I received an email from Kobo the other day:
I thought it was time to share the story of the only book that ever conquered me. It’s not a very long one. Or even that interesting.
I’d always wanted to read Moby Dick (or The Whale) by Herman Melville so back in high school i decided to give it a go. I borrowed it from the library and i started reading it. It was one of the most tedious things i have ever done. I can’t remember how far i got into it, however i know that they had barely set sail and i was already at least a third of the way in (the book is about hunting a whale and the first third of the book isn’t even about that!) and the library informed me that i wasn’t allowed to re-borrow the book anymore. After re-borrowing it two or three times (i can’t remember which), you aren’t allowed to re-borrow a book (obviously because if they didn’t have that rule you could just re-borrow a book forever and never let anyone else have a chance at reading it). You then have a waiting period until you are allowed to re-borrow it. Well, that had never happened to me before! Usually i only re-borrowed a book because i had greedily borrowed too many books for the amount of time i had to read and hadn’t started them yet. But essentially being barred from a book? I felt like a criminal!
I guess the whole experience wounded my pride and i wasn’t game to pick the book up again in case i was once again barred from borrowing it (maybe forever this time?) so i just got on with life, shaking my fist every now and then when i heard the book mentioned.
However since i received for Christmas last year a Kobo Touch eReader, this has opened up an opportunity for me to finally finish what was started. Moby Dick is a classic. Most classics are free eBooks. Even if i only read a chapter a month (i hope to achieve more than that) it will only take 11 years and three months (only). Yes, that is a long time. Who knows what i will be doing then, however i’m only young and will still be young then!
If i did it too quickly, i’d have to come up with a new life goal 😉
Are there any books that have conquered you? Or have you finally conquered a book?
Reading For The Masses 
That’s one book I’ve never even managed to start! 🙂
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Haha! Well, in eleven or so years, when i’ve (hopefully) finished it, i will let you know if it’s worth it 😉
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I must admit I loved reading Moby Dick while studying the book back at university…A book, however, that has repeatedly conquered me is the Old Testament. I have set out to read it a number of times and always get stuck at the “begatting” part, ie so-and-so begat so-and-so etc
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I am hoping to achieve a love of Moby Dick once i have finished it 🙂 Maybe you should skip that part of the Old Testament? Or just read a small amount at a time until you get through it 🙂
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I’m afraid that I am a completist by nature, and so therefore I find it very hard to skip over sections in books. Somehow it would feel like cheating to me. It’s an irritating quirk of my personality, I suppose. But I just might try your advice, if I ever venture into reading the Old Testament again. Good luck hunting that great white whale!
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Yes, i am the same. I am currently reading Anna Karenina and while i am enjoying it, there are some tedious parts. My Mum skipped a section of it but i can’t do that. Little bits at a time, i think that’s the way. Thank you!
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I never had to read that one in high school but I added it to my list and I’m going to eventually give it a go. I have a soft spot in my heart for whales, not sure I want to read a book about whale hunting. i can’t even watch the show about that on the discovery channel! Here’s the one book I also didn’t read in high school, but just this year. I thought I would read more classics this year and it’s not working out so well for me. The Catcher In The Rye. UGH.
http://itypecrazyfast.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/catcher-in-the-rye-book-review/
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Good luck to you! If you finish it before me i will be so mad…haha, just kidding. I will be seriously impressed! Well there’s more detail about everything else than actual whale hunting so i think you should be okay. I haven’t read Catcher In The Rye so I’m interested to see what you thought of it. It’s actually on my to read list (which is never ending so whether i actually get around to it who on earth knows).
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