Moby-Dick discussion

I am here and looking for lodging anywhere BUT the Spouter-Inn until Oct. 28. Still have to interview with the captain, too.

Call me NE (male).

Ahoy, matie. You are now co-moderator. Now don't go studying up ahead! I don't even have the book yet.

Trust me, there's plenty to preoccupy me in advance -- and Oct. 28 seems far away (ha!).

Right now I'm just enjoying the smell of salt in the air....

I'm joining 'cause I read this last month and totally dug it. Might just follow the discussion.

For pre-reading, I tackled Rime of the Ancient Mariner and the Book of Jonah. I don't know if they're exactly necessary, but it helped get me in the mood. And Ancient Mariner's pretty dope in its own right anyway, of course.

You can also get your own MD literary jerseys - for Stumpy McGee or for the other guy.

(I ended up going with Quixote. Priorities.)

Sure, you can monitor all frequencies when the time comes. I just read the (very short) Book of Jonah, too, because some smart ass literary critic said it was his favorite book in the Bible (and I'd never read it).

Fish, though. Not whale. Sigh....

Oh brother ! I swore I would not try to read this book again, after three try's, what the heck. I guess I am in. Sailing off to find my copy among the flotsam and jettsom. Do I have to watch my commas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm-Vh3...

Hey, Kitty. Styx and Ahab? Four-letter words! Anyway, glad to meet another reader with "Moby Syndrome." This'll be like a self-help group pulling each other through the whole trip.

Relax on finding the book. It's 47 days (and counting) away. I could walk to New Bedford and back in that time.

Ah I found it, It is a big hardback. I will have to lug it around unless, I want to buy it for the Kindle. I don't think it will be a book I would want to keep on the Kindle. The hardback is my daughter's copy.

Well just call me Ishmael! I'm in. I'd never attempt this one without a group to complain to.Billy Budd, Sailor was offputting enough.

Did anyone read "Ahab's Wife, or the Star Gazer" by Sena Jeter Naslund? It has nothing really to do with MD other than she got the idea for the story based off a couple of passages from the original story. I didn't find it very "chick lit". Plus there's cannibalism!

Nope didn't read either one. Anything that had Ahab in the title I steered away from. Won't read about Ahab ans Jezebel either.

I first attempted to read this in my teens, but the language and the unfamiliarity of the setting put me off big-time. I am willing to give it another shot 37 years on!!

Oh good! Three and three so far.

There are enough quotes in the extract for a one-a-day sitting at seaport. The first is...

"And God created great whales,"

which appears, where else, but in Genesis. That God. Got his finger in everything in a big way. Only I wonder which day?

Melville has some fun in the extracts preamble talking about a sub-sub-librarian. Can you go any lower than that? Read it. Really. One theme we're going to have to get in our heads is that Melville has a sense of humor. Once we shed that dour reputation rap of his, the skies are going to clear and the winds are going to calm.

G'day, mates. TGIM.

Hello to everyone! I'm looking forward to reading the book with you. I've never read MD, but it's always been a goal.

NE, what is this extract preamble thing?

Re. Kindle vs. physical: I had it in both. (What the heck, it's free on Kindle.) Endnotes aren't exactly necessary, but NE mentioned Melville's sense of humor: there's a fart joke in the very first chapter that you're definitely not going to get without them. (Well, actually you are gonna get it, because I'm gonna gleefully point it out, but you get the idea.)

I actually have been trying to avoid it, but after a fit of drunken blogging I found I'd made the pledge. Alas, I believe the big whale is part of any reading American's fate.

Oh man, drunken blogging. Dangerous, dangerous stuff.

Alex wrote: "Oh man, drunken blogging. Dangerous, dangerous stuff." An update to drunk dialing. I'll add to my improved but still obsolete technology list. Right next to the 45 to 33 record adaptor and the circular slide rule.

It's like drunk dialing the whole world.

Where's the rum. I need a drink.

My place.....

Right next to the black Russian (who looks through glasses darkly...).

Alex -- Two sections, one called "Etymology" and the other "Extracts," come before Chapter One. The extracts are just a bunch of leviathan-like quotes.

