As the sun sets on our reading of Lonesome Dove, we prepare for the final read-along of the year, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I am so excited to finally reach this part of the year, because Moby-Dick is one of my desert-island books and I can’t wait to start reading it again. But just as it takes time to equip a ship for a long voyage, we will take some time to equip ourselves for reading this great American novel. Here are a few things to keep in mind as we begin:

1. Introductory Readings: For the next week we will be reading the Book of Jonah from the King James Bible and the Etymology and Extracts that Melville places at the beginning of Moby-Dick. These readings will help orient our hearts and souls to the voyage we are about to take together. In writing Moby-Dick, Melville was greatly influenced by the literary style and cadence of the King James Bible, and he often alludes to biblical stories like the Book of Jonah. And Melville’s Etymology and Extracts plunge us into centuries of whale lore, hinting that Moby-Dick will be as much a voyage through human history, myth, and obsession as it is a hunt across the sea.
2. Contemplative Approach: Though these introductory readings can be read very quickly, I encourage you to slow down and read them in a meditative way, allowing them to really work on your imagination and spirit. In fact, that is a good idea for reading all of Moby-Dick. The chapters of Moby-Dick are quite short compared to Lonesome Dove and Roots, which gives us the opportunity to reread the daily pages, highlight words and phrases that speak to us, and contemplate the chapters more deeply.
3. Ten Tips for Reading Moby-Dick: Benjamin McEvoy at the Hardcore Literature Book Club has a must-see video introduction to Moby-Dick that includes his ten tips for reading the book and which will greatly enhance your experience with this masterpiece. I highly recommend watching this 45 minute video sometime in the next week, and you might even consider subscribing to the Hardcore Literature Book Club on Patreon to gain access to all of Ben’s archived lectures on Moby-Dick. I have been a subscriber for several years and it is well worth the price. You do not need to be a subscriber to watch the introductory video, which I will embed at the bottom of this post.

If you haven’t yet acquired your copy of Moby-Dick,  you can purchase one of the following editions through my Amazon affiliate links: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition; Penguin Classics Paperback Edition; Kindle edition.

Moby-Dick is also available for free online at Project Gutenberg or as a free audiobook at Libribox.

Here is the schedule for the introductory material:

And here is Benjamin McEvoy’s introductory video to Moby-Dick: