Growing up as a suburban kid, even one with a fairly unique childhood, I can sympathize. There were so many times when I wanted to be bigger, older, more adventurous. I too reveled in fantasy worlds and would pretend I was a part of them. Shoot, I still have daydream moments that turn my rattletrap of a car into a star-fighter. Embracing reality doesn't mean giving up daydreams, not by a long shot, but I do think it means understanding which dreams can happen, then doing something about them. I cannot turn my jeep into an X-wing. As much as it breaks my heart to say it, I just can't. I can train for a marathon, however. I can travel to far off places I've never been. I can remember people's birthdays (my daydreams are a weird and varied bunch). There are always ways to make yourself more, to make yourself better. The difference between doing it and not is simply a matter of courage.

Up until know, my knowledge of Don Quixote has been pretty much limited to the incident of the windmill (which, by the by, is a brief, almost passing, part of the early story). No character, no book, however, can have such a lasting effect without being more complex than simple slapstick. Not even 200 pages in, I am already finding this true of Cervantes' opus, and there are still many roads for the valiant Don Quixote de la Mancha to explore.

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Author's Note: Something I learned while reading Bleak House was that great literature cannot be rushed. It's like the difference between driving and walking a city. Doing either one allows you to say you've been there, but it's only by taking your time and putting your feet on the ground that you come to appreciate the character of the place. Don Quixote is such a long book, in part, because it is actually made up of two books. "Part One" was published in 1605, while "Part Two" wasn't published until 1615. Both halves are weighty tomes in their own right and so I will treat them as such, spending this month on "Part One" and dedicating August to "Part Two." I am curious to see what changes I will find, both in the book and in myself, given the decade gulf between the two.