Mostly because I hadn't found him in the library (they have it, obviously, but was checked out) before leaving, nor in the local bookstore, so then I was in Spain and figured I should start reading him while still there, and only found him in Spanish. But also because I need all the practice I can get in Spanish, and because I can't read it in the original language anyway, so who knows which translation will be the best. My experience with the Dutch translation of Doctor Zhivago was rather bad, anyway.

A larger problem with my reading him in Spanish is that it means I lose out on the finer details and on the style, as there are still some words I don't get. So at some point I should probably read it in English or Dutch after all, or reread it when my Spanish vocabulary is larger.