Welcome to Litsy!

March reading! A couple of these I started but didn't finish yet, but less than 9 on here looked terrible. I did complete the entire tome of Don Quixote finally, which makes it 3 reads (once before streaming it, once on stream, and once editing the stream videos...). Invitation to the dance was fun but not as good or well researched as Tamara Allen's other books. And also, the anticapitalist book is very accessible and you should go read it.

It took me three weeks to finish it, but c‘mon, at over 900 pages, not bad for a slow reader like myself. And I gotta say I get it now why this book is considered such a big deal in the western canon. Cervantes was using postmodern techniques in the 17th century, for chrissakes! Unbelievable. No review I could write would do it justice. All I can say is, if you haven‘t read it yet, do yourself a favor and crack it open. You won‘t regret it.

Don Quixote is #OffMyShelf for the chunkster prompt 🎉 I pushed through to finished the last 200 pages today.

While I appreciate this novel's historical literary significance, I found I lost steam with the continuous monotony of the ludicrous conduct.

It‘s my first #chunksterchallenge2025 book 🎉

Just started this bigun and am already loving it. Going to be quite a ride. #donquixote

Spent some time finishing the reading for this month‘s section of From the Front Porch‘s ‘Conquer a Classic‘ and loved every minute of it. So far, Don Quixote is cracking me up. Can‘t wait to hear the discussion at the end of the month 🤩

The first chunkster for the #ChunksterChallenge2025 that I‘m tackling is Don Quixote. The paperback edition I‘m reading has 940 pages. I failed to read it last year, so I added it to my #2025OffMyShelf reading challenge. I started it today & read 103 pages.

If/when I finish this one, I plan to tackle the bitsy chunkster The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle next.

Thanks @Amiable for hosting!

What more could I say that Cervantes didn‘t? I decided to read this after loving Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene and I‘m so happy to have read both.

I couldn't decide which one to share, so I'm sharing 2. My mom gifted me this copy of Don Quixote, which was gifted to her by my grandfather. I love his inscription: It is quintessentially him. 💙

#aboutabook #giftedtoyou

My judgement is returned clear and undisturbed and that cloud of ignorance is now removed, which the continual reading of those damnable books of knight-errantry had cast over my understanding..... My life has got me the character of a madman, I may deserve a better at my death!

Good morning my brilliant Littens! In the process of continuing to clear out my grandparents‘ things, my father found beautiful little statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. They were apparently purchased in Spain around 50 years ago.

Confession time, I actually haven‘t read Don Quixote, so I was wondering if someone here would know why the book Quixote is standing on has an X carved into it, and Sancho‘s has an I?

3rd day of my summer break and already set for some quality reading time. #books

There are more #dots on the back. #coverlove

The irony.. ?

I've been slowly reading this graphic along with the book. It's a nice way to recap via illustrations. It is wild to me that the most memorable part of Don Quixote (based on comments and discussions I've seen so far) are the windmill "giants" in the first 10% of the book.That just tells me most people never read the whole thing, because it's completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of this tome.

#casuallyqueer quips in #classics

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView (thanks for the tag! 😘 You, too @The_Penniless_Author! 🤩)
1. Cursive (it's a dying art), how to do your taxes/manage money, time management, how to be social (especially after the Covid years), how to live without your damn phone for 5 seconds, the value in failing, thinking of others before yourself, living without drama every nano-second ...
2. DON QUIXOTE.

Play? @AmyG @Catiewithac @TheLudicReader @TheBookHippie

And was a bugbear in men‘s eyes;
But had the fortune in his age
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 #Classics #Fiction #Literature #SpanishLiterature #Adventure #HistoricalFiction #Novels #Spain 💜💜💜

This quote made me laugh, nod my head, and think of Don Quixote.😂 I hurried to finish this at the beginning of January, but have definitely not hurried in posting a review.🤦🏻‍♀️

I first read Don Quixote in grad school & thought it was fascinating: Cervantes uses very modern/postmodern techniques & themes—in a 16th-century text! I also remember it being hilarious. When I saw it on @TheAromaofBooks #RandomClassic list, I was in for a re-read.⤵️

Well! It will be weird to eat breakfast without don Quixote's company tomorrow, as he has been my steadfast companion for that meal since the beginning of November! I didn't exactly enjoy this one, but I'm glad to have read it. I definitely preferred Vol. 1 where more of DQ's adventures were from his own imagination than Vol. 2 where it just felt like everyone was making fun of him constantly. In the end, I liked DQ himself and that's what got ⬇

Wow…just wow. I‘m proud of myself for completing this, and thanks to @TheAromaofBooks of leading us through this #RandomClassic . I feel so sad for Don Quixote and the variety of tricks played on him in his adventures. There is also quite a lot of superfluous words in the text, making it at times a bit of a bog to wade through. Yet, I liked this. Don Quixote remained a chivalrous “knight” on his many escapades, and his kindness is his strength.

