“Call me Ookmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely (according to the “true story” the book was based on, let’s say around 30 years, but who’s counting?)- having little or no money in my purse, you see, I carry a wallet, it’s nice, I picked it up in Turkey to make sure it could hold other currency besides dollars, and nothing particular to interest me on shore. What do you expect? All my shows had had their season finales and there really wasn’t anything good on TV. I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world, even though I really hate water since it is so very wet. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and the appendix, and the gall bladder, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth or I get those little hairs growing in my ears; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, rather than a light a wonderful June in my heart (June is busting out all over!); whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, which I really should talk to someone about, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet… No I mean it, I’m concerned and should seek help. I quietly take to the ship, because have you seen what psychiatric help costs?!? Definitely not a nickel like in the comic strips!”
I know there are many books that are required reading in high school. I guess I was fortunate enough to avoid many of them. Either by dodging the class (I took a class in “Biography” in which we read romance novels based in historic time periods, and my favorite “Science Fiction”) or just buckling down and trying to get through books I didn’t have the life experience to really grasp (Great Expectations & Huckleberry Finn). So I missed Moby Dick (darn) although I’ve seen a few film adaptations and read Jeff Smith’s Bone It’s something I probably should add to my bucket list or at least try to listen to it on a long trip. Moby Dick was based on tales told about whalers and the whales that hate them. The big story was about the sinking of the Essex in 1820.
This is what happens when I ask people how the MINIon number is significant… Rigoletto was written the same year as Moby Dick! Inspiration comes from the strangest people… I mean places. 🙂