Moby-Dick or, the Whale - Buddy Read

[Shaina]

Frances wrote: "It's harder to draw the line when it comes to violence towards animals that we consume personally as food versus what we don't consume/utilize...."

Frances, I completely agree with you! I have never eaten something I have seen alive. I feel that we can be humane towards all livestock. I particularly dislike cruelty towards animals, in any form.

I was very upset when I first heard how "foie gras" was acquired. I try and stick to free range/farm products.

[Shaina]

Nóri wrote: "Heaven have mercy on us all —Presbyterians and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending."

Nori, I, too, was grinning when I read this. It makes so much sense, doesn't it?

[Frances]

Shaina wrote: "Frances wrote: "It's harder to draw the line when it comes to violence towards animals that we consume personally as food versus what we don't consume/utilize...."

Frances, I completely agree with..."

Dagnabbit! I just asked my daughter about foie gras now and she told me, so I looked it up! Gosh! I am so uneducated about food! I just found out about veal too! I don't eat these so I didn't know! Gosh!!!! I am appalled!!!

[Nóri]

Laura, about the secret part of the Town-Ho's story:

(view spoiler)[I think it might be the part where Steelkilt was planning to murder Radney anyway, so Moby Dick killing him before he could was something like divine intervention/justice. I'm not 100% sure about this of course, but there's this quote at the beginning of the chapter:

"To some the general interest in the White Whale was now wildly heightened by a circumstance of the Town-Ho's story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates."

And then later:

"But, gentlemen, a fool saved the would-be murderer from the bloody deed he had planned. Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in to take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have done."

So my idea is that some of the crew knew about Steelkilt's intentions, and when they saw Moby Dick swallow Radney, they felt like it was God's will for him to die too, and he used the whale to do his bidding. But they never told the captain, and the Pequod's crew never told Ahab, because they didn't want him to think even more of Moby Dick than he already did. (hide spoiler)]

[Frances]

@Laura, @Adele, @Trisha, I came across a chat here dated Oct 30 for Middlemarch scheduling it for March! Whoops! I had gone through our old chats looking for the Audible link and came across it.

Anyways, we are to start in April, and Laura will set up a thread for us. I'm sorry if I have confused us all.

[Laura]

Nóri wrote: "Laura, about the secret part of the Town-Ho's story:

I think it might be the part where Steelkilt was planning to murder Radney anyway, so Moby Dick killing him before he could was something like ..."

Thanks Nori - that makes sense! It's so helpful having everyone else's input!

[Laura]

@Frances - I've set up threads for Gone with the Wind (Feb) and Middlemarch (April) in the Buddy reads discussion so we're ready to go! :)

[Laura]

CHAPTER 70: The Sphinx - 72: The Monkey-Rope

More interesting insight into the whaling processes and another Moby Dick legend....among some other strangeness!

(view spoiler)[
So we learn about the beheading of the whale. I loved how Ahab addresses the whale and all the unknown secrets of the deep that it must have witnessed. This seems almost a more sympathetic side of Ahab's character - he understands the wonder of the animal to a certain extent.

The Jeroboam's story was ....weird! Mostly the Gabriel part - I understand that the whalers are perhaps easily influenced but he certainly seems a strange character. Of course, we encounter another legend of Moby Dick killing someone. His notoriety builds!
I didn't really understand teh significance of the letter. I realise it was for the dead mate but was it important that Gabriel wouldn't accept it. A strange chapter!

I really enjoyed the Monkey-Rope as we saw a bit more if Queeqeg and Ish again. The whole whaling business just seems more and more perilous - I'm actually amazed any of them survive! Once again we're treated to Ish's philosophising:

"Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in the whaling world? That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends, and what between sharks and spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad!"

An interesting insight into life!?

Also I liked how he compared the monkey rope to how all humans are somehow bound together " every mortal...one way or another, has this Siamese connexion with a plurality of other mortals."
(hide spoiler)]

I love Ishmael's philosophical asides.

[Tr1sha]

Shaina wrote: "@Frances, "As pretty as Melville's prose sounds, I find myself spacing out and wondering what it was that I just read" I face the same challenge. Quite often, I have to stop the audiobook and go ba..."