“…this painter reminds me of Orbaneja, from Ubeda, because when they asked him what he was painting, he‘d answer: ‘Whatever comes out,‘ so if by chance he painted a rooster, he‘d write underneath it: ‘This is a rooster,‘ so no-one would think it was a fox.”

Follow Orbaneja of Ubeda for more art tips. 😂

#RandomClassic

Reading goals tonight: finish all three of these. 😬 I‘m clearing the decks as much as I can before heading out tomorrow to visit family for two weeks!

🫏 I have 6 more chapters of Don Quixote & don‘t want to lug it to Oklahoma.
🎄My Advent/Christmas devotional finishes tomorrow, on Epiphany, and I don‘t want to rush through the final reading before leaving for the airport.
🚣‍♀️ I only have 80 pages left in Keeper and I really want to finish it!

(thru ch51) - I've lost track of where I'm supposed to be in this story, what with holidays and illness 😂 I think I'm still a few chapters behind! Several of you have already finished, but if writing up a schedule for our remaining chapters would be helpful, please let me know!!

I still can't decide how I feel about this duke and duchess playing these involved tricks on DQ and Sancho. Some of them feel so mean! But some of them are also ⬇

16th century, a village in Spain a man cosplays as a knight errant. Misfortunes abound. At times camp and hilarious other times tedious and repetitive. An entertaining and philosophical masterpiece.

This was not the longest book I‘ve read but some days it felt like it. It really needed some editing. I‘ve never said this before but maybe read the abridged version 😆

#DonQuixote #MiguelDeCervantes #book #books #bookdesign #bookdesigner #bookdeal #bookdeals #bookdealer #bookdragon #bookdragons #bookfeature #bookfeatures #bookfair #bookfan #bookfandom #bookfever #bookfanatic #bookfrenzy #bookgeek #bookgeeks #bookgeeky #bookgang #bookgasm #geek #geeks #geeky #bookhoarder #bookhoarders #bookhaul #bookholic #bookholics #Classics #Fiction #Literature #SpanishLiterature #Adventure #HistoricalFiction #Novels 💛💛💛💛

I am sorry to say I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I think it was a little too episodic for me and it moved a little too slowly at times, with very little character development. At the end of the day, I just really felt sad for DQ but I did appreciate Sancho a whole lot more. Glad that @TheAromaofBooks organised this readalong and it is finally off my shelf.
#chunkster

Another time when I‘m glad I checked the footnote—here we have Dr. Pedro Harsh Omen from the town of GettheHellOut. Naturally, Sancho tells him to get the hell out… 🤣

#RandomClassic

Did I bring this chunkster to the theater and read during intermission? Yes! #wintergames #snowflakesquad #tbrread #wintercosy #goforawalk #BINGO #wgwordsearch #atozbingo #Q #BINGO

I finished listening to this a few days ago. Although I really enjoyed it at the beginning, it was becoming difficult for me to stay focused and I was no longer enjoying it as much as expected, so I decided to push through to the end for now. I moved on from this to listening to Amadis of Gaul which I hope will give me a greater appreciation for it so that I can revisit it again sometime in the future.

#audiobook #1001books #translated

(thru ch42) - Somehow I thought I was behind but ended up ahead 😂 So it's probably a good thing I'm checking this schedule!!! We have a few catch-up days built in this month, and hopefully will pick back up with chapter 43 on Wednesday.

Very interesting to me that Cervantes has decided to give DQ his adventures through trickery instead of DQ's imagination (although that helps). I can't decide if I like this or not. The duke and duchess's ⬇

#RandomClassics @TheAromaofBooks What a ride! Thank you so much for hosting this great read. I would have never finished without you. I‘m glad to have finally read this classic. I loved the sarcasm and found myself laughing out loud quite a bit. Some parts should have been cut out! The best scenes were the ones of just Don & Sancho. Hilarious. I was very surprised and saddened by the ending. It was not what I had hoped for or expected. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

“I tell you, when it comes to asking stupid questions and giving crazy answers, I don‘t need to go looking for help from my neighbors.”

Another winner from Sancho!

“I used to think all he knew about was knighthood and all that, but damn it if there‘s anything he hasn‘t put his pecker into or stirred around with his spoon.”

😂😂 I love Sancho‘s comments more and more the longer this goes on! Sancho‘s choice of words has me cracking up—and also makes me super curious how his comments are rendered in other translations. #RandomClassics

There haven‘t been many weird and interesting words catching my attention lately, but this one did today in Don Quixote. I saw some contradictory spelling while looking it up, and it‘s now considered obsolete.

longinquous: (adjective) long, far off, distant, remote

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday

(thru ch26) I can't decided if I feel bad for don Quixote or not. He's obviously delusional and so sincere in what he believes is true. On the other hand, one of those things is believing that he himself is an awesome knight doing great things, which makes him happy. I also can't exactly decide what a happy ending for this story would look like. Any thoughts?

