"Call me Ishmael", starts out this long, long book.
(In Genesis an angel prophesied that Ishmael "will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.")
Moby-Dick, or The Whale, by Herman Melville (TPB, 1978, $2.50)
Nice copy, with an introduction and annotations by Charles Feidelson, Jr. I read this book when I was a teenager, and if I remember correctly, ANY annotations would have been very helpful. There are also maps and diagrams of the parts of a ship, which would have been helpful back then too.
Beware, this book was written in 1851, which means during the Victorian Age, which means to expect a lot of preaching in between action. (Can you tell it wasn't my favorite book?) Still, it is a classic, and Melville even lived in Albany for awhile, making it local, sort of.
Look for it in the classics section.
