Obligatory "I just finished Moby Dick thread."

You've inspired me. I'm on the final chapter of For Whom The Bell Tolls, I'll be going out promptly after finishing it this evening to buy Moby Dick and starting it tonight.

Because people initially thought they had gallons of semen in their head (spermacetti).

I'm still not even halfway through but chugging along
It takes quite a few rereads to grasp certain passages

Crime and Punishment or Moby Dick first? I was doing short stories for a while with Poe, Banana Yoshimoto and a few others first, but I'm going to start one of those two now, following it up with the other.

Moby Dick really is THE book. few others match up (in my opinion none do)-- but I'd say Blood Meridian is a fucking great book and definitely comes close. I'd also non-memely recommend Ulysses for infinite aesthetic glory. Those are my personal Big Three.

Billy Budd and Bartleby are awesome short stories too, if you like Melville.

My whole life is searching for that rush from books like those but it's depressingly hard to find. The Brothers Karamazov was my first taste but I'm afraid it won't stand up to a re-read so I haven't tried yet.

the part where he goes on and on about fish species

which copies do you guys have?

pic didnt post

the snuggling scenes

Lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it. In this enchanted mood, thy spirit ebbs away to whence it came; becomes diffused through time and space; like Crammer’s sprinkled Pantheistic ashes, forming at last a part of every shore the round globe over.

There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gentle rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at midday, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists!

Prose level: Grandmaster. The whole book is like this, too. This isn't some highlight

OP here, I have this one. It had very useful footnotes. It also has a cool cover.

Hey Cole

Not OP but try-works is legit.

Damn it all. Should I reread this? There are so many things I haven't read. But this is so much better than them. What should I do Veeky Forums?

The one where he talks about going to see this massive skeleton of a beached whale and he tries to measure the whole thing with his arm

Are there actually gay undertones or is that just a meme?

There are homoerotic undertones. Basically "no homo" bro stuff between Ishmael and Queequeg. I don't believe they actually did anything homosexual.

>tfw not a native speaker
>like to read books in their original language
>moby dick's english is too hard for me

i get whats happening but having to look up 2-3 words per page is too annoying

“A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.” - Nabokov

Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me, and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-labourers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally, as much as to say,—Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill humour or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

the try-works, by far. the depiction of the ship afire was fucking brilliant and haunting. also, a squeeze of the hand, obviously.

oh you liked try-works too? fucking best chapter ever for sure.

anyone else unironically deny there being any metaphor in moby dick and demand that it was just a story told by a sea salt that could have been spinning a yarn from the spindle of imagination?

I have never read a Veeky Forums entry level book in my life. This book has some beautiful writing, but I gave up months ago, I believe. It was when Queequeg was sleeping with Ishmael.

How do I "git gud" at reading, Veeky Forums? Sometimes I can't understand what the fuck the book is reading, like that time when it was raining (?) on a church (?)

what the fuck the book is saying*

Moby Dick is not a good introduction to literature. I hope no one would suggest it as "entry level." Start out with much simpler books - The Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse-Five, Of Mice and Men, Siddhartha... are a few books you could try first.

ok thanks. i was too excited for moby dick. i loved the whole concept.

do you believe this is a good guide? i'm also thinking of reading the greeks side by side. along with my other academic studies.

you can't force it, just into stuff you like, stuff you love and feel passionate for. literature is a vehicle for passions and ideas, people here eventually end up finding passion for literature itself, but if i were you, just try to find an interest in what the literature depicts, and you'll be right as rain.

I think this one is better.

>American Psycho

gonna start with that one since i loved the film version.

thanks for the chart. but at what point will i know if im ready to read say, David Foster Wallace, James Joyce and Pynchon?

in 10 years if you just started reading

NO JUST READ WHAT YOU LIKE

AND STAY AWAY FROM THE "FICTION" SECTION AND YOUNG ADULT/FANTASY TRASH

>in 10 years if you just started reading

is this a meme?

for DFW? you're ready enough for that tripe, Pynchon? few years if you're steady on and really get into literature, Joyce? Joyce has a wildly varying level of difficulty. if you want to into classic literature, his Dubliners honestly would be a wonderful place to start. also, i'd suggest the russians, so you can get a taste of the best of the best. Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, all have short and accessible works, Tolstoy is a bit dull, so i wouldn't jump into War and Peace or anything, but you can definitely check out a few of his shorter works as well. Don't be discouraged, Moby Dick was difficult for me as well, it's a very dense novel, it's rewarding, but dense and difficult. You'll find your niche in literature if you just keep your mind open and look for literature that's interesting to you. stuff that looks fun, it really helps to have an understanding of your hobbies and interests, that way you have an in. My first foray into classic literature though, that was Monte Cristo. I'd suggest that to you a thousand times, if i thought you wouldn't get bored with some of it, and get the wrong impression of the book. Like i said, just work on finding stuff you like, get into the habit of reading, and go through a natural progression. push yourself a little, jump into the deep end occasionally, if you start drowning, just go back to what you're comfortable with, but you might find that you can break through and enjoy more and more complex works as you read and gain experience.

how do you expect to get ANY reference to other literary works if you havent read shit? especially since the books youve mentioned are full of them

>i'd suggest the russians, so you can get a taste of the best of the best

would you recommend learning russian for the full experience of their literature?

he could, i dunno, read them with a guide that explains references fully? also dubliners is still thoroughly enjoyable without extensive understanding of a vast plentitude of literature.

slow your roll buddy, if you're just intoing literature, it might be best just to enjoy something in english for right now, obviously, if you're really committed to learning a new language, i'd say sure, go for it, but if you're just looking into literature to expand your imagination and experience things you wouldn't be able to otherwise, then don't be averse to a few translations. eventually if you learn russian, you'll be able to read them in the original anyway.

dubliners is ye