Sue’s Comments (group member since Oct 23, 2011)

Sue’s comments from the Moby-Dick group.

I agree completely with S and Kitty. I'm looking forward to another group read with you all too.

My "white whale" baggage was the high school failed attempt to read the book and my further decision to never read it that this group helped me overcome.

Sounds good to me. I enjoyed the Moby Dick experience so much and I don't have the "white whale" baggage going into Don Quixote, if you know what I mean.

I have a copy of the Grossman translation too.

Actually, NE, Dante's Inferno is another of those classics I want to read. I know I read excerpts while in college but not the full work.

Donald wrote: "Sue, James Taylor/Mark Knopfler - don't these guys believe in retirement? I'll Google it and take a listen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_..."

Yes..."Sailing to Philadelphia". I actually like all the experimentation in different styles that Knopfler is doing. I think his voice blended well with Taylor in this song.

Kitty wrote: "I read Don Quixote last year on my own. I definitely would find it exhilarating to read with you all ."

Sounds like we're may have a mini group started for next year. Judy, you and me so far.

I'm feeling the challenge Donald. Perhaps I'll try it later this year. I have several scheduled reads going in a few groups especially this spring but maybe I can plan to start it sometime this summer. You've whetted my appetite. (I really like the James Taylor/Mark Knopfler song that commemorates some of the story. Can't think of the title)

I have Mason & Dixon on my shelf. found it at a yard sale and grabbed it at $1 but haven't read it yet though I know I want to. I'm glad to hear your report of it. Haven't ready any Pynchon.
I read Anna Karenina last year and really liked it. I'm now half way through Brothers Karamazov but stopped it several months ago for other reading projects and never got back to it. I need to finish it.

Good to know.

Let's see, War & Peace, Don Quixote, and I'm sure there are more that I've distantly considered reading. If there is ever a call for nominations I'll do some researching. Maybe Proust's Swann's Way (in part) or Ulysses, which I've always intended to read.

So many big books out there that I haven't jumped into.

On another subject, I'd be interested in this type of read of another daunting, lengthy classic in the future.

Kitty wrote: "It was almost like an afterthought. "Oh yes, I forgot to tell about the whale fight, or let's see who can last till the end." I am thinking more of the second ,due to Melville's sense of humor."

I like that idea Kitty and I can see that having experienced his sense of humor now. I'm afraid the long wait for that climactic scene probably contributed to the novel's lack of success in its day.

I made it and enjoyed the ride..er..sail. So glad I learned of this group as otherwise I doubt I ever would have read the book and it's definitely worth reading.

I too was surprised that the ultimate conflict between Ahab and the whale was so brief and in the very final pages of the book, but I suppose there wasn't anything else to do or say after that except that brief postscript.

Sounds like a nice tour for the winter and reminds me of Ishmael's walk through the city in the novel.

Congrats Barbie. Doesn't it feel great!

Judy wrote: "I'm done. Woohoo! I agree about Ahab's treatment of the Rachel's captain. I wanted to slap him! Who treats someone like that?"

An obsessed maniac, that's who!

Definitely Kitty, though not as the mad Ahab might have thought.

S. wrote: "The meeting of the Rachel was surely one of the most affecting chapters, and the one in which Ahab's nature is revealed in all its ugliness!
Good times, folks, reading-wise."

Yes, the scene with the captain of the Rachel was sad and Ahab revealed his true self. Monomania for certain. Pure mania or madness with no power to reason, no humanity left. But Melville is still able to leave him a man, not a caricature.

Yes NE--Wow is a definite description of the whole experience.

Bill wrote: "I found that very careful structuring."

Amazing what a good author can do.

I finished this past week also and found myself very glad i made the journey. Perhaps surprisingly, I didn't know in advance exactly what the outcome would be though I knew it would not be good for Ahab. I had an idea going in that he was obsessed, but I was surprised to see him as a man actually on the edge (or over)of madness. The struggle of man and God is everywhere in the book and MD gets to stand in for God. I was sad to see the entire crew but one lost, but that certainly makes for dramatic flair!

There were some truly wonderful sections in the book--descriptions of nature, the nursing whales, some of the actual whale chasing --that surprised me by their beauty. I didn't expect that of Melville. Some of the more technical was a bit more, well, technical and occasionally skim-worthy.

All in all a great read and one that seems well suited to this slow, measured approach. Thanks to my fellow readers for helping me along.