Day 16: Longest book you’ve read

I would say the Encyclopedia Britannica circa the early 1990's, but they were in several volumes. So I won't count those.

Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes rings in at a whopping 1104 pages - hardcover style.

Yes, I did read all 1104 pages. No, I cannot remember the entire story. Yes, I liked the musical MUCH better. No, I did not get to see it on Broadway - yet...

Don Quixote is a man of old-fashioned - some would call it archaic - values. He desires knighthood, the love of a fair lady, and a battle to fight - not necessarily in that order. So he sets off on a quest to find all of these impossible dreams with only his trusty nag and a long-suffering servant named Pancho - who loves his master like only a long-suffering servant can.

Along the way to knighthood, Quixote jousts with windmills, saves a fair maiden - who's about as pure as the final snow of the winter season - and battles uncouth mule drivers - who REALLY like the fair - unpure - maiden Don Quixote saves.

Okay, have I mentioned that this whole story is being narrated by Miguel de Cervantes to a bunch of rag-tag jury of prisoners awaiting trial - or execution - before the Spanish Inquisition? He was forced to finish his unfinished work in order to save himself from the prison's own version of an Inquisition...

And he's supposed to finish this all before the Spanish conquistadors retrieve him for his life or death trial before godless pharisees hell bent on stamping out heretics...

Can we say, "No pressure, Miguel?"

 

While the musical is much easier to understand and a lot shorter, I love the classics and would greatly recommend this one. Keep in mind it is translated, so there might have been something lost along the way.