What book is currently on your nightstand? How do you like it? Would you recommend it to others?

  • Sonemonkey@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m reading Moby Dick and i kind of hate it. The narrator switches at unusual points and the story is paused more often than not so that the author can go on long winded digressions about random things tangentially related to whaling. The only point in it’s favor is that the prose is very pretty.

    • wjrii@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Some might suggest Moby Dick is, umm, not really about whaling.

      It’s also 170 years old and was a commercial failure even then, so you’re not really alone.

      • Sonemonkey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, the metaphor is impossible to miss and the story itself is actually enjoyable.

        On the other hand, did we need a 60 page digression on the color white? What about on how whales are taxinomically classified? About how whales are cleaned/gutted? About how whaling is a noble profession fit for kings?

        The list goes on.