Don Quixote reading schedule

[Jenn, moderator]

Happy New Year! We are starting our first Quarterly Doorstopper read, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. We will begin reading on Monday, January 4, 2021.

Here is the reading schedule that will take us to the end of March.

Week 1: January 4-10: Book 1 Prologue - Chapter 11 (78 pgs)
Week 2: January 11-17: B1 Chapters 12-21 (81 pgs)
Week 3: January 18-24: B1 Chapters 22-28 (77 pgs)
Week 4: January 25-31: B1 Chapters 29-35 (74 pgs)
Week 5: February 1-7: B1 Chapters 36-44 (77 pgs)
Week 6: February 8-14: B1 Chapters 45-52, B2 Dedication, Prologue, Chapter 1 (78 pgs)
Week 7: February 15-21: B2 Chapters 2-14 (80 pgs)
Week 8: February 22-28: B2 Chapters 15-25 (80 pgs)
Week 9: March 1-7: B2 Chapters 26-37 (76 pgs)
Week 10: March 8-14: B2 Chapters 38-49 (77 pgs)
Week 11: March 15-21: B2 Chapters 50-60 (80 pgs)
Week 12: March 22-28: B2 Chapters 61-74 (78 pgs)

[Maria]

Hello Jenn,
Hope you all great year, I loved this reading schedule... it's really nice.

[Maria]

Do anyone has pdf version of the book?

[Brandon]

Been absent from Goodreads got a while but excited to dive back in. Just picked up the Grossman translation after some research. What translations are others reading?

[Erika]

I'm reading the John Rutherford translation that Penguin Clothbound put out 😊

[Brandon]

That version looks beautiful. Rutherford was my second choice too!

[Brian, co-moderator]

For anyone who would like a recommendation, this page presents the same passage from all of the major translations, so you can get a feel for what the experience would be like:
https://franklycurious.com/wp/don-qui...

I looked at several reviews of the major translations, and the Rutherford is recommended for those who want an experience closest to what a 17th century Spanish reader would have received. It is described as 'laugh-out-loud funny'. If you're used to reading older translations, this might be the one for you.

The ones I found to be the best combination of more modern language and accessibility were the more recent translations by Grossman (2006) and Davis (2012). After going through several reviews on Amazon, my preferred translation is Grossman's, but Davis would work as well. They are much more accessible translations than some of the others, including Rutherford, and you may enjoy these more.

Of course, if you have a different favorite, go for it! Any version works! But the difficulty of the language used can have a great impact on enjoyment, so consider carefully.

[Brian, co-moderator]

I posted this in the first week's Discussion Thread as well, but just in case you're looking here, here's the Course Hero Reading Guide to assist with what's supposed to be a difficult but very rewarding read:
https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Don-Qu...

[Cosmic]

I want to join. This is a fun read. Personally i prefer John Ormsby's translation. I don't know how close it is to the original, but i know that it made me laugh! I found Grossman's to be extremely flat and laborious. Didn't enjoy it. Had a friend that read that translation and he gave the book a 3 star. I think if he had read John Ormsby's it would have been 5 star!

So don't be afraid to check out different translations. I personally listened to this book on Audible. If you purchased one and just don't get it you might exchange it.

"The complete text of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, Parts I and II, is here offered in a substantially revised version of the translation by John Ormsby, first published in 1885. Spelling and punctuation have been modernized, and recent textual scholarship has been taken into account in preparing the revisions; a detailed discussion of the procedures and principles followed by all the original prefatory material, including dedications, copyright notices, statements by the censor, and other items omitted by Ormsby

[Brian, co-moderator]

Cosmic wrote: "I want to join. This is a fun read. Personally i prefer John Ormsby's translation. I don't know how close it is to the original, but i know that it made me laugh! I found Grossman's to be extremely..."

Since you've listened to Ormsby and at least looked at Grossman's, I'm intrigued. I have both Grossman and Davis, and it seems there is a Kindle Ormsby translation here:
https://www.amazon.com/DON-QUIXOTE-Il...

It gets very high ratings, and there's also a print-on-demand version there. Since the Kindle version is free, I think I'll flip back and forth between the 3 versions and see which one grabs me more. Thanks for pointing out your thoughts!

[Brandon]

One of the most intimidating things for me about reading any book not in my native language is figuring out which one to read! There are so many different translators going for totally different things.

[Brian, co-moderator]

Brandon wrote: "One of the most intimidating things for me about reading any book not in my native language is figuring out which one to read! There are so many different translators going for totally different th..."

Hey Brandon (and everyone else)! Because of Cosmic's comments above (he favors the highly-rated Ormsby translation of 1885), and my own decisions previously made (my early choices of Grossman, then Davis), I have decided to switch among those 3 until one grabs me. Prices below are current for Kindle editions:

Ormsby ($0.00): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
Grossman ($1.99): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
Davis ($0.99): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

A couple ideas for you:

- Ormsby is free (Kindle edition) and very well-reviewed, so if you have a Kindle, that's a great place to begin. I started with it last night, and am loving it.

- It's not a bad idea to grab one of the other two and do something similar to what I'm doing. You may love the Ormsby, or the more modern colloquial presentation of either Grossman (2006) or Davis (2012) may appeal to you more.

- If you've read a lot of Shakespeare, I suspect you will enjoy the Ormsby. If you've read super-modern translations of works like Dante, Beowulf or Chaucer (last 20 years), you may gravitate toward one of the others. And there are several other translations as well.

This is helpful:
https://franklycurious.com/wp/don-qui...

The selection and choice of translation is part of the fun. I hope some of this helps.

[[deleted user]]

I'm reading Ormsby too! I read a few chapters from Smollett and Ormsby and to later found out and verified from the web that Smollett takes some liberties with the text. Grossman looks great but Ormsby had the older language and drier humour in it — I chose Ormsby eventually. Grossman was good too but, like you said, people who like Shakespeare would like Ormsby, indeed the language is archaic and quite funny. Ormsby is also supposedly the most faithful to the book.