If you like light, humorous reads (a la Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams) and you haven’t read the The Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe, I’d encourage you to give them a try. They’re not as clever as Douglas Adams (but then, only a couple dozen authors have ever been as clever as Douglas Adams) and they get a bit formulaic, but they’re a pleasant diversion.
And this new trailer for Aardman’s The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists makes me very, very happy:
Aardman ranks among the few filmmakers who I would trust to actually improve on a book in adaptation.
I read the first one on a whim — it’s light, fun stuff that doesn’t wear out its welcome. I feel a little dorky about the whole pirate thing, but as a fad it seems to have run its course.