From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Herman Melville

Start date: June 1, 2023

Finish date: July 1, 2023

Discussion: Old School Classics, Pre-1915

Why we're reading this: Revisit the Shelf June 2023

2nd Quarter Long Read 2017

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month, December 20…more
[close] Revisit the Shelf June 2023

2nd Quarter Long Read 2017

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month, December 2010
Revisit the Shelf Group Read, March 2014

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 478 topics — 21,815 comments total

Old School Classics, Pre-1915

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Finding Old School Book Threads
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 2 posts · 381 views

last updated Jan 31, 2024 06:17PM

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Discussion Spoilers
By Katy , Quarterly Long Reads · 159 posts · 393 views

last updated Aug 31, 2025 06:14AM

showing 10 of 108 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 13, 2013 Rachel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Well. This was my first successful experiment with DailyLit. For about 2/3s of a year I read small sections of this novel that were emailed to me. I'm not sure it was the greatest way of reading a novel, there were times when I skimmed only to say I had read for the day, and sometimes I was tired, and towards the end I began letting the emails collect in my inbox to read more at a time, but otherwise I'm not sure I would have gotten through this. What's sad is that I had huge expectations of bei ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2016 Tom Britz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was not an easy read. It was part encyclopedia, zoology lesson as well as anatomy (whale). When the story moved it was a fun and absorbing read. I was pleasantly surprised at the humor which helped move the story. If this book was published today it would be about 200 pages thinner.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2017 Kai Coates rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Finishing Moby Dick feels like I've reached a milestone in my quest to be "well read". It is unabashedly one of the great American novels (some argue the greatest - I'm not one of them) and left us with the indelible character of Captain Ahab. What surprised me while reading it was it's modernity - Melville bounces around between varying types of prose and decides to virtually dump Ishmael as the narrator 1/4 of the way through. His writing is gorgeous - even the long, tedious bits are full of s ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2013 Sandy rated it it was ok

I reallly struggled with the writing style of Moby Dick. Actually thought about quiting but perservered. The book is based on a true story of a whale attacking the Essex whale ship. Having read Nathaniel Philbrick's book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex recently, I found that book to be much more enjoyable. ...more

Like · see review