Books I Want To Talk About discussion

Some of the True Northerners wanted to read Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes in October.

Feel free to add threads to this folder if you'd like to break the discussion down.

Dream, the impossible dream!

I've never read the book, but I sure did enjoy the musical!

I'm slowly getting back to reality after my vacation. So when are we reading this and what translation? Gotta get it into my schedule - and I just picked up some long awaited hold items from the libes. Oh the pressure!

Lori, start reading those library loans first. As far as I'm concerned, we don't start reading Don Quixote until the end of October or possibly even November. I'm frightfully busy at the moment and know for a fact that I won't get much reading done until October. So can we please wait until then? Pretty please?

I have the translation that was read in England for centuries -- the Tobias Smollett one from the 1750s. Sherri has the much more recent Edith Grossman version, which is apparently the definitive translation. I'd suggest getting the latter, but I myself will be reading the former. :-)

Good quote, Sherri. I'm quite keen to read the book now. Alas! The busyness!

Sarah, thanks again for setting up this little nook of the Internet. Much appreciated!

Sherri, I did get your sarcasm, but the fact remains (as you yourself went on to admit) that the Grossman translation has come in for its share of acclaim. So for the time being, let's just assume that the Grossman translation is the definitive one. Meanwhile, I'll quite happily read the translation that Jane Austen herself read. :-)

For what it's worth, my version comes with a Life of Cervantes, as well. Not a timeline, though. So for that, our fellow readers may have to turn to the Grossman translation.

I hope everyone is OK with October/November. I honestly can't read the book before that time. Sorry.

You didn't offend at all, Sherri. I hope I didn't, either. :-)

Glad to hear you're OK with October/November. I have a massive pile of books I would have liked to read before that time myself, but I know it's just not going to happen.

Oh, well. Enough with the self-pity. :-)

Five cats? Blimey. Good luck with that. I love cats, but five would stretch even my tolerance. Do you ever trip over them?

I once knew a lady who had eleven cats, two dogs, two rabbits, two goats, a parrot, an iguana and God knows how many budgies. That was one amazing household. Happy childhood memories...

October/November? PHEW!

And the Grossman translation is the one I will read. Thanks!

As for animals in the home, why oh why do I have these beautiful rugs? Sometimes I think my green one is ready to be tossed it doesn't look green at all, then I vacuum, and oh my, it's a horse of a different color.

Sherri what kind of birds do you have? I'd love to get something in the parrot family, but with cats, I thought it would be impossible. (The dog would leave it alone. I think.)

Sherri, that's the weird thing about getting a bird of the parrot family - it would outlive me! I'd hate to leave it without a great caregiver. Do you enjoy having her?

I can also recommend the translation published in Penguin Classics, by John Rutherford. I read it a couple of years ago and was enthralled. Quick moving and fresh-sounding.

Get ready folks. MAN OF LA MANCHA it ain't.

Bwaaahh! Way to ruin a perfect song! :D

I LOVE Man of La Mancha. We sometimes have hypothetical conversations like "what woul dbe your dream role if you were the opposite sex?" And Don Quixote is always mine. (Not that Dulcinea isn't a good part, but Cervantes/Quixote has all the good songs.) LOVE IT.

Ah but Dulcinea has that song "One pair of arms is like annNOTHer, I don't care why or who's to blame, I'll go with you or with your brrROTHer, it's all the same..." Yowza.

October/November is great. I have this ridiculous stack of library books right now - the challenge for me will be making the stack go down and not adding to it. I have this terrible habit of taking two books back to the library with the intention of picking up one on reserve...only to wander through the stacks and select four more as well.

We have a white French bulldog who adopted a red blanket of mine. No matter how many times I wash it, I can never get all the white off.

Hi everyone. My name is Rachel.

I started reading Don Quijote (Spanish Version) almost 4 weeks ago. I read exactly 300 pages(chapter 30) then switched over to the Edith Grossman translated English version (Quixote)
..I was having trouble with the Shakespearean-style prose in Spanish. Now I'm beginning the second part (page 459). I'm happy I switched, and even happier I didn't give up on it.
I have been typing an extensive review on it as I read. Of which I would be happy to post when I'm finished.
Good luck :)

Everyone says the Grossman translation is the best.

I recently acquired a copy, but I don't know which translation it is. This may be my incentive to get started on it.

Finished Don Quixote. Loved it. One of my two top favorite novels of all time.