Acquire Today The Only Life That Mattered: The Short And Merry Lives Of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, And Calico Jack Rackam Created By James L. Nelson Available Through Kindle

picked this book up because of the long standing rumor that Anne Bonny buried treasure on an island in Casco Bay Maine, It's a story I've related as legend so I figured a read about her would give that legend better context, Well nothing was mentioned about the trip North so I guess I'll have to do more research,

This was a very interesting and engaging read, The story of the two most famous female pirates and their VERY different journeys of how they ended up outlaws was very engaging, It's not your typical swashbuckling romanticizing of pirates but rather their story as whole people and what motivated them, It was engaging and well researched, Each character clearly had their own voice which was essential as the tale was told from their various points of view, It's a great snapshot of the decline of the great days of privateers and pirates,

Mary Read and Anne Bonny lived lives well outside the norm for women of their time, They embraced adventure at every turn and as such led "short and merry" lives, I am a bit conflicted on this one, James L. Nelson does a good job of writing a novel around the bare bones of the story of these three people that we know from the most reliable sources.
The few things we actually know of these pirates are so insane that they are, in themselves, almost unbelievable and seem to be taken from some outrageous novel, so writing a book based on this, that still seems somewhat believable, is worthy of some praise.
It does have a bit of a beach readfeel, but there's nothing wrong with that every once in a while, Although I found Anne Bonny to be a bit of a flat character, only interested in leading an exciting life and absolutely nothing more, Mary Read and Jack Rackham were fairly well developed, interesting to read characters.


The main problem with this is the way Nelson writes the female characters and their love interests, It's a typical case for r/menwritingwomen, My interest in this book flared up after seeing Mary Read and Anne Bonny being described as 'bisexual pirate disasters' somewhere else, And honestly, if you want to get my interest for a book, that's how you should go about it, Add some fantasy and I'm sold, but there's none of that in this book no bisexuality and no fantasy, Although Anne is interested in Mary at first, before learning that she, too, is a woman, there is absolutely no more of that afterwards.
Instead, Anne is delighted by Mary being a woman 'because she could love her blood sister without the complications that arise between men and women', The words 'blood sisters' at some point became synonymous with 'gal pals' in my head, Jack does suspect something is going on between them, and is afraid that Mary leads his dearly beloved wife to do 'unnatural things', The heteronormativity in this book made me a bit sad, Of course, there is something to say for the fact that these were different times, but there is strong evidence that during the golden age of piracy, homosexuality was generally more accepted than in the ages afterwards, both by the pirates themselves, and the established English society.


All things considered, this was an enjoyable read, but I will have to keep looking for my book about bisexual pirate disasters,

Edit: Oh yes, I should add: a lot of incomplete sentences, Like this. Somehow, I've recently managed to acquire various books about pirates, and this is the second one I've read in the last few months, This particular one is a historical novel rather than a straight history like the last one I'd read, and it is quite entertaining, Although fiction, the story is based on the factual accounts ofpeople,of whom are women, who become pirates in the early part of theth century.
Reasonably wellexecuted, plotdriven story, with many interesting details about the times in general and pirate lives in particular, I could have used a bit less of the bodiceripping style of intrigue and sexual escapades, but allinall, a good read and fastpaced novel, especially during a vacation while sitting

in the Florida Keys sunshine as I am today.
Better than many "beach reads," but I'd certainly recommend it as one, Had to quit in the middle, Just not up to par with Nelson's other series, . . which is a shame because I love Ann Bonny, I like stories like this, author uses true stories/real events to base his story off of, Reading a book that only speaks truth amp fact can be very dry amp hard to finish,
It's hard to know what truly happened to these rogues that sailed under the black flag, This book is a fun way to find out, And it's not all carefree like so many may think, Haha a book for if you like your historical novels as authorially interpreted as possible in order to be as bodicerippy as possible, and think character depth is for irritating and distracting.
I randomly grabbed this off the library shelf and foolishly thought that if I kept reading it might get better, As a fan of James L, Nelsons nautical fiction I had high expectations for this standalone historical novel and I was wellrewarded for my time, Most of what Ive read of Nelsons work tends toward fictional stories with historical figures interspersed here and there to lend an air of authenticity, But this time out, he goes fullon historian, piecing together the actual stories of some of historys most notorious pirates and telling their stories,

The of this novel are the two female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Reed, As females in such a brutal, maledominated “profession” their stories cant help but be interesting and the fact that they both ended up together serving under Captain “Calico” Jack Ratham is just one of those historical happenstances that is just too unlikely to be anything other than actual historical fact.


