The Hibernation Book Club: Long Reads for Short Days

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MEETING

If you have always wanted to read big classic works of literature but have been daunted by their length and supposed complexity, we have a book club just for you! In the Hibernation Book Club, we will read one long classic novel every winter, dividing it up into shorter sections and meeting six times over the course of three months to work our way through it. Our title for the winter of 2025 is Edith Grossman’s 2003 translation of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

Told in two parts written ten years apart and widely regarded as the world's first modern novel and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous (mis)adventures of an aging man named Alonso Quijano from La Mancha, Spain, who becomes so obsessed with chivalric novels that he believes himself to be a knight errant named Don Quixote and sets out on his old horse Rocinante on a series of absurd quests, with his loyal squire, Sancho Panza by his side. The novel highlights the clash between fantasy and reality while satirizing the conventions of traditional chivalry stories. It is also one of the most-translated books in the world and one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2002, 100 major writers from 54 countries rated Don Quixote the world's best work of fiction. In this six-part program, we will read Don Quixote in installments of approximately 160 pages each and meet every other week to discuss it.

Moderated by Readers Advisory Librarian Cindy Haiken. To participate and for details about meeting virtually or in-person, contact Cindy at chaiken@wallingfordlibrary.org.