Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Welcome to our March buddy read!

I will finish The Complete Independence Day Omnibus for my Bingo and then start reading In the Heart of the Sea.

I've started reading and am at around page 30.

Taking the viewpoint of the cabin boy , the beginning of this book doesn't feel like non-fiction to me. It rather feels like a novel with a great amount of world building exposition.

Philina wrote: "I've started reading and am at around page 30.

Taking the viewpoint of the cabin boy , the beginning of this book doesn't feel like non-fiction to me. It rather feels like a novel with a great am..."

Keep at it. I gave t 5* and I am a bit of a tough rater, in that 3* is a good book.

This was a very good read for me. It has been several years since I read it, but one I remember.

Me too Katy. I love this book which helped me to brave up to read Moby-Dick or, the Whale by Herman Melville.

Cynda wrote: "Me too Katy. I love this book which helped me to brave up to read Moby-Dick or, the Whale by Herman Melville."

Me too, but I did not end up liking Moby-Dick or, the Whale .

I finished it yesterday and it was a 5 star read for me as well.

For a non-fiction book it was intensely emotional, more emotional than even the Chernobyl book, because this was much more focused on individuals. Yes, the Chernobyl book was comprised of true statements of real people, but they were gone again after their short snippet and here the same cast of "characters" stays and evolves for the whole book.
Emotional in the sense that I could barely stomach the passages of the later period in the whale boats. So much desperate need...so much anguish...so much physical pain. Like with the Chernobyl book I had to put it down, read something else and then come back to it.

All in all, I think this book was a perfect mix of story and fascinating information about whaling, Nantucket and the living conditions during the period.

I was surprised that the whale's part was so very short. I kind of expected more of a battle. Then again, it is a non-fiction book after all.
On the other hand, it's also very frightening just how fast the whale sunk the ship without any protracted battle.

I read this book quite a few years ago, so my thoughts are necessarily fuzzy. I thought Philbrick did an admirable job in portraying the ordeal of the crew members. (view spoiler)[I hope readers of this thread won’t think me too unempathetic for saying this, but, given what we know about the rather grotesque cruelties involved with killing whales, a significant part of me thought that the crew of the Essex “had it coming”. (hide spoiler)]

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I read this book a couple years ago and loved it - 5 stars! And I don't give many 5 star ratings. It is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. Amazing story, and I felt smarter when I finished it.
I'm thinking about reading more Philbrick. Has anyone else read any of his other books? How do they compare?

I read Philbrick's Sea of Glory, about the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 that included six sailing vessels and a crew of hundreds who set out to map the Pacific Ocean. I thought it was quite good. I gave it 4 stars, not 5 like a gave the Essex book, but I am a tough grader most of the time since the way I interpret the GR scale 3 is a good rating, 2 is mediocre (OK but just a time waster), and 1 often means objectionable content such as encouragement of mass murder for fun and profit (or is it greed and glory?).