Welcome to Litsy!

I first read the Grossman translation when it was released in 2003. I remember it distinctly because it was the most difficult book I had ever read up to that point, but I couldn‘t recall much about the story. Revisiting it on Audible, I have to say Don Quixote is made to be listened to. It‘s such a delight; I found myself smiling almost the whole time. Yes, it‘s long-winded but considering it‘s over 400 years old, it holds up surprisingly well.

I liked the plot but I struggled to get through this just because of the style of the dialogue. I was falling asleep. Was it because I went back to work this week? Possibly. The weird thing is, I feel like this book could actually be redone in modern times about someone who loses their mind to media. I don‘t think I‘d re-read it, but I can‘t say that I didn‘t enjoy parts of it. Also yes, the reason I bought this for $2 was because it was $2.

Anyone done this before? My book friend and I gifted it to each other - it‘s called the Ultimate Reading Challenge, and there‘s a little reward for every prompt you fulfill. We won‘t read the same books, but we‘re both starting with “read a book that‘s been sitting in your shelf, unread, for more than a year.” Embarrassed to say I had a good handful of options, but I‘m going to read Don Quixote!

#manicmonday #letterQ @CBee @Librariana

📚 Don Quixote
✍️ Julia Quinn (for giving us Bridgerton the TV show!)
🍿 Queen of the Damned; Quantum Leap
🎤 Queen Latifah
🎶 Q.U.E.E.N - Janelle Monáe

#manicmonday #letterQ

📙Don Quixote
✍🏼 Anna Quindlen
📺The Queens Gambit
🎤QUEEN 👑 & QUEEN LATIFA
🎵🎶🎵 Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars By Queen Latifa

Currently reading these.
📖 Don Quixote is so long. I am still only 46% through it.
📖 57% through Napoleon Hill's Gold Rules.

Wanting to finish these before the end of the month in between other reads.

Started this one a week or 2 ago. Still so much to go.

Superbly cool walking the streets of de Cervantes! So many statues and places are dedicated to him. He also has a street named after him, and this is the house where he lived and died.

Another chunkster challenger crossed the finish line! Congratulations, Shawna! This one is still on my “to-be-tackled“ list.

#ChunksterChallenge2022
@chaoticmissadventures

Some months are just like that.

No bingos, but a fabulous vacation! I read a lot of things that there were not enough Free spaces for.

@thearomaofbooks #bookspinbingo

#chuncksterchallenge2022
@Amiable

With the help of 2,000 miles in the car last week I was able to finish Don Quixote with a mixture of listening and reading.

It wasn't my favorite classic ever and the last 200 pages were a bit of a struggle. But ✔️ made it to the end.
(Litsy has way too many options for tagging this book, it is very confusing, my copy is 891 pgs)

One week road tripping and I got through this #chunkster
It kept me entertained for the most part. But I admit I got bored towards the end. Not sure I would have finished it if I was reading it. There was a repetitiveness that makes me think 1-200 pages could have been cut.
There is a special humor throughout and it makes sense that this has continued to be a beloved classic.

Heading to San Francisco for a week of museum hopping hoping I am bringing enough to read!

#alphabetgame #letterq @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A bit of a stretch maybe on Q but I am going to start this one for the first time next week! Planning a mixture of reading and listening since I am road tripping!

…and, I‘m done! This took me a month longer than what I‘d planned. It‘s laugh-out-loud-funny, but also incredibly sad. So happy I can finally check this classic off the list!

#chunksterchallenge2022
@Amiable

I am finally in the home stretch of this chunkster! Some parts are laugh-out-loud funny, but I think it‘s about 300 pages too long.

