The Moby Dick Big-Read

Marcus Harvey: Albus, 2009
accompanying Ch. 1: "Loomings"

Moby Dick has been on my list of must-reads for such a long time, but with all the reading I do for my research, it has been relegated time and time again to the "maybe next summer..." stack. (Other unfortunate denizens of this stack include Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karimazov -- I'm such a terrible Russian student.)

But there is hope for Moby Dick yet-- Plymouth University has undertaken a project to record a reading of each of Moby Dick's 135 chapters. Arising out of the 2011 Peninsula Arts Whale Festival, the Moby Dick Big-Read Project has been created as a part of the Plymouth International Book Festival. Peter Donaldson introduces each chapter, which is read by one of an assortment of esteemed readers such as Tilda Swinton and accompanied by a beautiful piece of art. (And you can download the recording of each chapter for free each day!)

Listening to excellent readings of such a marvelous book has been a new experience for me. I love to read and consume books quite voraciously, but the spoken word has a quality quite unmatched by that of the written. I must confess I am generally a speed-reader and can fly through a good book in a matter of hours. Listening requires me to stop, be still, and savor the prose at hand. It's not a task suited to multi-tasking, and so far, it's been quite therapeutic. 

Thus I am greatly enjoying this creative reading collective. And if you so desire, you are welcome to partake in this listening experience with me. It seems suited to close with the description of the novel given by the creators of this project:

"Moby-Dick is the great American novel. But it is also the great unread American novel. Sprawling, magnificent, deliriously digressive, it stands over and above all other works of fiction, since it is barely a work of fiction itself. Rather, it is an explosive exposition of one man’s investigation into the world of the whale, and the way humans have related to it. Yet it is so much more than that. It is a representation of evil incarnate in an animal – and the utter perfidy of that notion. Of a nature transgressed and transgressive – and of one man’s demonic pursuit, a metaphorical crusade that even now is a shorthand for overweening ambition and delusion." 

Clara Drummond: Cape-Horner in a great hurricane, 2012
accompanying Ch. 2: "The Carpet-Bag"

And in case you would like a sneak peek, here's the first chapter "Loomings" read by Tilda Swinton:

Tuesday's Reads

Well, I've finished reading A Grief Observed, and I'm not currently reading any other C.S. Lewis books, so I'm afraid that this is the end of the Tuesdays with Lewis column. However, since books compose a very important part of my life and I would describe myself as a voracious reader, you can expect to see many more book-themed posts on Tuesdays.

At the moment I am in the middle of two very different books, both of which I highly recommend:

King Leopold's Ghost

Click to view on Amazon

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild tells the little-known story of the brutal colonization of the Congo (costing an estimated 10 million lives) and the radical human rights effort that arose in an effort to show the world what was happening. Many of the most devastating and protracted conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa today stem from the events told in this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to better understand current events in Africa (and to anyone in general). Hochschild is an excellent storyteller, and he bolsters his account with primary source documents from a variety of historical sources. Be warned: this is a very heavy read and many disturbing events are covered in this book. However, I believe that knowledge of such events is absolutely essential for understanding of current world orders and to prevent such atrocities in the future.

The Good and Beautiful God

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On the entirely opposite end of the spectrum, I am currently going through The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith with my mentor, and I think it's one of the best books I have ever read on spiritual discipline and transformation. Smith focuses on breaking down the false narratives about God (God is angry and punishes me for all the wrong things I do, God wants me to try harder, etc) and replacing them with truth. He focuses on the getting to know the God that Jesus knows and presents spiritual disciplines as a way to gain freedom in our walk with God. Now, as a more artsy-creative type, I know that I often chafe at "disciplines," seeing them as to-do lists to rush through as quickly as possible because I "have to." This book is not at all like that (The first discipline is sleep! As in, "This week take one morning and sleep in because rest is vital"). Basically, this book is amazing, and you should read it. (Especially if you're someone like me who usually hates devotional books and finds them to be boring and unhelpful.) I love how much it focuses on breaking down lies with truth and embracing God's goodness and the freedom we have in Christ.