The Moby Dick Read-a-Long: Week Four

I've been desperately speed-reading to catch up since I was in Brazil the past two Sundays! My book weighs like 10 lbs and there was nooooo way I was going to pack it with me.  Hope the rest of you readers out there are faring better than me!

1) Please tell me you didn't attempt to read this week's chapters whilst eating. How did you find the... instructive aspects of these chapters?

While the descriptions were quite graphic and detailed, my reaction leaned more toward fascination instead of disgust (though I experienced a bit of that too!)  In the book, How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World, there's a whole section dedicated to whaling. "Candles were made from spermaceti, the 500 gallons of fluid in a sperm whale's brain cavity. The spermaceti candles were preferred to tallow because they gave off a brighter, whiter light."  I'm amused by how it occurred to the people of ye olde times: "ho, if i digeth into this gin'rmous whale's brain-cave and retrieveth this oddly-white gooey substance, i may fashion it into a candle so that me wife may darn socks at night."  

2) What tactics have you been employing to get through this book? Marking off chapters? Reading online summaries? Crying into the pages?

I've been using a tactic from my university days - an oldie but classic: every time I finish a chapter, I eat a piece of chocolate. Simple enough! Currently working through a bar of chocolate with Brazil nuts. From Brazil :)

3) Why do you think Moby Dick has become a classic? 

I have NO IDEA. Melville rambles on and on about everything, even about the choppiness of the water.  However, his writing is so descriptive and flowery and beautiful, so he's got that going for him.  Also, Ahab is pretty badass in his passion and drive - he keeps this dense story afloat and is definitely a memorable character.  Perhaps it's the length of the book itself - if your book is over 10 lbs, it belongs in the classics section, even if it's about all the different ways you can cook macaroni and cheese.

4) So apparently people can get stuck inside a whale's head and nearly drown. Please inform me exactly how you intend to read this book to your children as a bedtime story? 

That is absolutely terrifying.  Hopefully, the kids would rather want me to read Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia instead!

I'm going to be honest - I'm so glad that the prompts weren't super-detailed because I don't think I can speak intelligently about the symbolism and metaphors in the book!  I'm just trying to wrap my head around the plot!  

Tomorrow's my birthday, so I'm going to take yet another break in reading.  Can't exactly enjoy cake when I'm reading about whaling and whale spermaceti by-products now, can I?!

NOPE.