Don Quixote

My thoughts on Cervantes Don Quixote can be read on the Winter Reading Challenge blogsite if you'd like to venture over and see what I have to say. There are lots of good reviews of various books as well that are worth reading.

Why These Moments?

I've been thinking about blogging. I'm thinking about it right now. It's become such a part of my regular everyday...what's the word? Exercise? Hobby? Does it matter? Perhaps not.

I thought about blogging when I discovered I work with a Don Quixote scholar. Once a university temp professor, he taught European Literature and taught a whole class on Don Quixote. Are you kidding me? What luck! This has helped me stay with the book even though I've often thought about putting it down and opening the last Harry Potter book that sits on my desk, carefully wrapped in a LV plastic bag since it's a loaner from a co-worker. But no, I'm sticking with Don Quixote and now all the questions I have I can discuss with a Don Quixote scholar. Unbelievable. Talking about the book with this co-worker has also given him reason to pick up the book again after fifteen years.

I also thought about blogging when I saw Crimson Cabaret, a show that was raising money for a local women's centre. There was a wonderful opening to the show of traditional Japanese drummers who were all women, I think the first and maybe only in North America? With the same powerful force the show was closed with Coco Love Alcorn. She was absolutely brilliant.

Sunday we hit Commerical Drive to do our grocery shopping because there is just a great selection of foods and we thought it'd be a nice change from the usual stops in whoville. While there, I stopped into the used bookstore Bibliophile and met the resident cats, Oscar and Chaucer. Chaucer is a rather huge Norwegian Forest Cat who absolutely filled the chair in the sunny window. His companion, Oscar, a dark gray tabby, was curled into Chaucer's furry belly. Oscar looked a little curious, but Chaucer really couldn't be bothered with me or anyone else since he was in full nap mode.

Backpack overstuffed with groceries and in transit, I thought about blogging. All of these moments made me think about blogging. It's often while I'm in transit that I write on my blog even if I'm not actually doing it. If I'm not reading on the bus or skytrain then I'm thinking about writing. However, I don't always get the chance to sit down, and even now I'm running short of time, but making the time is somehow important and relevant for me.

Why these moments? I'm not sure I have an answer for that yet, but I'm working on it. Maybe while I'm in transit tomorrow morning I'll try to answer that, but more likely I will have moved on to something else.

winter reading challenge

I'm sticking with Don Quixote. I slowed down in my reading of it over the Christmas holiday being so busy, and my focus was elsewhere. January has renewed my interest.

There are two parts to this book and I'm about a third of the way into part two. This is where my difficulty began since part one felt like a complete journey. The travels of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho were very entertaining in the first part. With the return of Don Quixote to his home and family at the end of part one I could have set the book down and moved on to a new book, but I knew part two would lead to further adventures and having enjoyed them thus far I kept reading. I also kept reading because I reminded myself that my winter reading challenge goal was to complete books previously unfinished.

Highlights of part one for me are:

• the vivid descriptions of Don Quixote and his actions. Cervantes has given me an image of a comedic character, the Knight of the Rueful Figure with his bucket/helmet on his head seated atop his sad horse Rozinante that is very entertaining.
  
• the narratives within the main narrative. There are two tragic love stories within that are resolved with happy endings because of these characters encountering Don Quixote. The way Cervantes brings all of these characters together is brilliant.
  
• the discussion about books and their value. There is a bit of self-reflexivity here. Whether this is intentional or not I'm not sure, but there's a chapter where two characters weigh the value of the knight adventure books that has led Don Quixote to his illusion that he is a knight errant and is out to encounter adventure. They keep some books and discard others for burning. Their reasons and logic begins to break down as the discussion goes on. It seemed so relevant to me. How little we've changed believing that some books will be detrimental to the reader (think of schools banning certain books that they don't want to influence children in a negative way. Harry Potter???).
  
• Don Quixote releasing the prisoners in chains and chaos ensues (like most of his adventures)
• The dialogues between Don Quixote and Sancho where Quixote keeps correcting Sancho's misuse of certain words.