'Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.'
From Moby Dick.
I am ashamed to say I have never read Moby Dick. I never much fancied the idea of the whole man against whale thing. But I have a fierce love and admiration for a writer who can turn the phrase 'a damp, drizzly November in my soul'. So now Mr Melville is number one on my reading list.
The Seascape, by Nicholas Chistiakov.
Oh dear. I have Moby Dick shame too. He has sat on the shelves with all my other books for years. I must read it, if only so that he can join the tribe of those read and loved. It is too unfair to leave him sitting all alone and unread.
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