by Herman Melville
(old comment; been reading Melville biographies last few weeks)
Everything about whale and whaling, yet much more.
So intriguing were the stories and so beautiful the prose;
so abundant were the details and so complex the structure;
and so grandeur was the scope: science, philosophy, religion, history, human psyche and temperament, all in a single book (albeit a lengthy one).
And I had a time of enjoyment, enlightenment and enrichment. Then my heart ached when it all came to one tremendous tragic end.
Simply one of the best books ever written. I believe.
Not an easy one to read*. I might add.
(* No wonder his contemporaies all missed out on this book, leaving the author die in obscurity.)