Shaina, I agree with you & Frances. I’m glad you said that, as I’m new to using audiobooks & thought it was that rather than the book itself that caused problems. Like you, I also read The Old Man and the Sea recently (for the second time) & enjoyed it. Your spoiler comment about it is perfect.

[Frances]

Trisha, I agree. Shaina contrasted it perfectly, didn't she? We should all read Old Man and the Sea at this point of the book.

[Laura]

Thought this might be useful as a visual comparison:

[Laura]

CHAPTERS 73: Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale to 75: The Right Whale's Head

Some more whale anatomy and a bit of superstition.

(view spoiler)[ So there's another whale killed - this time a Right Whale and Ish gives us an anatomical comparisons of the heads.
It seems there's some superstition around the two heads balanceing the ship so it won't sink!
Stubb and Flask's speculation about Fedallah is interesting - he's becoming a bit of a legend!
(hide spoiler)]

Also I'm progressing through Old Man and the Sea and it's an interesting contrast.

[Frances]

Ch. 77 The Great Heidelberg Tun

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L4...

[Frances]

Regarding The Old Man and the Sea, if you check out the Spoilers Thread, a member named Avni posted what I thought was a wonderful analysis of the novella.

[Laura]

@Kaisser - thanks for the link
@Frances -thanks I'll check it out when I'm finished.

Chapter 76: The Battering Ram - 78: Cisterns & Buckets
(view spoiler)[
Quite a bit more whale anatomy! Note the most interesting couple of chapters but Ishmael uses some interesting imagery to get across the nature of the Sperm Whale's head. I do wish there were diagrams sometimes!

Also - I love Queeqeg! Once again he saves the day! This seemed a very cinematic scene -with the hand rising out of the sea. Also an amusing parallel drawn with giving birth! Hmm?!

I keep thinking these misadventures bode ill ( this is probably just the culturally absorbed knowledge that something bad happens in Moby Dick) but then I think that given the perilous nature of the whole whaling endeavour there must be many accidents during a voyage. I wonder what the average fatality rate was?
(hide spoiler)]

So some more anatomy and a misadventure.
I love Queeqeg so much!

[Laura]

Whale Head diagram:

[Frances]

Thank you for the diagrams/illustrations, Laura! This book would be so much easier to understand if they had them throughout. Rather than an audiobook, an instructional video would actually be best!!! I'm trying to describe to my daughter what medium I need to "read" Moby Dick in -as I'm listening to the Audible version, but have the book open, and am looking up illustrations also!!! This is so frustrating.

Mr.Heald talks too fast, and is at times not pronouncing words quite clearly enough, or some words are strange -so I still have to refer to the book, even if Audible is quite entertaining. The book has no illustrations. I need to look them up frequently. So, yes, definitely, an instructional video, as this book has recently been a how-to-be-a-successful-whaler, would be awesome medium to "read" Moby Dick. Ha ha 😅

[Samuel]

Thanks for recommending The Old Man and the Sea

[Samuel]

Chapters 76-78

(view spoiler)[
I was so confused reading the first two chapters. I only began to understand the descriptions after I saw Laura's diagram. This book is humbling down my English pretty hard.

Melville can be very funny at times. I lost it when he compared the rescue with a baby delivery. Although in seriousness, the rebirth analogy might be meaningful. Perhaps Tashtego's character is going to experience a change from now on?
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

Kaisser wrote: "Chapters 76-78


I was so confused reading the first two chapters. I only began to understand the descriptions after I saw Laura's diagram. This book is humbling down my English pretty hard.

Melvi..."

I'm finding a lot of the language challenging! I've never had such a lits of new words to look up - admittedly some are whaling terms but definitely not all. I agree this was a very funny analogy - I wonder if it will be symbolic?

[Samuel]

I find it almost eery how well the 3 chapter division works. It's been two "essay" chapters and one plot chapter per day for a while.

[Laura]

@ Kaisser - yeah I hadn't noticed that but now that you mention it! I prefer the plot chapters to the essay ones!

