Exceptional Books discussion

I'm reading Billy Budd. To all the writers out there: t Melville wrote this American classic at the end of life, left it unfinished, died, even had the New York Times spell his name wrong in his obituary. It was about 40 years after his death that the manuscript for Billy Budd was found. I'm teaching Billy Budd this semester and remembering how much I like Melville (though don't make me teach Moby Dick). Does anyone out there read Melville for fun? One of my favorites of Melville is Benito Cereno... though I've taught that novella too. Would I chose to read Melville if I didn't teach him?

I don't know about Billy Budd, but I read about a 100 pages of Moby Dick and enjoyed it very much. I think it was when I was in grade 4 or 5, but, anyway, it was good. I plan on reading it again, though, and this time the whole novel.