#RandomClassics

https://open.spotify.com/track/2JnhxO2VxhH6Yss0ZTqWb2?si=N2OOQZCmR0aM0qSYlKgN0A

For DQ readers right now

I should probably start by saying that I didn't read the chunkster original but an abridged version (just over 400 pages). At first I was disappointed that I had only been able to track down this copy, but now I'm perfectly okay with having read this version. In my view, the story was more sad than funny, and I had enough of random people making fun of poor DQ.
Thanks for hosting the buddy read @TheAromaofBooks 🙂

(thru ch14) Hey friends!! Sorry I haven't posted earlier. This turned into a very bizarre week. But don Quixote and his faithful Sancho are back on the road. The beginning of this volume was very dull with lots of conversation, so I was excited to finally get to bit of action today!

Cervantes is really leaning into this whole “I discovered this book that someone else wrote and now I'm just telling you what it said“ thing, which as a narrative ⬇

“…animals have frequently put humans on notice and taught them a great many important things, as for example: enemas, taught us by storks; vomiting and gratitude, taught us by dogs; watchfulness, taught us by cranes; foresight, taught us by ants; chastity, taught us by elephants; and loyalty, which we learned from horses.”

Um. Enemas? Vomiting & gratitude? Apparently VERY different qualities were attributed to animals in 16th century Spain. 😂

Woohoo!! We made it to the end of Volume 1!!! Which actually puts a little over halfway for the entire book!

My goodness, the end of this volume was a whirlwind of romantic entanglements! I was honestly cracking up by the time we got to the inn with this entire parade of people! Did any of these stories strike you particularly (other than all the coincidences? 😂) My understanding is that Cervantes was actually held in Algiers awaiting ransom,⬇

“I‘ve got just as much soul as the next man, and maybe even more body.”
—Sancho Panza

😂😂

“the style is fatiguing, the action incredible, the courtesies clumsy, the battles long, the language foolish, the journeys nonsensical”

Well I laughed when I read this!!! This novel can be so tedious at times but I‘m hanging in there. @TheAromaofBooks #randomclassics

I am posting this a little early so we can chat about whether it works for everyone haha We will be finishing Volume 1 on November 27, with 28-30 as catch-up days. I am thinking we can start Volume 2 on December 1, continuing with our 2 chapter/day method, but taking a little break for Christmas and then having two catch-up days at the beginning of January. I don't know about all of you, but my life does get a little crazy over those two weeks!! ⬇

Casually reading 3 copies of Don Quixote nbd 🤣
I have an audiobook from Hoopla as well but I'm finding it easier to digest in print.

“…for a knight errant to go crazy for good reason, how much is *that* worth? My idea is to become a lunatic for no reason at all, and to ask my lady, seeing what I do without cause, what she imagines I might do if I really had one?”

I… well… okay, Don Quixote. You do you.
#RandomClassic

(thru ch24) - Is everyone keeping up okay? I am finding 2 chapters a day pretty manageable at this point. Poor DQ can't seem to catch a break, although a lot of his misadventures are because of his own wacky way of viewing the world 😂 I appreciated in this chapter that his love for books is what got him into trouble LOL

A few footnotes about “discrepancies“ in the text. In ch 19, when DQ busts up the funeral procession, the man who broke his ⬇

My husband came in and said he made me a book reading fire 🤣🤣 the dude knows how to get me to come out and hang with him 🤣

(thru ch16) - Had a crazy few days at work, so I am just getting caught up on some Litsy stuff!!!

I feel like don Quixote gets beat up a lot 😂 But how about Marcela's speech?? It felt pretty progressive for 1605! Any other highlights? I'm hoping that don Quixote and poor Sancho get a little bit of rest before their next beatdown!! 😆

#RandomClassic

(thru ch10) - So just to clarify, we are reading Part 1 this month, but Part 1 is also subdivided into four parts 😂 So we finished Part 1 of Part 1!

I find Cervantes mixture of “I'm the author“ and “I discovered this stuff already written“ to be slightly confusing but still entertaining. I'm also remembering that the reason I've bailed on this book in the past is partially because of all the names he throws at us, of various heroes, authors, ⬇

“Don Quijote sought out a farmer, a neighbor of his and a good man (if we can use that term for anyone who‘s poor) but not very well endowed from the neck up.”

😬😂

I quite like the description “not very well endowed from the neck up.” 😂 #RandomClassic

“…it wouldn‘t take much, once my uncle is cured of his knighthood sickness, to start reading these books and feel like becoming a shepherd, and then go around in the woods and meadows, singing and playing a flute and, even worse, writing poetry, which everyone knows is an infectious disease for which there‘s absolutely no cure.”

😂😂

#RandomClassic