I purposefully chose to read the book before doing any of my own armchair research on these historical figures because I wanted to experience the uncertainty of what the outcome would be.
It seemed likely that their end would be the same end as most pirates achieved in the earlyth century but that uncertainty made the whole read exciting.
Its a book full of adventure, as expected, but also some surprisingly welldeveloped characters, not only in the big three but also in a number of side characters along the way.
The pacing was nicely done, not overindulging in any aspect of the tale, Those that have ever watched the TV series, “Black Sails” will recognize many of the characters that populate this book, including Captain Charles Vane, Captain Benjamin Hornigold, and assorted lesser pirates in Nassau.


An excellent novel by the continuously underappreciated James L, Nelson.
Though this was a fictionalized account of truetolife people, I found it to be an inside look at the life of pirates, It was exciting and engrossing, and I couldn't put it down, James Nelson knows boats and his descriptions were understandable and actionpacked, I liked his characterizations of all the characters and found them all to be believable, They seemed real to me, This is a MUST READ if you are interested in pirates! I loved Nelson's Pirate Round books, but this one was a disappointment, While Nelson is a pro at writing maritime fiction, he struggles to develop his characters enough for one to feel close to them, While this is fine for a book that is actionbased, it's not ok for a book that depends on its characters to carry it, Nelson doesn't write women well at all Anne Bonny and Mary Read are not likeable, and it is difficult to feel anything for them and their experiences.
Anne Bonny is an insatiable maneater, and there isn't a thing real about her, A shame, considering the stories of these pirate women was fascinating, Eric and I are reading this aloud, so I don't read it when he's not here, We're not even halfway through yet the writing style's pretty corny, The author is nice in person, but he hardly knows how to narrate from a woman's point of view, Or a man's point of view, . . But it is about pirates women pirates, after all, . . entertaining The difficult thing about this book is not any fault of the author's, He is telling a truly interesting and unique story, one that sounds like complete fiction, but it's not, at least at its core, Jack Rackam, Mary Read and Anne Bonny were all real people, and they wereth century pirates who spent some time together on the same ship.
When they were captured, Anne Bonny and Mary Read both claimed they were pregnant, and that Jack Rackam was the father, He was hanged, and the women were put in prison, Mary Read died in prison within a year, and no one knows for sure what became of Anne Bonny,

That's all anyone really knows for sure about the three of them, There are a few other details Bonny was married when she met Rackam, things like that, but it just isn't enough to write a full, nonfiction account of their story.
No one knows how they got together, Rackam had been the quartermaster on Charles Vane's pirate ship, and then led a mutiny to depose Vane, He took over the ship and at some point, the two women became crew members, It has the makings of a great story, but to tell it, you have to fill in the blanks, which is what Nelson does, And as soon as you turn it into a fiction story, it starts to sound fantastical, and a little unbelievable, like an oceangoing bodiceripper,

The golden age of piracy has fascinated me since I was a kid, and it still does, It's too bad that the definitive book on that chapter of world history doesn't seem to have been written, and it may never be, because there just isn't enough known about people like the ones portrayed in this book.
Enjoyable swashbuckling tale. I know how Mary Reade and Anne Bonneys story ended historically but I wondered if theyd do a revisionist thing and no its just sad! So never mind In case you're wondering: Why yes, of course the reason I'm mainlining books about pirates is absolutely related to my obsession with a certain HBO show I've been watching on repeat for the past month or so.
. . Though this historical novel about the lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Jack Rackam had been sitting on my TBR for years, so it was high time to get around to it in any case.
There really isn't all that much solid information to be had about these three fascinating figures aside from trial records and the not always reliable sitelinkA General History of the Pirates, but Nelson sticks closely to what those two sources have to offer.
Unfortunately, he's just not all that good that writing lifelike, relatable female characters, . . and it's all a mite heteronormative for my liking, too, .