don quijote

Cervantes is clever and funny and good. The novel is really long, of course, and the writing style and themes are so consistent throughout the story that plot points can easily be mixed up and minor characters forgotten and all that, but even then there is an underlying humor and brilliance in every scene. Don Quijote is a fascinating person and truly a character in every definition of the word; his adventures in his world of chivalric romance are great examples of and sometimes challenges to big literary theory, like that of suspension of disbelief and internal/external plausibility, yet the story is still so fun to read. Anyone who loves novels or how they work or what they mean for society should pick up this book and see for themselves the charm and true merit of Don Quijote.