There's whales! There's burning islands! There's cannibalism and urine drinking! Why you should read (and possibly watch) in the Heart of the Sea

I used to be part of a book club. It was pretty fun but it ended up turning into a drink wine and eat cheese club. Also fun but we slowly stopped reading books.

One of my favorite books we read was In the Heart of the Sea. It's the true story of the Whaleship Essex. This story is what inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick.

It's been a while since I've read the book but let me tell you what I remember.

The ship was a whaling ship (obviously) from Nantucket. Whale blubber and oil was big business back in the early 1800s. The book gives you some history about the whaling industry and also very vividly describes what it's like harvesting whale blubber. It's smelly and disgusting and do not read this book while eating.

While out looking for whales the ship is attacked by a giant white whale. This whale was pissed. I mean he didn't just run into it like oops, sorry about that. This was premeditated boat destroying. He hit the boat once and then swam back a bit so he could come at it again at full speed.

Pissed off whale vs. boat. Guess who won.

The ship is destroyed. The whale swims off like "my work here is done boys". The crew had to abandon the ship and try to survive in three small whale boats.

There's storms, there's urine drinking, cannibalism and an island gets burned down by mistake because of a prank. OOPS. Not all in that order but it all happens. I don't think I'm ruining anything by telling you not everyone dies. I mean the story couldn't have been told if everyone just disappeared at sea.

If you're into history and/or really interesting survival stories I highly recommend the book. I have not seen the movie yet but it stars Chris Hemsworth as first mate Owen Chase so at least there's eye candy. There's also whales if they're more you thing thing.

Totally looks just like the real Owen Chase!

The resemblance is uncanny.

How can my life be boring when I have so much to tell you about seasonal allergies and kale?

Derek had mentioned that I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do. He suggested that maybe my life has been boring. To prove him wrong I'm writing this very excited blog post about allergies and kale. 

So I think everyone around this neck of the woods is suffering from spring allergies right now. I have so much antihistamine coursing through my veins I shouldn't be able to sneeze for years. If the weather would just get warmer and the trees would actually get their leaves I think I'd be doing much better.

Now let's move on to exciting topic number 2. KALE. I'm really into it right now. I'm trying to eat more greens so I've been shoving baby kale into my sandwiches. Baby kale seems to not be as bitter. I'm known at work for eating my veggies. What can I say, I like them but still feel like I should eat more considering the fruits I can eat are limited and I can't take a multivitamin.

I started watching the White Queen on Amazon Prime. I'm a big fan of anything remotely Tudor related and I read the book years ago. I've only seen one episode so far but it's not bad. Edward IV was like listen everyone I got married in secret and people were all like but she's mid-ranked and not even anyone remotely important and her first husband was on the other king's team and Edward was like I DON'T CARE. These would be Henry VIII's grandparents. You really should read about that time period because it is crazy! This would be the War of the Roses that I'm referring to.

This is like some Lifetime level drama people but it actually happened and Tori Spelling is nowhere to be seen (thank God).

Well that's enough excitement for one blog post. Go eat some kale or something.