Books

Moby Dick

A tightly wound sailor joins an ill fated whaling expedition. 

There’s so much to love here. 

The books opens with the story of Ishmael becoming special friends with Queequeg, a Pacific Islander who secures them berths on the Pequod, captained by Ahab. 

Those three and the rest of the crew set out to hunt whales for profit, but Ahab soon announces that his real mission is to seek revenge against Moby Dick, the white whale that had crippled him on his last voyage. 

During the trip, we experience human drama (don’t be a coward, Pip!), hardcore whaling minutiae (smell that spermaceti?), philosophical ramblings, and more.

The language is a bit tough, but it’s worth powering through. In some ways, its mix of styles anticipated Ulysses. 

This is a top five book for me and my favorite capital L Literature title. It’s my strongest recommendation. If I have earned any credibility from all these reviews, I hereby stake it all on Moby Dick. Read it immediately.

If you don’t finish it once, try try again!

It took me 3-4 attempts over a decade to actually get into reading this, but after the first 500 pages you can’t put it down ;)