Thursday May 01, 2008 at 16:14
“If you had 24 hours to live, a room with four walls, a chair and no door, and your choice of book with which to spend those last 24 hours, what would that book be?”
— Distorte, Is that blogging?
I’m gonna go with Moby Dick. Of my five or so favorite books, that’s the only one that’s long enough that it would take me most of the day to get through it and not so long that I wouldn’t be able to finish (I’m looking at you, Infinite Jest!—although that would at least offer some laughs for my final day). Melville offers plenty of morbidity, which might be helpful in terms of thinking about putting my life in perspective. But there’s also enough adventure to get my mind out of the predicament for a stretch of time. Really, though, what always staggers me about that book is its variety—a postmodern novel more than 100 years ahead of its time. Always something to learn when reading it.
