5 Books I love (part 2)

2. The Pirates! In an Adventure with... Well, technically this isn't a book either, so much as a series of books, but I couldn't possibly pick out a favourite of them so they all get lumped in together. Apart from anything, they are all very much on a similar theme, plus I have still got some to read to complete the set. However, I am not going to let that put me off writing about them. One of the things I love about these books is that none of the pirates have names - there is the Pirate Captain with his luxurious beard and then albino pirate, the pirate with the scarf etc. For a while I thought that there might be some kind of clever shenanigans and it would turn out that they are all the same three pirates or something, but there doesn't seem to be - it's just fun. That is something I really like - most of the books I have read which I have found to be really hard work are those where the characters have names that won't seem to go into my head, or Russian translations where everyone has several names depending on who is talking to them. I enjoy being able to read a whole book where the person mentioned is self-explanatory - I don't need to know any more than that there's a pirate in green, and not having to even think about who is who makes a refreshing change. Another thing which really appeals to me is that the setting is in a modern version of the 19th century - Darwin is out on the Beagle, but they get their photos developed at Snappy Snaps on the High Street, so you don't have to worry about historical accuracy or understanding the piece in the context of its setting which is nice for someone like me whose historical knowledge is limited to the bloody Corn Laws and their subsequent repeal thanks to a willfully uninspiring school syllabus. Then there are the foot notes - many of my favourite authors like a bit of footnotery: Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin etc all seem to inhabit a genre where a footnote is used to give the reader a little extra laugh without interrupting the plot, which I like. The Pirates! books feature footnotes which contain about as much in the way of facts as you're going to get and conform to my favourite way of learning information - a random comment, barely relevant to the topic at hand, but interesting all the same and worth pointing out if it is something you know. I will often drop into conversation that Shakespeare's father was a prosperous glove maker because I know it to be true and whether it's relevant or not, people always say 'Really? I didn't know that.' which makes me feel as though I am not weird for remembering it for 15 years since I read it at school. And finally, because the books are really quite tiny so I have already spent almost as long writing this as the author did writing the first of the series (which I am lead to believe took him two weeks), is that they are good, swashbuckling fun - the Pirate Captain is a very sympathetic character, whose love for ham, his luxurious beard and making himself appear better at his job than he is are all qualities that are so at odds with the murderous activity he engages in (make no mistake - the books are pure comedy, but plenty of people get run-through in the course of an adventure) that you can't help but love him. The books are fun, plain and simple and I honestly think that they could save a lot of time in speaking to people who turn out to be twats - give them one of these books and if they don't laugh, stop wasting your time talking to them.