[Laura]

CHAPTERS 79: The Praire - 84: Pitchpoling

(view spoiler)[Some more whale anatomy - forehead, brain and spine. It's interesting that there's pseudo science and a bit of superstition mixed in with how the whale's head is regarded.

In Ch 81 - The Pequod meets the Virgin - I found this a really sad chapter. The poor old whale was so pitiable and then for him to sink after all that trouble - so wasteful! It reminded be a bit of the end of The Old Man and the Sea.

Also a couple of times I've written "is this correct?" next to a statement in the book. In this chapter particularly regarding the atmospheric pressure on a whale when they're underwater and about the whale having a non valve blood system.

Seems like the pressure is true:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/2015...

It seems like that same article suggests the whales can control the blood supply - so I'm not sure that claim about them bleeding out is true.

I'm finding the whale hunting scenes harder and harder to read. I can empathise too much with the whale and the whole business seems so barbaric!
I know Moby Dick is meant to be some kind of devil whale but thus far all these scenes have just built my sympathy for the whales as a whole.
I wonder whether this is intentional? Is MD going to be so malevolent that my sympathy is gone? Or am I going to feel more for him than Ahab when the time comes? I just don't know!
I still feel like I don't know Ahab well at all!

The chapters about the Honour and Glory of Whaling and Jonah were a bit random. I doubt it was a whale St George slew?!

As much as I find the hunt disturbing - it does sound like pitchpoling requires a lot of skill and I had to admire that.

I'm beginning to find the essay chapters a bit tedious and long for the more plot driven/action scenes to be more frequent. Still delighted to be finally reading this though.

(hide spoiler)]

[Samuel]

Chapters 85 - 90

(view spoiler)[I hope the books turns towards plot soon as well, 5 out of these 6 chapters were essay like and only one plot advancing.
The plot chapter, The Grand Armada, was really good but quite emotionally taxing. It feels really wasteful, all this damage only for one whale, unless I understood incorrectly. And in addition, the sunk whale a few chapters ago. I'm surprised the crew is still whole. (hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

@Kaisser - I totally agree!

Chapter 85: The Fountain - 90: Heads or Tails

(view spoiler)[
So as Kaisser mentioned there is a lot of "information" in these chapters and not much action.
I feel like we're learning more and more about the whales and not really getting to know the crew of the Pequod any better. Apart from Ishmael and Queeqeg my sympathies lie with the whales!

Especially the chapter The Grand Armada where we see the whales in almost a family situation. It's like the men pet them and observe them and it's so much more rewarding than hunting them. The resulting carnage is such a contrast it's horrible and wasteful. So many whales are injured yet they catch only one!

The law of Fast and Loose fish was interesting and I guess we'll see it in action soon.
I am hoping for some more action soon as this is getting a little slow.
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

Chapters 91: The Pequod Meets the Rose-Bud - 93: The Castaway

A little more explanation and a little more action..

(view spoiler)[ So we learn about ambergris. Stubb outwits the French ship. Stubb is emerging as a generall amusing but quite likeable character. Perhaps the bigest personality of the mates.

Poor Pip is abandoned and it's suggested that this bodes ill for the future. I feel we're getting so many hints of something terrible ahead but we're already so far through the book and no Moby Dick...yet? Not much Ahab even!

Oh well it seems tehre's to be an incident in store for Ishamel too..
(hide spoiler)]

[Samuel]

What do you think the rant at the end of Chapter 96: The Try-Works is about? I don't really see what he's trying to say

[Laura]

Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand - Chapter 96: The Try-Works

Some insights into more of the parts of the whale and a weird incident/warning?!

(view spoiler)[
So these were some strange chapters.
Ishmael is so filled with human empathy while squeezing the spremaceti that he squeezes his shipmates hands - I wonder if they feel the same?!

The blubber "Mincer" wears a robe from teh whale's penis to protect him while he cuts the blubber - any he may also lose a few toes! Another hazard of the whaling business!

