In the adventure novel of "Don Quixote", a man named Alanso Quixano, dreams of becoming a knight. The only problem is that there haven't been any knights around for many years. Into the mind of Alanso comes the character named Don Quixote of La Mancha, a knight. Along with his squire Sancho Panza, and his trusty horse Rocinante, he sets out on an adventure, honoring and telling of Don Quixote's love, Dolcinea del Toboso. Along his way, Don Quixote mistakes fantasy for reality. Don Quixote fights for the honor of his love, Dolcinea. Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra establishes a great deal of honor throughout book. Don Quixote, is honoring his love for Dolcinea del Toboso by fighing every battle for her honor.

Cervantes establishes the theme of differences between reality and fantasy throughout the book. In Alanso's mind what is happening to him is happening to Don Quixote. Alasno can't decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. All the other characters in the book know the difference between reality and fantasy and know Alanso is living a fantasy. Through this contrast between reality and fantasy we discover that sometimes we have to fight no matter what the consequence.

I recently read the first part of Don Quixote, and I have to say that I was expecting a real snoozer. And I have to admit that, yes, Cervantes does drag on a bit. But critics of the novel's length are doing the work a misservice. We must remember that this book was written well over four centuries ago, when the very concept of a linked narrative must have been more than enough to hold the reader's interest. Cervantes's energy sizzles off the page at times, and you can tell he's really having fun with the work. I loved almost everything about this book, and while I might have liked to see it trimmed a bit, I still think Cervantes did a bang up job. Oh. One more thing. I lot of people seem to like Sancho more than Quixote. I'm totally the opposite. Quixote is the dreamer, the one who dares to look at things that never were and say " They might be giants ". I for one think thats boss.

What Monte Python did for the King Arthur legend in their movie "The Search for the Holy Grail", Cervantes did four hundred years ealier with the entire medieval knighthood tradition of chivalry and fighting. If you read some of the original stories about "knights errant", such as Le Morte d'Arthur, you can appreciate to a greater degree Cervantes fine parody. If you can read Spanish (and I can't) you will also enjoy Cervantes puns throughout the text. I laughed myself silly while reading this. Don Quixote is as ridiculous in the adventures he undertakes while looking for his fair lady, Dulcinea, as his shrewd squire Sancho Panza is comically pragmatic. Together they make an interesting pair. It's true this is a rather long novel, but the rewards of humor (and occasional wise comments from Sancho) are well worth the time.

Allende's first book is a wonderful journey through the trials and tribuations of the Trueba family as they struggle through the changing nature of Chilean politics. The story is told from two perspectives -- that of the third person narrator, and that of Esteban Trueba, the hot-headed Conservative patriarch.

This book is consistently compared to Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and the comparison is warranted in many respects. Both authors trace the history of a family as they are tossed along the rough waters of Latin American politics, and both authors employ magical realism to varying degrees. Personally, I find Garcia Marquez to be a bit more subtle and intriguing, while Allende writes with such precision that there is little room for different interpretations. Because of this, Allende's book is a far easier read than "One Hundred..." and it is easy to pick it up again after being away for a few days. (There are none of the confusing name repetitions as in Garcia Marquez's book, so you can easily pick up right where you left off and not fear you're forgetting something.)

This is also a fast-paced book, laden with characters you can identify with on some level. I read "House of the Spirits" right after finishing "One Hundred..." and in retrospect wish I had read them in the opposite order. Allende's book is a good introdution to Latin American literature and magical realism, and I think my reading of Garcia Marquez would have been enhanced by such an introduction.

"The House of the Spirits" gives the reader an extraordinary view of 20th century Chilean history. Through the Trueba family and the myriad characters that drift in and out of their lives, we see so many of the elements of the political and class struggle that continues until this day. Beginning with the landowner vs. tenant worker conflict and culminating with the left-wing vs. right-wing political/social conflict, we are given a glimpse into the inner workings of a country in turmoil. We see the horror of the Conservatives when a Marxist government is democratically elected, and their terror when the coup they so finely crafted becomes a dictatorship as terrible as they expected the Communists to be. Neither the left nor the right were winners--only the military.

I lived for several years in Chile during the 1990's. Even though Chile is emerging as a stable, fairly democratic economy, the political struggle remains. I could never grasp the true essence of my Chilean friends' passionate hatred for or passionate support of the Pinochet regime until I read this book. I always marveled that there was no middle ground. Now I understand why.

