Week 13 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy!
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
Release Date: 08/29/2018
What's next?
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
A monthly podcast!
info_outline
Bonus Moby-Dick episode: Interview with Richard King, author of "Ahab's Rolling Sea"
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
As a special post-Moby-Dick bonus, Jennie and Megan previewed the new book, "Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick," and interviewed author Richard King by phone from his home in Mystic, Connecticut.
info_outline
The End!
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
And so we come to the conclusion of our voyage... was the destination worth the ride? Opinions vary...
info_outline
Ahab Turns Up the Insanity
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
In this week's discussion of chapters 102-121, we contemplate biblical history and prophecy, and Megan solves the meaning of Moby-Dick once again.
info_outline
Whale Bones Are Not Made of Ivory
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
This week, half of Arlington is on vacation, so Jennie and Pete set sail on their own. The two cover chapters 87-101, discussing the unpleasant topics (racism, whale slaughter) and the absurd (Stubb's nose, the ineptness of whale ship captains.) And with no co-hosts, there's no one to stop them from making references to The Simpsons but also no one to correct Pete when he calls whale bone "ivory" repeatedly.
info_outline
Stuck in the Doldrums with Melville
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
In chapters 71-86, no amount of action could keep us from feeling sedated by the seemingly endless chapters on phrenology... Although maybe all of Moby-Dick would improve if read like a jazz poem?
info_outline
Whaling: Not for the faint of heart
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
In chapters 60-70 we encountered bloody whale killing, racial stereotyping and ugly power structures.
info_outline
Herman "Not Suble" Melville
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
Squid are scary, Fedallah's whaleboat crew are eerie, and and Melville is not subtle.
info_outline
To read all of Melville's Cetology, or to skip that chapter...
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
Who got the gold star for reading all about whale-fish, including the footnotes? Who is actually caught up on the reading? Who thinks Ahab is headed for a reconning of, well, mythic proportions?
info_outline
Our Cast Is Introduced, and We are Underwhelmed...
Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"
180 pages in, and we've barely left port...
info_outline
This week's references include:
Waterloo - the upcoming battle in 1815, and the song by ABBA
We think Tolstoy would have liked ABBA's fatalism...
At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah
And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself
Waterloo I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo finally facing my Waterloo
1812 Overture - written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate Russia's defense of its fatherland against Napoleon's invasion in 1812. The overture debuted in Moscow on August 20, 1882, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialized the 1812 defense of Russia.
Closer to the Apothecary than God: Abortion in 17th Century England - What do we know about abortion in 18th century Russia? Not a lot, but thanks to this research, we do know that English apothecary shops carried books with recipes containing abortifacients available in domestic settings.
Random pop culture references:
Palate cleansers
- Jennie - "Rich People Problems" by Kevin Kwan
- Megan - Binge Mode podcast
- Pete - Theodore Roosevelt Island