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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

The Sunday Post #354

On The Blog Recently

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• 2023 Reading Statistics
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In My Reading Life

It took several weeks, but I finished Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky! I've been procrastinating this book for decades because it's a chunky beast. I'm glad I finally forced myself to read it. I got through it much faster than I thought I would because it's more readable than I expected.

It's about a college student called Raskolnikov. He's a narcissistic murderer who spends about 1/3 of the book unconscious, but he still manages to have a more active social life than me.

Raskolnikov is an unpleasant dude. He describes himself as a "Superman" or "Napoleon" who doesn't need to follow laws. He's going to accomplish great things and, to do them, he needs to be free from the morals that govern other humans. However, Raskolnikov has a big problem. He's broke and can no longer afford college or his apartment. To solve his money issues, he murders two elderly pawn brokers.

To Raskolnikov's dismay, he discovers that he's human. He starts to feel (somewhat) bad about the murders and is paranoid about getting caught. As the novel progresses, he becomes more and more mentally unhinged until he's too consumed with guilt and fear to function.

Raskolnikov is a psychologically complicated guy. He's clearly mentally ill from the start. He's delusional, prone to extreme mood swings, and can't see beyond his own interests. I guess he's a proto-Nazi? This book is older than Nazis, but Raskolnikov divides the world into elite humans and parasites. He doesn't see a problem with killing parasites.

But, sometimes he's nice? He has a massive group of friends and family members who adore him. That's one of my complaints about the book. There are too many characters and subplots! And everybody talks way too much! And everyone is excessively dramatic about everything! It's confusing and makes the plot drag. Between the long conversations and Raskolnikov's tedious inner monologue, I struggled a bit. I did enjoy how complicated Raskolnikov is, though. He feels like an authentic (horrible) person. I kept slogging because I wanted to know what would happen to him.

Stop reading now if you don't want spoilers: I thought the epilogue was disappointing. The author suggests that becoming Christian and getting a girlfriend can fix crime and mental illness. I know this book is from the 1860s, and we've learned a lot since then, but I just spent 650+ pages reading about a violent Nazi with severe emotional problems. The problems are solved by sex-worker Sonya and her Bible. I feel sorry for Sonya. She's taking on a lot of baggage. If Raskolnikov ever gets out of prison, she needs to run far, far away from him. Don't trust him, Sonya! You deserve better.

Then I read a tiny classic. It was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I guess this is a philosophy book? If you're new to classics and don't want to tackle Crime & Punishment, then this is a good place to start. It's only 190 pages, and the plot is straightforward.

The main character is a shepherd boy from Andalusia who badly wants to travel. His wanderlust leads him to fortune tellers, thieves, warriors, alchemists, and treasure chests. The book is about listening to your deepest desires and paying close attention to your environment so you don't miss opportunities to make your dreams come true. Sometimes life doesn't go as planned, but you still end up exactly where you want to be.

The plot is too simplistic and mystical woo-woo for my tastes, but it's a hopeful little book. Each page will give you something to think about. The main character has an awesome attitude about life. He knows what he wants, believes in himself, and sees every plot twist as a learning opportunity.

I think this book oversimplifies life because there are many reasons why a person can't follow their dreams, and the book doesn't acknowledge those reasons, but it's accessible philosophy. I thought it was . . . fine.

In The Rest Of My Life

Story time!

You know how most of the US was in a deep freeze last week? Well, in Colorado, it was below 0, snowing, and windy for days. Brooklyn's school was closed. The gym was closed. The roads were closed because cars kept sliding on ice and wrecking.

I got bored, so I decided to take every book off my shelves and dust each one. This is a massive task because I have 6 bookcases, and they're stuffed to the point of collapse. It's a stupid number of books.

Getting the books off the shelves and dusting took a whole day. Then it was time to put books back on the shelves, and . . . no. My arms and back hurt. I'm not sure if the pain was from the books or shoveling snow, but it sucked. The floors of two rooms and the hallway were completely covered in books. I had made an overwhelming mess.

Luckily, I have an awesome used bookstore in my town that can help with my problem. Since I'm too lazy to put the books on the shelves, I decided to trade a bunch of them at the store. I made a stack of books I'll never reread. Then I made a stack of books I know are at the library. If I want to reread them, I can get them from the library. Then I made a stack of mass market paperbacks because I hate them.

Then Brooklyn came in the room and asked why I was piling books in front of the closet. I told her, "To stop the evil clown from getting out." That's probably why I shouldn't have children.

Anyway, I ended up with 350-something books in my clown barrier. I still have more books that I want to trade in. I haven't gone through all of them yet.

The clown barrier is double stacked. There are more books behind these books. Also, yes, I've read every brick in the barrier. (During the deep freeze, I saw a guy on TikTok saying that people who make bookish content don't actually read. They just buy books. I'll have you know, I do both!)

When the roads reopened, I called the used bookstore and asked if I could bring them 350 books. They were like, "LOL, no. There's a daily limit." I learned I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the bookstore. Also, I'm not putting these things back on the shelves. The clown barrier stays until all of it is traded.

So, that's how I spent the deep freeze. I wanted to dust and ended up making a bunch of work for myself.

These are the books from one shelf. Imagine this six times. Also, ignore the bunched-up rug. To fix it, I have to move the desk, and I'm too tired to be **aesthetic.**

Oh, I have a question! What do you do with ARCs? I usually dump them in the Free Library, but I have some that people might actually want. I have Sadie, The Bear And The Nightingale, and a few others. How do I get them out of my house so I never have to dust them again?

For More Bad Decisions:

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Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!