Is it worth reading?

I've been reading this for a while now and I'm only 140 pages in. Should I just put it off to the side until I'm more well read or should I power through it?

Are you having this much trouble with it? What translation are you reading? Bear in mind that Don Quixote is an old book, which references a lot of things that don't really exist anymore and that some of the writing (depending on the translation) is old-fashion on purpose to show off Don Quixote's craziness. If the definitions of these old words are your problem you should power through it, if not you should become more well read first.

WHAT IS BETTER? PART 1 or 2?

Should I read some chivalric romances before starting Quixote? Seems like it would give it context but I dunno.

Just read the fucking book you goddamn dilettante.

Part 1 is the hard satire and parody of his time, the true Quixote charm is here.
Part 2 is a more refined continuation of the story where the character progress and change a lot.
Obviously read both but you'll feel the difference between them. I've read three times now, gonna start the fourth pretty soon and I still can't tell which one is better or which one I prefeer.

...being willing to do background reading seems like the opposite of being a dilletante. Wtf

Step 1:Get off Veeky Forums
Step 2: Read the fucking book.
Step 3: Never come back to this aweful place.
Step 4: Get laid.

cry about it

My mom gave me the Barnes and Noble version for Christmas. It has a good bit of references in the footnotes and all. I've enjoyed the book up to this point but I'm not getting as much out of it as I feel I should be

It makes fun of all people that are not heartless progressivist realists...
So no.

Cervantes was a die-hard romance fan.

>A new translation by Edith Grossman
No.

Acquire Motteux.

I'm half way through the book and I honestly thought that Amadís de Gaul was just a literary device until right now.

Does it have that status because it's old or because even today it is high quality?

I haven't learned any Spanish since graduation (about a year) but I was pretty good. In Veeky Forums's opinion, would it be worth it to take a few months to a year of work to become fluent so I can read classics such as Don Quixote with the original text?

proto-postmodernism.

Yes. Though Don Quijote uses strange and arcane writing methods (purposely though) that can be difficult even for a native speaker. But after a while you get used to it. It also uses very dated words. But works like this or Gabriel García Márquez' are better read in Spanish because a great part of their charm comes from how the language flows. Especially the latter's works. I am pretty sure English readers dislike 100 Years of Solitude because it just doesn't work the same translated as it does in Spanish.

Read it in Spanish a few months ago.

The Francisco Rico edition is top-tier, if you can get your hands on it:
amazon.com/Don-Quijote-Mancha-Edición-Francisco-ebook/dp/B00AWWD72O/#nav-subnav