Books like The Pirates of Penzance

Hold on! Anton Chekhov? Not that giant of Russian literature who gave us some of the most poignant, brooding, melancholy views of family life in dramatic works like The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard? Probably the biggest surprise on this list, Anton Chekhov wrote comedy for years and as a young adult supported his family by writing humorous sketches about Russian life for the magazine Oskolki. While most famous for his plays, Chekhov was an incredibly gifted short story and humor writer. In one of his tightest yarns, “An Avenger,” confused young Fyodor Sigaev goes shopping for an appropriate revolver to mete out justice after he discovers his spouse cheating on him. But once at the shop, the sheer number of firearm choices he’s presented with quickly overwhelm him. 

“. . . I would advise you, M'sieur, to take this superb revolver, the Smith and Wesson pattern,… show more.

Growing up, I only read humour.

I just love to laugh and when a book has you making the pictures in mind for yourself and laughing out loud, there really is nothing better. And Three Men in a Boat sends me directly to the floor every time I read it, and I will never stop reading it as long as I live.

It is rightly a classic and still in the shops nearly 140 years later. My book is a homage to Three Men in a Boat. I followed the style and form, and acknowledge Jerome K Jerome in my front-matter.

My book is really 15 Men in a Boat, and if it is even 10% as good as Three, I will rightly be very proud of myself (if not my mathematics).

Mark Twain is my writing idol. Before Roughing it, I’d never read a book written during the Civil War era which didn’t take sides and grind axes. From it, I learned detachment, that personal adventures can live side-by-side with even the most earth-shattering events. And that hilarious stories like “Bemis and the Buffalo” are the best antidote for the chaos and pain of war.

I love this book, which is also a play, for its witty banter and mistaken identities. Oscar Wilde is a master of acerbic wit and putting his characters in situations that fully shine the light on their humanity and also their faults and foibles.

I read this book with a smile pasted across my face from the first to the last page.

MacLeod gives us one of the most delightful and intriguing couples with art investigators Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. Although the plots are fun, with a kind of loopy charm, the real joy is the delightful characters, mostly from the widespread and eccentric Kelling clan. The Kellings are in fine form backstage of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. Every character here is indelible.

I lived in Australia for several years and loved visiting historic buildings with their wrap-around verandas, pressed-tin high ceilings, and old-world grandeur. Greenwood’s books, set in 1920s Melbourne, remind me of those buildings. Her heroine, investigator Phryne Fisher, epitomizes 1920s glamour.

She’s wealthy, educated, sexy, and self-assured, and conducts her investigations in a dazzling array of sumptuous outfits. But what I like most about Phryne is her ability to talk to anyone, whether that’s the grandest society hostess or the roughest docker.

In this book, she’s investigating a series of murders in a theatre and also finds herself drawn to Melbourne’s Chinese community. She moves easily between worlds, often kind, always shrewd, never flinching.

OK.OK. I’m only supposed to recommend one book per slot, but really, these 22 volumes truly work as a set, depending on the specifics that hold your interest.

The books in this series are expertly edited and researched, so they appear to have come from one pen. (I went through six of them.) They are all highly informative and approachable, as in a child can read them, but they don’t talk down to adults doing serious research.

The books have a wonderful “you are there” quality, and I loved them.

Set at the dawn of the Regency era, the story begins on a British naval vessel on its way to Australia, transporting a famous prisoner—American privateer, Justin Phillips—as well as civilian passengers, including shy, 17-year old Christina Marks, in mourning for her father’s death and going to live with her uncle.

Justin and Christina share a love for books and ideas but are terribly different personalities. Were it not for the unusual circumstances in which the shy, unselfish girl speaks through a small window to a prisoner she can’t see, they never would have formed the bond they did. 

Horsman has brilliantly crafted this tale of a sheltered vicar’s daughter and a hardened man. Despite all against them, the two fall quickly and desperately in love.

I first read Rediker’s work as a graduate student, and from the first pages, I was “hooked.”

Want to understand what made pirates tick? In this book, pirates are recast not as violent, unthinking brutes but as ordinary, sea-going laboring men driven to lawlessness by the brutal demands of expanding Atlantic trade.

I especially appreciated Rediker’s situating pirate behavior and customs within the broader world of maritime life. He argues that these outlawed men created a floating society that was then the most egalitarian and democratic in the Western world.

I love this book; how can anyone not? It's not a ‘book’ recommendation as it is a manga, but it still requires reading, and there is a lot of it. From the deep characters to the meticulously planned plot and world history, it is a series that latches on and doesn’t let go. 

When reading, I was laughing along with the characters one minute and tearing up in the next chapter. I enjoyed this fun-filled adventure (and still do because it's still going at over 1000 chapters and counting) and recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy adventures.