The Try-Works are described - furnaces in which the blubber is heated to extract the oil. Ishmael paints a truly hellish scene here. The red of the fires and the silhouetted figures lit up in the dark - this definitely created devlish images.
I think Ishmael then warns that to be too contented is to be unfilfilled and that there is some wisdom in acknowledging sorrow as part of life.
(hide spoiler)]

@Kaisser I wasn't sure what to think of that passage either - I found this link: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mobydi...
- an interesting interpretation?

[Shaina]

Samuel wrote: "What do you think the rant at the end of Chapter 96: The Try-Works is about? I don't really see what he's trying to say"

I do use sparknotes as an accompanying guide for Moby Dick. I also found the link by @Laura helpful. Here is my understanding of Ishmael's rant.

(view spoiler)[ Lo! in my brief sleep I had turned myself about, and was fronting the ship's stern, with my back to her prow and the compass. - I found this another instance of Ishmael's daydreaming/carelessness. He has done the same before when he was on the lookout. He starts daydreaming and misses out on spotting whales (he warns us of the drawbacks of having a daydreamer on board). I also feel as compared to the previous instance this one could have been fatal to the crew of the Pequod.

Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp—all others but liars! - This is metaphorical where he uses the analogy of the ship's compass to speak of our inner self or conscious/ soul. The artificial fire is imagined circumstances or trials. He warns people against assuming future difficulties and says that when we feel low we should remember that a new day will bring new hope or brightness. Also, difficulties don't last long.

There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. - He likens certain kinds of people to the eagle. He says that these people can go to the depths of depression or despair and resurface to being or feeling normal (Ishmael is one of them i.e. at the start of the book he claims to board a ship when he is depresssed or feels sucidal).

And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. - He infers that these people also however low in spirit are still on a higher path compared to others as they are intellectually/spiritually on a higher plain/state. Ishmael thinks that people who live in themountains don't trouble themselves with petty things. They have higher/nobler goals. Here Ahab is the eagle forcussed on Moby Dick while the others like Stubb are looking at petty (according to Ish) like money from Anbergris and Whale oil.

I feel Ishmael always considers himself on a different level as other people on the ship. He feels he is more accepting and open minded, and more of a philosopher.
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

Hey Shaina,
I love your thoughts - thanks!

I also thought..
(view spoiler)[
"look not too long in the face of the fire" this could refer to the men being caught up in Ahab's quest. His mania for catching Moby Dick seemed to consume them all when he got them to swear to join in his quest. I thought the hellish image of the ship might reflect their descent into the madness of Ahab's monomania. (hide spoiler)]

[Shaina]

This makes sense, Laura. I think the same. To support your thought I'll share some interesting information:

In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851), Ishmael describes being on duty monitoring the pots of burning whale oil to fuel the Pequod. He becomes mesmerized by the fire, fearing the visions of “fiend shapes…capering half in smoke and half in fire,” which then “begat kindred visions in my soul” (354). He warns us, “Look not too long into the face of the fire, O man!” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Ethan Brand” (1852), the titular character is a lime-burner who lived a “solitary and meditative life” monitoring the kiln fire, until one night he threw “his dark thoughts into the intense glow of its furnace, and melted them, as it were, into the one thought that took possession of his life” (422).

For those who want to read the entire article, here is the link.

https://my.vanderbilt.edu/themindfulp...

[Frances]

I'm running behind schedule. One of my kitties, Daryl, had to spend a few days at the Vet, so for several days my brain was mush and I couldn't read. He's back home so I was able to read 7 chapters today. I'm at Ch. 85 The Fountain

[Laura]

@Frances -oh I'm sorry! I hope kitty is ok?!
You're catching up!

[Laura]

Thanks @Shaina - I'll check out the article!

[Shaina]

Frances, I love cats and can completely understand how it feels. I hope he is better now..meow

[Samuel]

@Laura and @Shaina, love your interpretations. Perhaps we are reaching a turning point and we'll see more of Ahab soon? I really liked The Doubloon.

@Frances, best wishes for your kitty! Hope he gets well soon

[Laura]

Chapter 97: The Lamp - Chapter 99: The Doubloon

Some more philosophical ruminations.

(view spoiler)[ So these were again some interesting chapters. The Lamp just served to offer a comparison between whalers and other ships and the abundance of oil available on a whale ship.

