Day 3,760 —Books—

I was up before 4 and went downstairs after making coffee. I stretched and listened to the book, My Brilliant Friend. It made the top of the list on the NYT’s 100 best books of the 21st century. The list was compiled by authors and reviewers. I felt dumb, only having read 9 of the books on the list. This is the 4th one on the list that I have been reading/listening to since I read the list a couple of weeks ago. I started My Brilliant Friend yesterday, and I should be able to finish it this morning.

         I read Moby Dick at the beginning of the summer, and I was thinking about it this morning. I was thinking how similar it seemed to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and although I didn’t think it was bad. I didn’t think it was great, either. I enjoyed the sections on myths and religion and the part on Jonah’s Whale and how similar it was to a Greek story and how no one really knew which story to believe, but the way the book author juxtaposes the ideas gives some insight on how sailors might view the different stories as one and the same.

         Both stories are action-adventure tales. I haven’t read any of the other stories in this time period of the same genre, but I would guess they were all pretty similar. I know it wouldn’t be classified in this category today, but the genres seem to more closely resemble a fantasy or science fiction story in the vein of Star Wars and not anything resembling classical literature. But when it comes to American Literature, there just isn't as many options as possible when compared to other countries. If anything, I think the use of religious references in Moby Dick propelled it to be loved by the very religious. It is very similar to Pilgrims Progress. In the way that each character seems to represent a different religious idea.