Monday, June 2, 2008

Don Quixote: The Jacqui's Room Notes


Don Quixote read too much.
Thought he was a knight.
Grabbed his squire, Sancho Panza
And set off to fight.






Declared his love for Dulcinea,
Fought giants in her name.
Got mocked, pinched, butted, robbed and kidnapped.
She shunned him all the same.






Stayed deluded 1,000 pages,
Ended up beaten and bleeding.
Realized he'd been mad, then died.
Such are the perils of reading.

12 comments:

Diane T said...

Awesome review, Jacqui! Although I suspect someone in your house may be crying because you stole their toys.

And congrats on finishing your first assignment. I am still floundering through Moby Dick, not even a third of the way done, but I have found something pertinent to DQ: a passage where Ishmael hails "thou great democratic God ... who didst clothe with doubly hammered leaves of finest gold, the stumped and paupered arm of old Cervantes!"

Oh, and there's something in the book about a white whale, I guess.

J. Thorp said...

Finished, she reveals
the ending of a lengthy book --
no spoiler alert

: P

Jacqui said...

Thorp. Oof. I did reveal the ending. Bad form. I admit it. Apologies.

Though you were SUPPOSED to be done already. :)

Also, the last several chapters were actually my favorites, so keep reading anyway, okay?

Jacqui said...

Diane, good connection. See? References like that are why I'm doing this. Because I don't like not being in on the secret.

You are not making me excited for my future. And, thinking of wordwrangler, can you tell us if it is indeed just like Jaws?

J. Thorp said...

Oh, I'm kidding (mostly) -- of course I'll finish. And I committed to 75 pages a day, not a book a week. So no penalty unless I'm not done by ... what ... Wednesday or so? (Not likely.)

Go Red Wings!

Bish Denham said...

Cervantes perhaps needed you as an editor? :)

Diane T said...

Well, it has been many many years since I read "Jaws," but I doubt it was filled with ruminations on religion, democracy, human nature, and cetacean classification. Still, I find the narrator fairly interesting. He's not deluded (sorry) into thinking he's a great seaman, but he has a very liberal (small l), democratic (small d) way of looking at the world which I like. Another bonus about MD: although there are 135 chapters, many of them are only one or two pages long, so I can feel like I'm making progress with very little effort.

Another literary connection: Melville dedicates the novel to Hawthorne. Therefore, I have made "The House of Seven Gables" the next classic on my list. Although it may not be until July at this rate.

Kristi Valiant said...

Ok, I've just finished my book for this week - The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Yeah, it was super short. I decided to sketch baby Mowgli and post him on my blog as my proof: http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com/2008/06/baby-mowgli.html

I love your lego drama, Jacqui! Very creative.

Jacqui said...

Kristi, I love the idea of sketches being your "book report" and will head over now to see them.

Jacqui said...

Yes he did, Bish. I'd say to him this: stop the first book just before the last chapter and skip to the second to last chapter of the second book.

Thorp, take as long as you need. I know you have writing assignments for me too. :)

Diane, read House of Seven Gables the week of August 4 so I have someone to whom to talk about it.

J. Thorp said...

By the way: being a word guy, by calculations were massively misguided ... at 75 pages a day, DQ should be done on Saturday. That, I believe, I can do.

Jacqui said...

Will be curious to hear your thoughts.