I read this book when I was 20, and loved it. It is a great story about life, death, family, friends, war, and everything else you can think of.

Isabel Allende manages beautifly to mingle fiction with reality, and tells the story of a family, and especially the relationship between a girl, who is telling the story, her mother and her grandmother. They are not the only characters in the book, and, as in real life, the story is filled with many different people that come through the door of anyones life, some stay for just a few seconds, some become best friends, some even enemies. But, even with so many different characters, they are very complex, yet very simple and real, which makes you laugh and cry along with them all through the book.

I loved this book in part because it is an excellent story, but also because it gave me an insight of what was happening in Chile during the 20th century, and how the people that lived through it were able to make it, and also because it showed me that the people we love are never gone from our lives, even if their physical selves are no longer with us.

"The Selected Poems of Rosario Castellanos" is a bilingual collection of the work of this important woman poet of Mexico. This is a bilingual edition, with Castellanos' Spanish originals and the English versions on facing pages. The poems have been translated by Magda Bogin, who co-edited the volume with Cecilia Vicuna.

Castellanos' work has a somber, introspective quality. Many of her poems are about death, pain, or sadness. Many of her lines demonstrate a rather dark world view. Example: "We give life only to what we hate" (from "Destiny"). Her language is at times romantic and sensuous, at times cynical: "Don't trust a man in love: he's hungry, / all he wants is to devour" (from "Celestina's Advice"). She sometimes uses memorable imagery: "On the lips of the wind I shall be called / a tree of many birds" ("Two Poems").

I found Castellanos' poetry to have a psychological quality that reminded me of the work of two other Latin American women poets: Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico) and Alfonsina Storni (Argentina). Those interested in Latin American poetry should seek out this volume.

I got this expecting some history of the women troubadours, but the history presented was, to put it most charitably, old research at best. I spotted numerous historical flaws, particularly around the so-called "droit du seigneur" which supposedly gave lords carte blanche to deflower virgins before they married. Current research seems to indicate that this custom was not at all pervasive, but Bogin makes it sound like /every/ lord was out boffing brides and she spends quite a while dwelling on the implications of it. That just irked me and was hardly the only inaccuracy I detected. The general tone is of a strident feminist stomping on those nasty ol' medieval men, something else that irritated me. I truly suspect that the book is just based on old research, and a new treatment might say something entirely different.

The author is at her best when she's talking about individual women troubadours and recording their actual songs/poems. I really haven't seen such a treasure trove of primary-source poetry and songs, so I'd definitely consider this as an addition to any budding bard's library; I'm glad I got it, myself. Just don't take the historical notes too seriously without doing a bit of research yourself for verification -- it is really hysterical in places.

I'm surprised that no one has yet written a review of this book; of all books on Provencale poetry, this is the most common in bookstores at the moment.

Here's my blurb for the uninitiated: The Troubadours were these fantastic baudy poets who composed in Old Provencale during the 12th Century, all around such characters as Eleanor of Aquataine. Everyone should find out more about them. But the big extra are the Trobaritz, women troubadours; for they actually composed extensively as well. We finally get to hear the other side of courtly love.

And for the initiated: Certainly this book is a great contribution to the study of Provencal poetry, literary feminism, etc etc. It is the most thorough yet approachable group of translations out there. But the translations are a bit clumsy. The poems come out pretty boring. The book depends on the value of the poetry of the Trobaritz as work by women, its feminist appeal, rather than its literary appeal; and that's both sad and dull. As one of the first serious treatments of the poetry of the Trobaritz it's invaluable, thank God it was written, it is the best so far that I know of. I'd be enormously proud of myself, if I completed such a work. But it is not as inspired a treatment as the Trobaritz deserve. Hopefully The Women Troubadours will pave the way for better translations that appreciate the poetry as well as the gender theory.

But then I have a general inclination to find the English translations grossly inadequate; so I'm certainly biased. Anyone want to improve upon my customer comment?

This volume aims for a college audience in that provides extensive background to understand the social context of the poetry - something a scholar of the poetry would know - and it provides rather literal translations of the poems - rather than reworkings of the poems that work in English. As such, this is a book you read for what you can learn rather than for literary pleasure.

Nonetheless, it is enjoyable reading for someone (like myself) with no particular interest in the region or the time nor interest in female literature solely for the gender of the author.

The most surprising piece is a poem written by a woman to a woman. One of the more interesting to me, is a poem which straddles the troubador and religious traditions.