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Friday, October 12, 2012

Sorry Cervantes, I'm Reading Shirer Now...

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I tried, I really did...I tried listening to all of Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote, but I just couldn't. Personally, the 39 hours and 17 minutes of audiobook listening time was, for me, a plus. I wanted a story that took longer than one day to finish. After listening to The Count of Monte Cristo, I thought I could get through pretty much anything.

But, unfortunately, no. We try teaching our kids how important are the classics. I saw that Don Quixote was available at the library as an audiobook download, and so I did. I also heard that William Faulkner read Don Quixote every year, so I thought I should read it at least once. When I began reading/listening, I really enjoyed the book, but after a while, I began to get lost, and not in a good way. When I get lost in an audiobook and I'm not sure where I am in the story, it's not like I can just flip back a few pages and begin again. It basically made me drowsy.

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So I did a new search and found a book that takes even longer to finish. I returned Cervantes and checked out The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. It takes 57 hours and 11 minutes to complete. I'm about a fifth of the way through the book and it's not making me sleepy, at least, not yet. In fact, it's fascinating!

I'm hoping that one day I may try reading/listening to Don Quixote and have the patience to actually finish it. I guess we'll see...

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