I have added one more book to my reading since my last post when I said the only book on which I would be focusing this month was The Lord of the Rings, which I am doing a reread of. That additional book is the one pictured at left, Don Quixote (Don Quijote de la Mancha #1-2) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra as translated by Edith Grossman. I read an abridged version of the book, translated by Walter Starkie, when I was in high school or in college and remember enjoying it, although I don’t remember anything specific about it other than I enjoyed it. So when this new translation came up as a Kindle deal at the end of last year, I picked up this one.

Then two weeks ago on Facebook, I saw that Nancy of the blog Bookfoolery and Ryan of the blog Wordsmithonia were going to read it together. I mentioned to Nancy on Facebook that I might be interested, and then thought I’d probably consider it and not do it. But then when I got an invitation from her to join the Facebook group, called “Tilting at Windmills,” earlier this week, I went ahead and joined. After all, I figured why did I purchase a copy of the book if I wasn’t planning to read it.

On her blog, Nancy explains that she has attempted to read the book three times and failed. I’ll be honest that I looked last year at a copy of this translation at our library while shelf-reading and thought, “Nyuh.” So why am I saying “yes” now and to a readalong of all things, which I am notorious for trying in the past and failing? Mainly, since, as I said above, I did purchase a copy of the ebook, I’m thinking that I might as well read it. It’s not just there to sit on my virtual shelf. Plus I guess I figure that split out over several weeks makes the task seem less daunting, that this might be a windmill I indeed can conquer. We shall see.

The reading schedule is as follows:

February 10 – Chapter XXV (p. 204)
February 17 – Chapter XLII (p. 373)
February 24 – Chapter XIV (p. 547)
March 10 – Chapter XL (p. 717)
March 17 – FINISH.

Have you ever read Don Quixote? If not, have you ever had a book that you kept trying to read but just couldn’t get through? For me, it was, and is, The Brothers Karamazov. I really liked Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, but for some reason, I have been unable to conquer his final tome. Maybe someday.