Tagged: Don Quixote

It’s Always Sunny in La Mancha

I discovered two beloved and durable classics in 2025, but only one counts towards my 1,001 Books challenge: Don Quixote by Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman.

Don Quixote’s length means it becomes an undertone to whatever else is going on in your life during the weeks (okay, months) you are reading it. For critic Ariel Dorfman, Don Quixote is forever linked to the coup in Chile, as she and 30 other refugees read it to each other in 1973 while hiding in an embassy. Ed Simon, an editor at LitHub, connects Cervante’s imprisonment and themes of freedom in the book with the kidnapping and imprisonment of immigrants in modern America.

As for me, I read Don Quixote (DQ hereafter unless I mean the character) while binge-watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (IASIP hereafter), and now, it is inextricably linked with The Gang’s adventures. 

This is perhaps not as meaningful as others’ experiences, but as I watched and read, I started to suspect that Cervantes invented the sitcom, rather than the novel, which he is often credited with. This feels significant, as sitcoms are dying out, after overtaking novels as a dominant narrative form in the twentieth century*. So while I’m interested in what Cervantes has to say about freedom, imagination, and the dying days of the Spanish empire, my brain was primed to see him inventing the form that eventually led to Danny DeVito writhing on the floor, naked and covered in hand sanitizer.

So rather than write a review of DQ, as you hardly need me to tell you if you should read it, I’m going to look at all the ways in which DQ is echoed in IASIP, a show that premiered exactly four hundred years after the First Part of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha was published in 1605. 

Continue reading →

10 Books of Summer makes way for 1 Book of Fall

By any metric, summer is over. School’s in (and I have a high school student!), leaves are falling, and I have a disappointing tally of reviews from my 10 Books of Summer. But I have big plans for fall.

10 Books of Summer wrap up

  1. Less by Andrew Sean Greer: actually reviewed, and enjoyed!
  2. The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen: finished, past deadline, and unlikely to review, given the effort that would take, for a book that most people read back in 2021. It’s worth a read though, if you’re holding out.
  3. Athena by John Banville: my least favourite of the Book of Evidence trilogy, but still a stand out. Might tackle The Sea next.
  4. Small Boat by Vincent Delacroix tr. Helen Stevenson: This book took me by surprise. Should have won the IBP, probably (I didn’t read the winner so I can’t really say).
  5. There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem tr. Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert: A strong start, but it kind of petered out in the end.
  6. Playing Hard by Peter Unwin (a review copy, a collection of essays about games and sports): Did not get to this. It’s a tough one; an author I enjoy writing about a subject I’m not terribly interested in.
  7. Don Quixote by Cervantes tr. Edith Grossman: See below
  8. Mornings Without Mii by Mayumi Inaba tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori: Finished in an airport, sobbed.
  9. Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère tr. John Lambert: actually reviewed, and enjoyed ripping it to shreds.
  10. On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle tr. Barbara Haveland: Reviewed and enjoyed. November 18th, pub date of the third book in English, cannot come fast enough (apologies to Tara, who would certainly prefer to get to the 19th.)

1 Book of Fall preview

If I am going to read one book this fall, it will be Don Quixote. I tried and failed a few times over the summer, getting no farther than the introduction* and first few chapters, but I’m on chapter 8 now and believe I am “locked in,” as my kids would say. So far, I am struck by how this novel, often touted as the *first* novel, is about someone who went crazy from reading too many novels (well, romances). In light of recent moral panics like this one, I am curious about when and how the act of reading fiction went from being indulgent and ruinous (see also: Northanger Abbey) to virtuous and edifying.

If you’ve read Don Quixote and have any tips or resources for me, please share!

NovNov to the rescue

What about all those books of summer that I didn’t properly review? Luckily, most of them are novellas and would qualify for my favourite alliterative book blog event, Novellas in November. I would really like to write about Small Boat, as I have a theory about it that is either so obvious that no one talks about it, or so out there that I will look like an idiot. Can’t wait to find out which. I also want to talk about Dua Lipa’s book club, and this was a recent pick, so a perfect way in.

A disappointing review tally, but I did read 8/10 and started one more. Onward!

*The introduction is by Harold Bloom, who features rather prominently in The Netanyahus, in a strange coincidence, or bookish serendipity!