Cleaning Up - this was interesting as the ship is fully cleaned after each whale is processed and the whole cycle starts again upon the sighting of another whale. It sounds relentless and exhausting.

The Doubloon is interesting as Ahab and the mates all interpret the marking on the doubloon differently. I think Ahab is so self obsessed that he sees only himself in all the symbols.
Starbuck is more devout and sees the holy trinity in the markings. Stubb sees the zodiac, Flask sees cigars and then it gets a bit hazy! Queeqeg and Fedallah look at it - then Pip. It seems it's Pip who compares the Doubloon to the ship's navel. It seems he predicts the ship will sink?

Again I had to check some online notes for this chapter.
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/l...
http://www.melville.org/diCurcio/99.htm

(hide spoiler)]

[Frances]

I'm catching up! I'm at Ch. 89. Schools and Schoolmasters

I just wanted to share some of my thoughts so far on Ch. 87 The Grand Armada etc.

(view spoiler)[
I am enjoying getting to know this motley crew. They are very interesting characters. And this chapter showed a different facet that got me choked-up.
The language is a challenge, but I imagined to myself that if you take any 1 chapter and present it as a speech on a stage for a high school competition, it would be beautiful. I just want more pictures.
This book is underappreciated because it doesn't have beautiful artwork to accompany it.
@Kaisser, what sinking of the whale? Did I miss something? I have to re-read that chapter? I thought the whale had dove down and it bled out??? And they were waiting for it to resurface. Is that what you meant? I think I spaced out because next thing I knew there was that pod of whales... 😬 (hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

@ Frances - I totally agree re illustrations. There are so many vivid images mentioned that the possibility for diagrams and illustrations is huge!
I keep seeing this edition with Rockwell Kent illustrations and they look beautiful - although a physical copy seems to be a collectors item!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moby-Dick-Wh...

[Laura]

I found an article re illustrating Moby Dick:

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/herma...

[Samuel]

@Frances, (view spoiler)[The sunken whale happened in chapter 81. I reread it and I'm not sure what was the fate of the whale. Ishmael mentions that sometimes the whales do indeed resurface due to decomposition but I don't know if the Pequod waited for it. Since that whale is not mentioned again I assumed they moved on. I can't find no mention of the whale after chapter 81, so it's just speculation. (hide spoiler)]

[Samuel]

@Laura and @Frances, I agree so much about the illustrations. There is a lot of imagery that would make for beautiful pictures, (view spoiler)[like in The Grand Armada, when Ishmael's whaleboat is among the calves. (hide spoiler)], and some diagrams would be really helpful.

[Laura]

Chapter 100: Leg and Arm - Chapter 102: A Bower in the Arcacides

An interesting encounter and some very different reactions to Moby Dick

(view spoiler)[ So these were interesting chapters. I loved teh Arm and Leg chapter - such a contrast between the realtively cheery English captain and Ahab. Although they both replace their missing limb with an ivory one, their feelings about MD are so very different. I think the English captain has learned the lesson "once bitten, twice shy"! Whereas Ahab...has not!
In this chapter I thought it interesting that Ahab was hoisted aboard on the hook for the whale - foreshadowing perhaps??

The decanter chapter was not that exciting, although quite interesting to see into the inventory of a whaleship.

The Bower chapter - if I understood correctly they worship the whale? Although it seems they know it is a whale. Ishmael is again at pains to prove his reliability as a narrator.

I'm definitely ready for some real action to start....
(hide spoiler)]

[Samuel]

Ch 103-105

(view spoiler)[No new events in this block of chapters. I appreciate the lectures in whaling but I wish it took a lesser percentage of the book. I wonder if Melville's going to run out of whale topics before the end of the book.
In chapter 105, Ish considers whales above any danger of extinction. It turned out to be the case that many whale species have become endangered due to the hunting since then. (hide spoiler)]

[Samuel]

Ch 106-111
(view spoiler)[
So it seems that when Ahab was reclused prior to the ship's departure he was actually recovering from a wound inflicted by his peg leg in his most private parts. I guess it's a way of saying Moby Dick hurt his "manly" pride.

