Subject: BREAKING NEWS - Cleveland Book Club Announces August Selection
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In a surprise move Wednesday evening the Cleveland
Area Book Club unanimously elected "Moby Dick" as their next reading
selection. The book club will read the first half of Melville's
masterpiece in time for a meeting on the evening of Wednesday, August
25th.
"I can't wait to dive into this great work of American literature,"
club attendee Gwyn Hughes told reporters. "I expect to stay up most of
tonight if I can find a used copy at Mac's Backs on my way home," Ms.
Hughes added, referring to a popular book shop in suburban Cleveland
Heights.
Club member Jason Trump cited the ease of availability as one reason
for the unexpected selection. "What library or used book store doesn.t
have several dusty copies of Moby Dick?" he asked rhetorically. "When
Matt [Southworth] told me that the entire text was also available for
free online through Project Gutenberg, that really sealed the deal."
Mr. Southworth is another organizer of the club.
Noting the length of the work, the club has elected to only require
its members to complete the first half for the month of August, with a
discussion on the second half to follow in September. An approximate
halfway point would be the completion of Chapter 61, "Stubb Kills a
Whale", according to anonymous club sources.
The book club is composed primarily of medical students and
professionals. In attendance last night were five members, although
they allege some meetings can exceed 10 attendees. One of last night's
attendees refused to give her last name to reporters, responding to
requests by spitting and declaring "You'd better watch out or I'll sue
you in a year or two!"
Still to be decided is the location and exact time of the next
meeting. "Our last few meetings have been at the University Circle
Arabica," said founding member Anne Hyson. [Ms. Hyson is married to
Mr. Southworth.] "Their iced mochas are fantastic, but there was a
folk singer carrying on for the latter half of our meeting. I'd be
open to finding a new venue."
The entire text of "Moby Dick" can be found online at
http://www.gutenberg.net/etext01/moby10b.txt . This is provided by
Project Gutenberg, a shadowy online organization with the stated goal
"to make information, books and other materials available to the
general public in forms a vast majority of the computers, programs and
people can easily read, use, quote, and search."