Classic in Translation - Don Quixote

I made it! Back in October I only had one book to go with my classics challenge list which should have made it really easy to finish up. Until I picked Don Quixote as my last book! Nothing like 940 pages of translated 16th century Spanish lit to push you to the brink of your deadline. That said, I am really glad I read it.

I choose the Edith Grossman Translation. I don't have anything to compare it to but I did find this translation to be quite readable and her footnotes to be quite helpful. It's actually two books. Most of what you probably know about Don Quixote from cultural references (the windmills!) is from the first part and I was very tempted to stop there. But the second is really where it shines. The relationship between Quixote and his sidekick Sancho deepens and you get past the "crazy guy doing some crazy thing and calamity ensures" repetition. Well, kinda. I mean, crazy things keep happening but its a little more involved.

This is so hard to review. It's so many things. It's lighthearted and funny, sometimes weird, sometimes confusing, often sad. There are stories within the story and sometimes another story mixed in. It's ridiculous and then, there will be this great deep quote or idea. I did get bogged down in parts and finished this mostly because I choose to read two chapters a day no matter what, rarely more. If I was in a hard spot, I knew that even I could manage two chapters. If I was in a good spot, I couldn't read more because after two chapters my brain was full and I had to stop and think. I guess my summary would be - It's worth reading. But really, you didn't need me to tell you that.

Don Quixote is my Classic in Translation for the Back the Classics Challenge. 

Mason for Me - Winter 2017/2018

Wow, we got so many great links for the fall link-up and really great comments and feedback. I'm so glad that so many of us are interested in using Charlotte Mason's methods on own minds!

We've also got a good representation across the forms. I always forget to go back and see what links have been added to carnivals so I assume at least some of you are the same way and I'll be recaping them here unless that gets too unwieldy.

The Fall Posts:

Jenna talks about her plans and initial weeks of AO Year 1.

Blossom over at North Laurels is also starting at the very beginning (it is a good place to start :-) but she's using AO for Groups. She's got more than one post over there so be sure to find both.

Moving up to Form 2, we have Nelleke from Education as Life with her journey through Year 4 and both the joys and the hard decisions it brings with it (like the struggle with handing over books and letting our children be independent - because we like the books too!)

I just recently posted my plans for Year 8.

In other mother (and father!) culture links, we have Dewey's Treehouse sharing her Christmas Countdown and some very cute but simply craft options.

Caleb adds a unique perspective as a homeschooling Dad who's making Charlotte Mason work for his Orthodox family.

And Anna shares her current book choices and goes beyond with music and nature.

More Mother Culture Links:

Once you start looking for it, the Mother Culture ideas are everywhere in the CM community, even if they aren't labeled directly as such. I loved the Schole Sister's Podcast #28 Education is a Life because if you realize what Charlotte Mason meant by that and truly believe it, you can't help but see that you need it is well. And if you don't, go listen and you soon will.

On a practical level, The Mason Jar episode #48 with Mary Jo Tate gave me a good example of what I want to be in 20 years - a mom who can talk about books for as long as they'll let me!

Erin is a good source of inspiration  if you're not up for a full AO year but still want to prioritize Mother Culture. She shares her how and her what in her post a over at Raising Veggies and Humans (I'm jealous, I am raising humans but the veggies part never seems to work out how I plan).

Over on Instagram, #MasonForMe is small but growing so do check it out - and use it! I love looking at a pretty stack of books.

Now for this winter's link up: We've made the plans, now we got to put them into action! And keep sharing!