* Book Log
Updated 8/6/07
Book Log
Entries list in descending order; most recent entry listed first.*
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Completed: First week of August, 2007
I'm pretty obsessed with all things related to
Moby-Dick right now, so I flew through this one. It was pretty good/well-written, but sort of felt like a more-literate type of
fan-fiction-meets-romance-novel -- ie, kind of corny and somewhat embarassing to read. Lots of talk of pregnancy, sewing, children, family, and "menses," since the story is told from a woman's point of view. The only real reason I liked this book at all is because Captain Ahab's in it.
Recommended? Yes and no. Meh. If
Moby-Dick is a 10 out of 10,
Ahab's Wife is about a 5.5 or a 6. Glad I got this one from the library.
** 8/6/2007 - Additional thoughts on
Moby-Dick:
I bought the
Norton Critical edition of it sometime last week and I'm glad I did. Lots more notes, glossary of terms, essays, pictures, diagrams, etc.
It's interesting to note an odd synchronicity about my experience with this piece of literature. In the Norton Critical edition, there is an essay by Harrison Hayford called
Unnecessary Duplicates: A Key to the Writing of Moby-Dick, in which the writer observes the 'curious pattern of duplicates' throughout the book: Ishmael's lodging at two different inns; his departure from one whale port, then a second one; his camaraderie with first one future shipmate (Bulkington) and then another (Queequeg); the
Pequod's not one, but
three captains (2 being retired & mere owners of the ship, & Ahab being the actual captain); etc., etc.
I mention this essay because even before I bought the Norton Critical edition of
Moby-Dick, I had a case of my own "unnecessary duplicates": I had asked for the book for Christmas last year, didn't get it, so I bought it on my own a couple of days later, only to be presented with ANOTHER copy of it -- the EXACT same book, same edition -- from my mother who had meant to buy it for me but had forgotten to until after the holidays. I had intended to return one but didn't. I kept one copy in my bag, in case I needed something to read wherever I found myself; and I kept the other copy next to my bed to read before falling asleep. And now I've got a third, albeit more elaborate, copy.
*
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Completed: July 20, 2007
It took me forever to get through this. I'm not a slow reader, I just don't devote much time to reading anymore. I started
Moby-Dick sometime in January, I think. Mostly, I'd read bits and pieces of it before falling asleep, so I'd usually only consume a few pages at a time. Since I've been on vacation, I've been determined to finish it, and I met that goal today.
Many things have been said about this book over the decades; some people love it, some hate it. It's definitely a challenging book (certain passages, anyway). I admit, there
are several portions of it that are slow and almost boring to get through. But in the end, I definitely recognize it for what it is -- an exquisite piece of literature.
I do want to read it again. The copy I have (or rather, copies -- I bought one for myself and was given the exact same one as a gift) contains no reader's guide or notes whatsoever, other than the occasional notes included in the novel by Melville himself. I feel that I could get so much more out of if I read an edition with more footnotes & a glossary (there are a lot of nautical terms in the book that I'm not familiar with).
Recommended? Yes! -- NOT for the casual reader, though.
. . . . .