I got a big scare in chapter 110, fortunetaly it was just that, a scare. But the apprehension has been building for over 500 pages already, I don't have much hopes that everyone gets back safe and alive.
I'm liking this chapters, hope we keep seeing more plot from now on.
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

I'm catching up!
Thoughts on Chapter 103:Measurements of the Whale Skeleton - Chapter 111: The Pacific

(view spoiler)[
Ish explains that the whale skeleton doesn't give a true sense of the actual size and bulk of a live whale. He also discusses various fossils of whales and how old they might be.

I got a bit frustrated at Ch 105 - about whether whales were at risk of extinction. I felt that the arguments Ishmael used to prove that whales were not at risk, were tenuous at best. Just because elephants are abundant - doesn't mean that whales are. Also the comparison to buffaloes is irrelevant when we don't know the numbers of the whale population to begin with.
I was a bit annoyed by this because usually Ishmael takes great pains to explain why he's such a reliable narrator and why we should believe him but he lost me in this chapter.

I enjoyed learning about Ahab's leg. Finally we're back with the characters and getting to know them a bit better. It was good to get an explanation of why Ahab was shuttered away at the beginning of their voyage.

The carpenter is an interesting character - a handy man to have on a ship! Seems he can turn his hand to almost anything.

The dialogue between Ahab and the carpenter was interesting.
If I understood correctly Ahab puts some part of himself in the vice? He says "No fear; I like a good grip; I like to feel something in this slippery world that can hold, man."
This seems to show his distrust of the world.
He also mentions Prometheus and his idea that men, being forged in fire, must return to fire and therefore to hell.
He certainly has some dark ideas.
He talks about feeling his old leg still.

These insights into Ahab's character make him seem all the more frenzied and verging on demented?

I like that Starbuck tried to stand up to him and despite his initial fiery reaction Ahab did relent and do as Starbuck requested - this perhaps shows a balance in his personality? He's not totally devoid of reason - he just needs someone to challenge him and push him in the right direction.

I got a scare about Queeqeg in his coffin!! Still what a relief - although I suspect that coffin will fulfil its purpose before the end of the story! Also I felt very sorry for Pip in this chapter.

Finally we feel Ishmael's wonder at being on the Pacific ocean - it seems that they really expect to find Moby Dick here....we shall wait and see?!

(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

Chapter 112:The Blacksmith- 114:The Gilder

Some interesting chapters - Ahab's madness continues!

(view spoiler)[
So the Blacksmith chapter was quite sad. I assumed it was through alcohol that Perth loses everything and comes to whaling - such a sad back story.

The Forge - this was a great chapter! Once again we see Ahab's mania - he's saved horse shoe stubbs to make a harpoon and his own razors for the hooks.
"Take them, man, I have no need for them; for I now neither shave, sup, nor pray till - but here - to work!"

He has them tempered in the blood of the harpooneers.
"I want it of teh true death-temper!"
It's all very devlish and disturbing and of course continues to build the momentum towards something terrible and tragic!
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

How is everyone getting on? Who's still with us?
I think we've still got myself, Samuel, Frances and Shaina.
Good effort :)

[Frances]

I'm still here! I'm stuck at Ch.93. The Castaway. I have to put all reading on hold for a few days. I've aggravated a neck injury. Aging sucks. Ha ha. 👵 I'll try to resume tomorrow. I'm going to finish this whale-of-a-book!

To my fellow readers: hold your books/mobile phones/ereaders up. Avoid reading with your chins down, and your books/mobiles/ereaders at chest level.

@Kaiser, I re-read Ch.81 The Pequod Meets The Virgin
(view spoiler)[ The chapter said: the whale was starting to sink, and though whales are usually buoyant at death, some whales may tend to sink at death because their rib cages are very heavy. They cut the whale loose and let her sink because she was starting to drag the boat down with her. All dead whales will eventually resurface though. (hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

@Frances - Ooh a sore neck is the worst! I hope it eases off soon. I certainly read in some funny positions sometimes so I know how easy it is to get a crick or upset sth.
Sending get better thoughts:)