Men of La Mancha

Day 268 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Ben has been reading Zorro by Isabel Allende.  "It's a great read," he says, "but a very different version of the traditional Zorro."  Here's a link to the Spanish edition at Amazon.  According to Ben, "Isabel's Zorro is a spoiled dandy."

Another young man is reading Don Quixote, the masterpiece of Miguel de Cervantes, in a fine thick paperback edition in Spanish from our foreign language shelves at Babbitt's.  He was getting a stack of books but when Sarah at the register held up that one, I went and got him our newest arrival, not yet shelved, a hardcover that states "This book is made to last" right on the copyright page, and you can see that it is.

It's a  lovely edition, red with gold lettering, full title in modern Spanish, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, edited by Fajardo and James A. Parr, from Pegasus Press, University of North Carolina at Asheville, 1998. It is signed by the editor and annotator, Salvador Fajardo, and our young man might come back for it, or let someone know what he wants for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas (and thinking of Christmas "pudding"), I just learned from the ever informational Wikipedia that Cervantes is responsible for "the proof is in the pudding" via his longer statement, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."  

Yesterday I voted before breakfast.  Today I am thinking of eating dessert first.

And Antonio Banderas.

And The Man of La Mancha.