Call Me Ishmael revolutionized the way we talk about books when it launched in the summer of 2014. The brainchild of Logan Smalley and Stephanie Kent, the website features a number where you can “call ...

It was a long flight, and one woman had brought Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese to occupy herself. When she got to the book’s saddest passage, she started sobbing. “I mean complete, shameless, ...

“Call me Ishmael,” declares one of the most famous opening sentences in Western literature. But what if the narrator of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” was actually asking you to call him? That was the ...

“What if Ishmael had a cellphone?” Yes, that Ishmael — the one from Moby Dick. It was a question that lit-lover Logan Smalley and a few of his colleagues came across while discussing (okay, tipsy ...

The Red & Black is a 501c3 nonprofit. Please consider a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter. Cancel anytime. One night in 2014, friends Stephanie Kent and Logan Smalley sat in a literary bar ...

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but what about its opening line? A memorable first sentence can set the tone for an entire book, hooking readers and providing fodder for close reading ...

“Call me Ishmael” is pretty universally regarded as one of the best opening lines in literature. It’s unlikely that the first three words of “Moby Dick” inspired these other “call me” titles and ...