#chunksterchallenge2022
@Amiable

Just a little reminder @ravenlee for some Quixot-ivation 😉😸

#pickleschallenge

Taking pictures of my current books instead of reading them #fun

#DonQuixote #MiguelDeCervantesSaavedra #book #books #bookworm #bookworms #bookwormlife #bookwormproblem #bookwormproblems #bookworld #bookword #epicreads #bookend #bookends #bookending #bookendings #bookedit #bookedits #bookeditor #bookeditors #bookrecommendation #bookrecommendations #recommendation #recommendations #bookreport #bookreports #bookreview #Classics #Fiction #Literature #SpanishLiterature #Adventure #Novels #HistoricalFiction 💙💙💙💙

#BookMoods I loved this #600+Pages book!
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I‘m FINALLY starting my #PicklesChallenge - and #DannyBoy is unimpressed. This is my third or fourth try with DQ, not counting my Spanish IV assignments that sparked my interest in the first place (a million years ago). I‘m hoping that reading small sections frequently, instead of diving in and trying to read straight through, will be the ticket.

Chapters 27-30 of Don Quixote were my #bookspin for May! After a two-month journey, I finally conquered this chunkster. I actually really enjoyed it. Sancho and Don Quixote are endearing (and bonkers) 😆 While there were some dense chapters that I didn't enjoy as much, I still really liked the book and am glad I read it!

My next read is Poldark (not a fan of the show tie-in cover, but it was, oddly, the only copy I could find.)

@TheAromaofBooks

To live a fool and die a sage.
#DonQuixote #MiguelDeCervantesSaavedra #lastline #closingline #book #books #bookcase #bookcases #bookcover #bookcovers #bookcoverdesign #bookcoverdesigner #bookclub #bookclubs #bookvibe #bookvibes #bookvsfilm #bookvsmovie #bookbag #bookbags #bookbinding #bookbeau #bookblog #bookblogger #bookbackpack #bookbackpacks #booknerd #booknerds #booknerdsunite #booknerdy #nerd #Classics #Fiction #Literature #Adventure 💗💗💗💗

When I sat down to keep reading Part Two of DQ, I remembered that chapters 43-49 of Part One were my April #bookspin and I never posted my review! This book is funny/odd and absolutely unlike anything I've ever read 😆 I have been enjoying it, and I'm going to feel *very* accomplished when I've finished it!

@TheAromaofBooks

Well, it's official! Don Quixote is taking over my #bookspin list for the second and final month 😂 It's worked really well to break it up into chapters, so I decided to use the same method for Part Two. Then I can finally say that I've conquered this classic!

@TheAromaofBooks

Great job sticking it out to the end, Linda! That's how we wrestle a chunkster to the ground in the Chunkster Challenge Crew. :)

#ChunksterChallenge2022
@Lcsmcat

I finally finished this year‘s #chunksterchallenge! And at times it was a slog, but I‘m glad I stuck with it. I didn‘t find it as funny as many do, but I‘m not a 3 Stooges fan, and there was a lot of that vibe. Best bits were Sancho Panza‘s proverbs and Cervantes‘ digs at other authors. @Amiable

Time for another chunkster!! Starting this beauty today with @GinaKButler .

#chunksterchallenge2022

Starting my second #chunksterchallenge2022 book today with @Kelly326

@Amiable

I can't believe it's already time for April's #bookspin list!! I'm excited to start these reads next month 😊 As always, thanks for hosting, @TheAromaofBooks

Much funnier and enjoyable than I remember it being when I read it at university 40+ years ago, which include again proves the importance of picking the right translation. This was the Edith Grossman one and it was excellent.

#chunksterchallenge

#DonQuixote #MiguelDeCervantesSaavedra #Classic #Fiction #Literature #SpanishLiterature #Adventure #HistoricalFiction #Novel #Spain #Humor #ClassicLiterature #book #books #bookart #bookartist #bookattitude #bookaholic #bookaholics #bookshelf #bookshelves #bookshelfie #bookshelfies #shelfie #shelfies #bookstack #bookstacks #stack #stacks #bookstore #bookshop #bookshopper #bookshopping #booksale #bookdesign #bookdesigner #bookdeal #bookdeals 💙💙💙

After way too much “peopling” at a retreat for our elected officials, I‘m holed up in my hotel room with TheDon. Made it to part 2! #chunksterchallenge @Amiable

This book was weirder than I expected. I had heard about the whole “tilting at windmills“ thing, so I figured the main character became disturbed throughout the story. I was surprised to learn that he was basically delusional from the start.

