Moby Dick - the best book ever written? Maybe. Gnostic? Who can say? You find those same dualities in most good writing surely? Shame it hasn't yielded anything near a good film version though. And there is a truly dreadful sci-fi sequel called The Wind Whales of Ishmael...

I agree the Bible is mostly pretty turgid (I much prefer the Psalms in Common Prayer) and could do with serious editing but the Gnostic stuff is much worse; it's all mad-horse stuff, sub-Lovecraftian psuedo mythos with even less insights into the human condition from which it springs like sixth-form schlock. I do like Lovecraft though, mostly because his ideas fight with his inability to write resulting in the mantra-like qualities that make something like At The Mountains of Madness an astonishing read even to this day. Poe is a clever humourist, however so laboured at times (i.e. The Devil in the Belfy) but a hoot anyway, as is M R James, who is writing for a good voice (Michael Hordern does it wonders) & comic effect but still manages to do the job of putting the wind up.

My Bible was always The Pattern Under the Plough or The Leaping Hare; I always buy the Viz Christmas Special and The Broons / Oor Wullie restrospectives featuring the artwork of Dudley D. Watkins which I love dearly; I love the art books of Vic Reeves and Edward Gorey....