Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"

Arlington VA Public Library is reading "Moby-Dick" this summer, and we're going to have a seriously good time while we do it. Each week on the podcast, librarians Jennie, Megan, Pete and special guests will discuss the reading, drop pop culture references, and ask or answer questions that come up during the Sunday discussion.

What's next? 03/10/2020

What's next? A monthly podcast! /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/13495415

Bonus Moby-Dick episode: Interview with Richard King, author of "Ahab's Rolling Sea" 09/15/2019

Bonus Moby-Dick episode: Interview with Richard King, author of "Ahab's Rolling Sea" 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. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/11259878

The End! 08/22/2019

The End! And so we come to the conclusion of our voyage... was the destination worth the ride? Opinions vary... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10962089

Ahab Turns Up the Insanity 08/13/2019

Ahab Turns Up the Insanity 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. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10875563

Whale Bones Are Not Made of Ivory 08/08/2019

Whale Bones Are Not Made of Ivory 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. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10817234

Stuck in the Doldrums with Melville 07/23/2019

Stuck in the Doldrums with Melville 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? /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10632350

Whaling: Not for the faint of heart 07/18/2019

Whaling: Not for the faint of heart In chapters 60-70 we encountered bloody whale killing, racial stereotyping and ugly power structures. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10577012

Herman "Not Suble" Melville 07/10/2019

Herman "Not Suble" Melville Squid are scary, Fedallah's whaleboat crew are eerie, and and Melville is not subtle. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10476980

To read all of Melville's Cetology, or to skip that chapter... 06/25/2019

To read all of Melville's Cetology, or to skip that chapter... 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? /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10292219

Our Cast Is Introduced, and We are Underwhelmed... 06/18/2019

Our Cast Is Introduced, and We are Underwhelmed... 180 pages in, and we've barely left port... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10200074

Who exactly is this Ishmael guy? 06/11/2019

Who exactly is this Ishmael guy? This week we realize that running off to sea and adopting a nome-de-mer is usually a sign that you're trying to escape from something... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10124493

Prologue: So What Do We Know About Moby-Dick? 06/04/2019

Prologue: So What Do We Know About Moby-Dick? We're ready to set sail with plenty of whale puns... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/10049192

And So We Come to the End... with MANY FEELINGS 03/26/2019

And So We Come to the End... with MANY FEELINGS The week on the podcast we talk with guest host Heather about why she nearly threw her book across the room, what makes Dorothea and Rosamund so different and yet so similar, and George Eliot's take on the Hero's Journey. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/9149057

"Eliot's Greek Chorus" 03/19/2019

"Eliot's Greek Chorus" The week on the podcast we talk with guest host Gale about Raffles's death, Lydgate's debt, the damning Middlemarch chorus of public opinion, and our desire to see Mr and Mrs Garth moonlight as Vampire Hunters. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/9066005

"It's the Ides of March, Lydgate!" 03/12/2019

"It's the Ides of March, Lydgate!" This week on the podcast we talk with special guest Elisia about Pie Day, the Ideas of March, the universality of Will Ladislaw's inability to say goodbye, and the comfort of a good fountain pen. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8980004

Game of Books 3: The Library Book 03/05/2019

Game of Books 3: The Library Book In this Game of Books mini episode of the podcast, Megan, Pete and Alex sat down to talk about "The Library Book," Susan Orlean's exploration of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8887397

"Bad Pairings and Bad Politics" 02/28/2019

"Bad Pairings and Bad Politics" This week on the podcast we talk with special guest Vicky about bad romantic pairings, bad politics, and what her dogs would read if they had library cards. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8814101

"Historic Compliments" 02/19/2019

"Historic Compliments" This week on the podcast we talk with special guest Brit about historic compliments, the history of political party names as insults, and learn some historical context! /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8706572

"Lustful Eyes" 02/12/2019

"Lustful Eyes" Lustful eyes, stethoscopes, reform bills and more! In which we are joined by Gale, our first guest host. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8620835

Game of Books 2: Marie Kondo mini episode 02/05/2019

Game of Books 2: Marie Kondo mini episode Pete mentions a rumor about Marie Kondo and "30 books"... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8518751

We Have Many Feelings 01/31/2019

We Have Many Feelings In which we have many feelings, especially about the importance of good footnotes and endnotes. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8463854

Who ARE All of These People? 01/22/2019

Who ARE All of These People? Just because "Middlemarch" only weighs in at 700-800 pages, that doesn't make the characters and relationships any simpler to keep track of... /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8353502

We Recover from our first Goodreads Discussion 01/15/2019

We Recover from our first Goodreads Discussion Neither snow, nor closed libraries, a lack of endnotes, or untranslated epigraphs could keep Jennie, Pete and Megan from chatting about our first Sunday night discussion of Middlemarch! /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8272754

The Big Book Club starts "Middlemarch" 01/08/2019

The Big Book Club starts "Middlemarch" We discuss introductory sentences, what the prologue could mean, what we do (and don't) know about "Middlemarch" and George Eliot, and of course, share our palate cleansers. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/8180342

Game of Books 1: Megan and Pete's Book Challenge 12/14/2018

Game of Books 1: Megan and Pete's Book Challenge The first episode in a new occasional series about reading outside our comfort zones: Pete challenged Megan to read his favorite book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," by Douglas Adams, while Megan challenged Pete to read one of her favorite beloved romances, "A Rogue by Any Other Name," by Sarah MacLean. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/7921085

Teaser for The Big Book Club: Ides of Middlemarch 11/27/2018

Teaser for The Big Book Club: Ides of Middlemarch Our Mission /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/7701143

Week 15 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! 09/18/2018

Week 15 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! We've come to the end of "War and Peace"! In our final episode of the "Oh Boy, Tolstoy!" season, we try to figure out how we feel about the book, and grapple with why Tolstoy has such staying power. And Jennie sings ALL the songs. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/7058003

Week 14 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! 09/09/2018

Week 14 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! In which we despair over Tolstoy's inability to tie up the loose ends that really matter to us, and his misunderstanding of what modern audiences expect in a "Epilogue." And we make some big announcements about the upcoming Winter edition of the Big Book Club! /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/7023562

Week 13 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! 08/29/2018

Week 13 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! Episode 15 - In which Pete shares what made him so mad that he nearly threw his book out the window, we contemplate Tolstoy's latest take on women's issues, and we rejoice over almost being done! /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/6983877

Week 12 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! 08/21/2018

Week 12 of the Big Book Club: Oh Boy, Tolstoy! Episode 14 - In which we get multiple moment of peak-Pierreness, followed by the Andrei and Natasha love story, that is certain to last forever - or at least as long as Andrei. /episode/index/show/bigbookclub/id/6952985

Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"

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