(Photo by Mariana Dale-KJZZ)

Beauregard said when he initially read the book in high school, he didn't get it. "I thought there was an awful lot of talk about rope and harpoons and how much cheese you put on the boat."

Herman Melville’s "Moby-Dick" is one of the most widely-read classic novels in the U.S. Maybe it was assigned to you in high school or you picked it up later.

In his new novel, "The Whale: A Love Story," Tucson author Mark Beauregard explores the struggles Melville was having completing "Moby-Dick" and how his intimate friendship with fellow writer Nathaniel Hawthorne inspired him.

Beauregard will be at Tucson's Antigone bookstore on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016.