Topic: Herman Melville

Top Picks: 'Otello' the opera, candid president photos, and more

Amoeba Music digitizes its record collection, PowerMobyDick.com helps you decode Melville's text, and more top picks.

Starbucks $1 reusable cups: Curb trash, get a discount (+video)

Starbucks $1 reusable cups: Starbucks will introduce $1 reusable plastic cups at its cafes starting Thursday. Starbucks already gives customers a 10-cent discount for using reusable cups for refills, but it hopes the $1 plastic cups will increase the habit and reduce trash. 

Denis Lavant gives an extraordinary shape-shifting performance in 'Holy Motors'

Lavant wows as a man who impersonates 11 different people in the course of a day.

Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop

As Herman Melville books go, 'Moby Dick' is widely considered to be his magnum opus. But early reviews trashed the book. Why did the literary world change its mind?

Culture Cafe Herman Melville book 'Moby-Dick' on screen stretches from Gregory Peck to 'Futurama'

The Herman Melville book 'Moby-Dick' has been parodied on TV and several directors have tried to capture the classic novel on film, though no movie version has quite attained classic status.

Horizons Herman Melville books: Remembering the author of 'Moby Dick'

Google today honors Herman Melville books, such as his novel 'Moby Dick,' which was published 161 years ago today.

Herman Melville's "Moby Dick": 10 most memorable lines

Here are 10 of the lines most closely associated with Herman Melville's masterpiece "Moby Dick".

A literary road trip through New England

Take a trip through historic New England and visit the homesteads of famous literary figures. 

Herman Melville: 10 quotes on his birthday

Herman Melville, author of the acclaimed masterpiece, "Moby-Dick" lived a life that included both much adventure and much disappointment. Here are 10 memorable quotes from the great author.

Horizons Everything you need to know about new iPhone rumors. Really, everything.

Have you heard about the new iPhone? Rumor has it the iPhone 5 will debut in August. No, September. No, October.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: 10 quotes on his birthday

Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered one of the fathers of the American literary cannon. Here are 10 memorable quotes to commemorate his July 4 birthday. 

Maurice Sendak with the Wild Things, now (+video)

The beloved children's book author passed away at 83 after suffering a stroke.

Valentine's Day: 10 literary lessons in love

From 'Much Ado About Loving' by Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly, 10 lessons in love from literary classics.

Reader recommendation: Moby-Dick

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

Back to school: Doing right by the 'strivers'

In all the attention that is being paid to improving basic skills in American schools, the best and brightest students are too often overlooked. That's bad for them -- and worse for us.

A book that brought God closer

As The King James translation of the Bible marks its 400th anniversary, its deep influence and prominence are slipping.

3 more 2010 novels that you don't want to miss

Two private investigators are forced to deal with the aftermath of a case that has haunted them for more than a decade, Herman Melville sets sail, and an Israeli mother goes for a very long walk in this month’s roundup of new fiction.

Energy's checkered past and elusive future

Every energy source is a Faustian bargain. We trade comfort and convenience for deforestation, soot, radioactive waste, oil spills. But perhaps the most unsettling resource we tapped to light our homes was the one that the petroleum age displaced: the slaughter of whales for their oil.

Channeling my inner Hemingway – or not

'I Write Like,' a hot new website, purports to tell visitors which bestselling authors' work their prose most resembles.

School-bus-sized prehistoric sperm whale actually ate other whales

A sperm whale that measured up to 59 feet long and lived some 12 million to 13 million years ago used to hunt smaller whales. The species is named for Herman Melville, author of 'Moby-Dick.'

BP oil spill: What we're learning about humans and the sea

For centuries, we have treated the sea as limitless resource and a bottomless dump. The BP oil spill may change that.

Top Picks: Carole King and James Taylor, 'Disgrace,' 'Obsessive Consumption,' and more recommendations

Carole King and James Taylor collaborate on new CD, postapartheid tale of 'Disgrace' now on DVD, an entertaining look at consumer culture in 'Obsessive Consumption,' and more top picks.

The Whale

A tender look at a (mostly) gentle giant.

Classic book review: Ahab's Wife

Using a stray reference in "Moby Dick," a novelist creates the story of Ahab's wife.

The novel by tweet