Sand Show Panda

Though the night's are long, they are finally wonderful. At last, after many sleepless sleeps and nightless nights, I have discovered a partial cure for insomnia. My new copy of Don Quixote!! Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying it's dull. Far from it, it's like the first time you saw Cities of Gold. Only with words and better dubbing. It's one of my top three books of all time! That makes the list currently:

South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
Don Quixote! - Cervantes, tr. Edith Grossmann

These days instead of dread I look forward to my pillow time even more than my 16 daily Sun Salutations. When I read my prescribed chapter of the good stuff I just lie back in contentment and dream of Spain. Imagine not only the pressure of writing your first novel, but THE first novel! Ever! That's pretty good going for an ex-con. The scope of the book is simply breathtaking, comic, tragic, insightful and absurd, it has it all. And so influential, the chapters of Marcela the Shepherdess genuinely changed the way I thought; such a profound and beautiful statement on the nature of unrequited unrequested love. I'm in awe. Oh and the greatest translation of it has just come out in paperback! So go, now, improve your life.