Oh wait, I know what the preamble is. It's that collection of every freakin' quote Melville could dredge up that mentions whales in any way, right? I skimmed that.

SIMULPOST

Simul-correct!

Ah you guys he was just telling a big fish story.

" for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee " ....who can resist a description like this?! I'm in.
NE, do we each get a Tshirt if we complete the book?

Hmn. A great idea, but it would have to be self-serve unless Sarah is married to a German Daddy Warbucks!

Petra wrote: "" for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee " ....who can resist a description like this?! I'm in.
NE, do we each get a Tshirt if we complete the book?"


That is a great, great line, eh Petra??

Thanks for doing this, Sarah and NE!!

Have just ordered my free Kindle edition of Moby Dick....when do we start?

28 October, so feel free to read another book or three beforehand (make them fun, slumming books, so you'll be hungry for some meat -- or whale blubber -- by Halloween).

Jennifer -- I think it's the "great lines" I've stumbled upon during my aborted sails that led me to believe I'd actually like it (or at least RESPECT it) if I ever read the whole thing. With a group, I will feel forced to read the plank!

I ordered the Kindle edition also Debbie. I really don't want to lug the hardback around, besides I think my daughter-in-law may join in, so she gets the massive missive.

Cue "We are family... I've got all my seamen and me...." Or maybe not.

Yeh Bro... you got a family of seafarers raring to set sail.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!!

Newengland wrote: "A great idea, but it would have to be self-serve unless Sarah is married to a German Daddy Warbucks!"

That would be interesting. Alas, nein! For those with ample liquidity of the salty kind, t-shirts are here:
http://www.outofprintclothing.com/Pro...

I still don't have the book, although I fondled three editions at the English bookshop yesterday. I read the introduction to one, but found myself yet unable to commit...

There's yet time to play hard to get, Sarah. Tease them there books! Make 'em work for it!

Spouting off again,
NE

I have the Darwin t-shirt from that site. Might end up getting Moby Dick too, so I can advertise to the world that I'm the kind of pretentious ass who insists that I loved that book.

Alex wrote: "I have the Darwin t-shirt from that site. Might end up getting Moby Dick too, so I can advertise to the world that I'm the kind of pretentious ass who insists that I loved that book."

I have the "To Kill a Mockingbird" edition. The shirts are lovely - soft and well made.

Newengland wrote: "There's yet time to play hard to get, Sarah. Tease them there books! Make 'em work for it!..."

Is there one edition that is better than the others? I just went to get my copy from my bookshelves and can't find it...I am sure I own the edition you linked on the group's homepage, NE.

Alex?? Thoughts?

I'm afraid I'm not much help there, Jennifer. I bought the Penguin Deluxe Classics edition because the cover was by amazing comic book artist Tony Millionaire; while I did enjoy looking at it (that matters!), Nathaniel Philbrick's intro is just okay and there are no endnotes. Maybe the standard Penguin edition? Those are usually pretty trustworthy, and it has 16 pages of notes - not much, but I don't think you need much.

Thanks. I am sure the standard Penguin is the one I own...if i can find it. Grr...

I thought I had a hardback, but it is the Beans & Nibbles classic. There is not many notes in it. Like Debbie I downloaded it , I have not checked to see if there were notes, I doubt it , it was free. Can we get Cliff notes; huh can we? Hee hee! Seriously though I will have to rely on notes from you all. There are some notes on-line, I have been testing the waters.

As long as it's unabridged, the edition doesn't matter. Well, font may be an issue. Anything that makes it easier to read (larger print) has got to be helpful. Some of these old classics we have lying around are tiny paperbacks with fonts called "Thumbelina" or something (Thumbelina who eats Helvetica cheese).

I am buying the cheapest one. After I ask all my colleagues if they have a copy I can borrow.

I just checked to see which edition I have on my ereader. It's without distinction. No introduction; just jumps into the story on page 1.

Ah, the luxury of being 38 days away from departing the port city. Seems forever, doesn't it? Only why are so many of these landlubbers wearing lime green pants and the like?