Obama's favorite book? Really?

I am currently reading Moby Dick. After Michelle and I finished the Harry Potter series, Moby Dick was next on the list. The reason I wanted to read it is because it President Obama's favorite book. Don't worry, I'm not trying to do everything he does or be just like him; I just figured it would be a good book if it is our president's favorite. Well...what can i say...the book is sloooow...and loooong. It is very hard to get through. I don't think there could be a bigger contrast between two books that there is between Harry Potter and Moby Dick. The book goes on and on about stuff that i feel like it didn't even need to be mentioned. Very thorough style. Very thick, hard to get through. I recently finished a chapter called 'The Sermon.' It was about a preacher's sermon. The preacher talked a lot about Jonah and his story from the Old Testament. Even though the book is slow, and honstly I am not into it at all so far, I did actually feel moved by the parts of the preacher's sermon. So far i could summarize the book in a couple sentences: Ishmael meets and makes an unlikely friend in Queequeg the canibal (literally). They meander through a port city over the weekend and do things like go to a sermon. Its rough so far, i read it to help me fall asleep. This is not how i envisioned the book. I thought it would be the next best thing other than actually sailing in person. There are a few insightful things here and there, and a lot of philosophical inward-reflection narrative stuff that is interesting...but how Obama even got through the book is beyond me. It must have special significance to him in some way. I'm not sure if i will finish it. I'm ready for some action out on the ocean with the whale and stuff. Has anybody out there actually read the unabridged book from cover to cover? Was it worth it? One thing i will say though is that it is kind of like going back in time when you read a book over 150 years old and see how different they talked and the vocabulary they used (many words I have not only no idea what they mean but have never even heard of before). Its also like you are there in New England during that time and are learning what life was like. Apparently it was not uncommon for a man to share a bed with another man at a hotel if there was not any rooms or beds left. Weird little things like that are interesting.