Jan 31– Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Thomas Shelton

 I like when there's music named after the piece.

Reading

Jan 31– Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Thomas Shelton

Summary: Don Quixote fights windmills. Sancho Panza is a great straight man. DQ gets into a fight and there's a cliffhanger.

Commentary: After several days of complaining about which sections of books we read, I was super excited to read the chapter title as: "VIII. Of the Good Success Don Quixote Had, in the Dreadful and Never-Imagined Adventure of the Windmills, with Other Accidents Worthy to Be Recorded."

This is one of those books that's been on my list seemingly forever, that I'm glad T5FSOB gives me an excuse to read. It's a textbook example of committing to the bit. Don Quixote is even more over the top than we expect him to be from hearing about him in culture, the narration (I understand Shelton makes it a bit more over the top than the original) plays it totally straight (which makes it even funnier/sadder), and the frame story even gets in on it, by commenting on the end of chapter cliffhanger. But, as I discussed with The Odyssey the other day, it never veers into unbelievability. He fights a windmill and gets knocked on his ass, fine, but he doesn't burn down all the windmills and get away with it or something as a lesser comedy might. Definitely added to the read more list!