"Chapter XV- Chowder"

[ealgylden]

Ever since I first read it in junior high, I've been terribly fond of Moby Dick. My family finds this amusing, since the book is notoriously boring, and copies of it generally serve as doorstops or tools for spider killing.

"Have you gotten to the ten chapters on coiling ropes yet?" they mock.
"Ha ha. We'll see who's laughing when we all get attacked by a giant, insane whale," I say.
"We live at least eight hours from the ocean," they point out, "so we don't think that book will be very useful against giant, insane whales."
"It's very, very slashy," I say, and since they're my family and they know me, they know that there is no counter-argument for that and I win.

Anyway, one of my favorite bloggers, Katie at Jejune.net, has recently read it, and her reasons why you should as well are very cute (be sure to sample a few of her other book comments as well- she has a way with a quirky phrase). I really want to see Geoffrey Rush as Ahab now. Plus she links to David Sedaris' essay on reading Moby Dick, which somehow I had missed despite being as big a fan of Sedaris as I am of the whale.


And now to stop spamming and go hunt up some food. This day has been violently unproductive. I think I'll watch Cry-Baby tonight. That sounds productive, doesn't it?

Comments

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

I do recommend giving it a try if you get a chance, but not in the summer. You'll never make it through (well, you might, but it'd be a slog). I even look at it after May or so, and it exhausts me. No one could say that it's light reading (or light carrying), but there's just so much in it. It's one of my favorite December reads, though. I mean, there's a plot, but it takes a while to get going, and Melville is king of the interesting-but-not-plotty tangent. The book could have been called Moby Dick and Everything I've Ever Learned about Ships, Whales and Whaling. Which is fine by me, but makes it a hard-sell in general.

I get that same "booorrring" reaction to most of my favorite "classics". People have no taste, says I.

And you are very wise, says I. *g* A lot of people don't have the patience for "classics" anymore, and not (necessarily) because the books are long or complicated or "boring," but because you have to adjust to the mindset of the characters and the author to understand or enjoy them. And a lot of people just don't want to bother.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

That's just as well, b/c I'm really not reading much at this point besides Jeeves stories. It's so hard to find any desire to read anything else. Still, I always like to read about ships, so I shouldn't be bored.

And you are very wise, says I. *g* A lot of people don't have the patience for "classics" anymore, and not (necessarily) because the books are long or complicated or "boring," but because you have to adjust to the mindset of the characters and the author to understand or enjoy them. And a lot of people just don't want to bother.

Thank you, thank you :) Very good point, I think that probably explains why so many kids now don't want to read the classics. If such enjoyment doesn't come naturally, it's work for them to get into it. I can't imagine being like that.