I read it throughout January, following Don Quixote & his squire Sancho Panza through their adventures, trials, & tribulations, & it did feel like a journey. This was unlike what I thought it would be: both more philosophical & more puerile than I expected! I laughed out loud & cringed; was bored, entertained, & edified, & was never disinterested. Can't sum it up: but if I was to try, a book about knowing oneself through conversation with others.

"Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing" #OnThisDay in 1605 the first book of Don Quixote was published. Book two came ten years later. #HistoryGetsLIT

Marcela is my favorite character so far. A very modern miss for a book so old! I like her even more than I like Sancho @batsy #chunksterchallenge2022 @Amiable

Thank you for the tag @ravenlee and sorry I'm a day late 🙂

1) My sort of tentative goals are to read more of the classics I've had on my TBR for a very long time, & to read more nonfiction. History, philosophy, etc. ALL OF THE BOOKS! Sorry, I mean tentative but realistic goals 😆

2) Patience (an eternal life lesson)

3) Reading this slowly & enjoying the humour & thinking underlying the wild misadventures.

#ThoughtfulThursday @MoonWitch94

Could this be the original cliffhanger? I‘ve finished Part 1 (at 9% according to my Kindle) of my #chunksterchallenge book. @Amiable @batsy

My January TBR includes #shakespearereadalong, #whartonbuddyread, #chunksterchallenge, #authoramonth, and #bookspin. I always bite off a lot in January. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This has started well 😅

The novel articulated for me what idealism means (basically it isn‘t grounded by hopes of achieving a better tomorrow, but is a lasting state of being):

To lead an enjoyable, worthwhile life, your goals must be loose but rooted in principle & w/o hope of consummation. Accepting other people‘s limited perception of you leads to humiliation & failure.

So basically, let your horse‘s meandering guide you & may your Dulcinea never manifest.

9 months later (tabs mark the months), we‘re finished! It‘s kinda AWEsome that a 400 y/o book can still make you LOL, & that is no small value. It is inimitable, & I‘m stuck by how pale adaptations are compared to the original. ⚔️🛡

I also found it too long and tedious at many times. So many subplots! So many “most beautiful maidens between the ages of 13-18” & their romantic drama! To read it is a sort of endurance test, but that‘s not bad.

I can‘t be sure, but Wishbone‘s episode “The Impawssible Dream” may have been my introduction to DQ. This was a fun half hour adaptation of the first part, utilizing some shortcuts made by the musical but with a much more faithful version of Sancho Panza (pictured 😆). I thought the blending of literature and a kid‘s life was well done, and such a great way to make history/literature accessible and enjoyable.

#FallTreasures I don't read many books #Over500Pages, but I loved this one!
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Confirmed my disinterest w/the show (no fault of the theater or actors, I just don‘t “really like it”). It distills the 1st part & darkens some elements, oversimplifies others. What is done to Sancho Panza is a crime, esp here, where he‘s played as a queeny joke. Aldonza carries the emotional arc (Gisela Adisa: Wow 🤩) but despite an inspiring anthem the show is ultimately cynical: Life is so unbearable we must escape into delusion to endure.

Penultimate discussion on Don Q with Mom this afternoon (+manchego & sparkling Spanish wine). My thought: Is part 1 the more famous because the “impossible dream” is more palatable than realizing the apex of your dreams BUT it‘s all a farce and everyone‘s laughing at you behind your back? There‘s a cynicism to the second half that is more humiliating for Don Q and SP, even as they display more intelligence and wisdom than in Part 1.

Although I feel a little guilty stopping after the first third of the translation, Smollett‘s Quixote bordered on being a slog. I didn‘t want to dislike the novel before I had to chance to finish it. Granted that may still end up being the case, but I‘m hoping my experience will be different with a newer translation (starting Lathrop today). Once more to the village of La Mancha…