cannons, sabers and stinking pirates?

[Dr.Epic]

Treasure Island is quite possible the only one I know. So any other good reads full of monkeys, cannons, sabers and stinking pirates?

Well, you got probably the most obvious, but it still saddens me you forgot this.

[Bouregard]

Well, you got probably the most obvious, but it still saddens me you forgot this.

Good point, to clarify: I would prefer books that are not aimed at kids (difficult with pirates, I know) and books with pirates as the min protagonists, not antagonists.

[pita]

Robin Hobb's Liveship Trilogy's main villain is a pirate who tries to become a pirate king. It features much naval combat, but doesn't feature much swashbuckling and humor. It goes for the full "psychological" thing, focusing quite a bit on why people turn to a life of piracy. It also has a protagonist I spent the majority of the first book hating. Also a lot of the second book. It's intentional, as she grows into a somewhat decent human being. These books aren't for everyone. Those who like it generally love it. One of my favorite book series. But it's got very little sense of humor, and it doesn't have much action.
Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides was turned into a rather mediocre Pirates of the Caribbeans movie. I heard the novel itself is excellent, but I haven't read it.
Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch is the sequel to his amazing novel The Lies of Locke Lamora, and features quite a bit of pirate awesomeness (Including most pirate tropes out there. Quite a lot of swash is buckled). I fully recommend both novels to everyone, though they've got a lot of non-PG language. The Lies of Locke Lamora, however, has nothing to do with piracy, and is kind of a fantasy version of Ocean's 11.
EDIT- I should mention that at a certain point in Liveships protagonists are pirates, and that the villain gets a lot of POV and screen time, so you're not lacking in piracy.

[comicshorse]

Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides was turned into a rather mediocre Pirates of the Caribbeans movie. I heard the novel itself is excellent, but I haven't read it.

I've read it and would agree its excellent

[An Enemy Spy]

Pirate Latitudes, the last book ever written by Michael Chrichton and published posthumously.

[Serpentine]

Liveship Traders was what I was going to suggest. Should probably point out that it's a fantasy, though - it's not set in the real world or anything like that.

[BiblioRook]

If you are looking for books that are silly and about pirates, well there's The Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe. Definitely not much in the way of seriousness there, but I wouldn't call it a kids series (though probably kid friendly, as you might guess by the resent movie based off the books).

The Pyrates looks much like The Pirates! in terms of non-serious silliness, and depending on what you go by as far as kid series the Bloody Jack series is supposed to be pretty good, and while I don't know much about the Piratica series it is certainly on my list at the moment for something to check out.

I feel like I'm leaving something out though. If you couldn't guess, I tend to be pretty interested in finding pirate based literature as well (particularly on the humorous (or at least not grim and serious) side of things).

[Socratov]

While the series is not a book aobut pirates per se, they are a dominant feature in Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. A tale (2nd in the series) about Locke Lamora, a conman who gets reaquainted with karmic balance once in a while...

[Leon]

The Illustrated Pirate Diaries: A Remarkable Eyewitness Account of Captain Morgan and the Buccaneers

[Nekura]

Hard to think of other pirate books one that popped into my head was Castaways of The Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques. Although looking back only the very beginning was about pirates and I didn’t like it very much because

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The angel’s “blessing” seems more like a curse. The boy didn’t do anything wrong and in fact goes around doing good deeds and being a hero. Yet whenever he finds a place he would want to call home he is forced to wander on with only his dog for company. It’s one thing to have a story of a wandering stranger who saves the day and leaves right after to the next place he is needed if he is volunteering to do it as a penance for his past sins but being cursed to do it for eternity and having it called a blessing is another thing entirely. I only read the first book though so maybe he ends up getting a happy ending after all.

So as far as that goes I stick to Jacques Redwall books I believe The Pearls of Lutra had a lot of pirates in it.

And I know it’s not a book but I can’t talk about pirates without recommending the old computer game The Secret of Monkey Island it was just full of pure awesome.

[Bouregard]

Pirate Latitudes, the last book ever written by Michael Chrichton and published posthumously.

Bought it and so far I really like it.

And of course I played the good old Monkey Island series!

[Fireheart]

Pirate books...please note some of these have a bit of magic influence...

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Rum&Runestones
Spells&Swashbucklers

Female Pirate stories (being that which I know best):

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Mad Kestrel by Misty Massey
Grania by Morgan Llewelyn
The Pirate Queen by Morgan Llewelyn
Anne Chambers books on Grace O'Malley

I'm thinking your more intersted in stories instead of history but if you want history let me know and I can point you to some excellent books there as well.

~Fireheart

[Telonius]

I found a site with a few classic pirate stories listed. Horrible layout (black text is eaten up by the background), but some good suggestions there. Rafael Sabatini is a good place to start.