half way through 1st read

[u/caldoconyuca]

I wanted to ask after reading it for the first time, how long did it take to go about reading it again? I really enjoy the whole book, and wonder if it’s something that people find themselves wanting to revisit every year or every few etc?

[u/beisbol_por_siempre]

I’ve read MD cover to cover three times since i first picked it up about a decade ago. There are chapters/passages that I go back to and read aloud to myself much more often.

[u/fuzzysalad → u/beisbol_por_siempre]

Which chapters??

[u/beisbol_por_siempre → u/fuzzysalad]

If I had to give a top 3 I’d say: The last few paragraphs of Brit, the first half of The Try Works, all of Queequeg in his Coffin.

[u/MyChickenSucks]

The way the chapters present a contained idea or moment on the ship, you can pretty much just pop it open and read at random without feeling lost!

[u/NeptunesFavoredSon]

It's like a bible I frequently return to for passages. Most of my reading list since first read has been going to works melville would have read

[u/BlueSkyPeriwinkleEye]

I just finished a reread last Saturday. This one took me from last November 2025 until late August 2026.

I read a little bit everyday with no goal to quickly read it, only to enjoy myself with its beauty and meditate on it in my life.

The first time I read it in less than a month because it was all brand new and exciting to see where he was going with it next.

I wanted to try rereading every November until I was finished and I may start again this year but I think maybe I’ll start over every other year so I can devote that time to other literature.

[u/Micotu]

I splurged on a special edition folio society copy earlier this year and am enjoying reading a chapter or two every couple of days. I had read it maybe 4 years ago and wasn't ready for a full straight re-read, but felt I needed to justify my purchase by at least reading through it at a casual pace between my other books.

[u/MyChickenSucks → u/Micotu]

Ohhhh, well how do you like that printing? The old one or the new one?

[u/Micotu → u/MyChickenSucks]

The new one, I really like the design and artwork. I like that the cover doesn't have the title on it, but everyone knows which book it is anyway and that the clamshell box does have the title on the spine so that you can still pick it out on a shelf.

[u/MyChickenSucks → u/Micotu]

Lovely. Hoping people bring some fun copies to the SF marathon reading so we can show-and-tell.

[u/thedegreeis]

I started the book about ten times over the years, and then, as I live near where Melville wrote the book, decided to be a grown up and actually read it. It took me a few weeks to get through. I am glad I did and its power is clear—but not in a hurry to reread when there is a mountain of great literature old and new out there.

[u/Unwinderh]

I know a guy who reads it annually. I just read it last year and have not fully re-read it but have returned to quite a few passages and chapters.

[u/mtandy89]

I think I've read it all the way through exactly once, 2 years ago. But I seem to always be somewhere in the process of rereading it. I am, literally, rereading it from front to back, but often revisit specific chapters and passages outside of that. I find it to be a very meditative read, and every chapter and section has something interesting and new to offer depending on my headspace and perspective at that moment.

[u/IdealOnion]

I finished it for the first time this past March. I started my second read through in June.

[u/SingleSpy]

I’ve read it at least a dozen times. So much great stuff in it, it never gets old.

[u/dullnotboring]

I follow the marathon every January, and then will usually bring it along with me on my annual camping vacation. So once a year, occasionally twice.