Fall Books to Read Before the Movies Come Out
The
newest crop of blockbusters is headed our way—and there's just enough
time left to catch up on the literary originals.
By Mark Athitakis
8 of 8
In the Heart of the Sea
By Nathaniel Philbrick
302 pages;
Penguin Books
If you
read
Moby Dick wishing Herman Melville would
cut to the chase, well, here's the chase: Nathaniel Philbrick's 2000 National
Book Award-winning book tells the story of the crew of the Essex, whose
perilous 1820 journey inspired the climactic chapters of the novel. Ron Howard
has turned the book into a seafaring epic starring a stone-face and muscular
Chris Hemsworth—which may be as irresistible as a
holiday
movie without the aliens or spacecraft gets (look for it December 11).
Philbrick, however, manages both to capture the drama of the ill-fated Essex
and to reveal the peculiar—and slightly insane—culture of
Nantucket whalers that inspired such wild journeys in the first place.
— Mark Athitakis
Published 10/05/2015