Book Review!

Since my computer is kaput, I've been catching up on some of the books I've been meaning to read!

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick

This book is all kinds of awesome. It's hard to write a non-fiction book that sings like a page-turner, but Philbrick did it. His prose reminds me of The Devil in the White City, which is another non-fiction book I highly recommend.

This story is all about the Essex a whaleship out of Nantucket who was sunk by an angry sperm whale. Herman Melville used many of the stories about the Essex for Moby Dick and the story became so famous that it's still one of the most popular sea tales.

It's difficult for me to sum up how exciting this book was to read. I finished it in one day because I just couldn't stop reading. I woke up in the middle of the night just so I could read the end! It's a wonderful story written almost perfectly -- it's one of my favorite reads this summer. Philbrick includes one of his sources as an Appendix in the back of his book, which is a fascinating read all in itself. It's a well-researched, rollicking good time! 4.5/5: Shanti!