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Completed	19 May 2009
Title	The Sea Wolf
Author	Jack London
Published	1904
Quote	"I must say that I was fascinated by the perfect lines of Wolf Larsen's figure and by what I may term the terrible beauty of it. I had noted the men in the forecastle. Powerfully muscled though some of them were, there had been something wrong with all of them, an insufficient development here, an undue development there, a twist of a crook that destroyed symmetry, legs too short or too long, or too much sinew or bone exposed, or too little. Oofty-Oofty had been the only one whose lines were at all pleasing, while, insofar as they pleased, that far had they been what I should call feminine. "But Wolf Larsen was the man type, the masculine, and almost a god in his perfectness. As he moved about or raised his arms, the great muscles leaped and moved under the satiny skin. I have forgotten to say that the bronze ended with his face. His body, thanks to his Scandinavian stock, was fair as the fairest woman's. I remember his putting his hand up to feel of the wound on his head and my watching the biceps move like a living thing under its white sheath. It was the biceps that had nearly crushed out my life once, that I had seen strike so many killing blows. I could not take my eyes from him. I stood motionless, a roll of antiseptic cotton in my hand unwinding and spilling itself down to the floor. "He noticed me, and I became conscious that I was staring at him. "'God made you well,' I said."
Review	Set in the early 1890s, this is the story of Humphrey Van Weyden, a little sissy of a man, who's unfortunately aboard the Martinez, the day it capsizes in San Francisco Bay. Most of the passengers of the Martinez either drown or get scooped up by rescue boats. But ol' Hump gets lost in the fog and floats along, until Captain Wolf Larsen and his crew pluck him out of the cold water. Of course Hump immediately insists on being returned to San Fran. But Wolf will not hear of it. Wolf and his crew are destined for the seal hunting grounds en route to Japan. And Hump is a welcomed hand. Posh Hump offers Wolf $1000 to return him to shore. A thousand dollars! That's a lot of money NOW, let alone a hundred years ago! But Wolf says no, he needs another hand aboard. He needs Hump. "This will be the making of you," says Wolf. And it was. Hump grows as a person aboard the Ghost. He finally becomes interesting. This is an interesting book. Well worth the read. The story kept me going, and more importantly, I just love Jack London. I love the way he writes. What's there not to like? The vivid description, the constant adventure, his articulation?

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