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Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"


Our Mission: To read really big books, talk about them online, and cheer each other on when necessary.

Each week librarians Jennie, Megan, Pete and Alex ask and answer questions that come up during our online Sunday night discussion, drop pop-culture references, talk to guest experts, and more.

Previous books: War and Peace (summer 2018); Middlemarch (winter 2019)

The Big Book Club is a production of the Arlington Public Library, Arlington Virginia

Sep 15, 2019

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.

Rich's book does a great job of putting Moby-Dick in context, with lots of maps and photos. And for anyone who might fear that King's style would take after his subject matter, the writing is is compelling and accessible, and we suspect that it may become required reading for anyone tackling Moby-Dick in the future...

Rich mentions the website "Melville's Marginalia" during the podcast.

Palate cleansers: