Friday 22 January 2016

Boop's Bookshelf: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevski



Crime and Punishment checks off 'A book more than 100 years old' in my 2015 Reading Challenge.


The Author
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881) was a Russian writer who predominantly explored human psychology in 19th century Russia in his literary works. He wrote several novels, short stories and essays throughout his life based around the social, political and spiritual clime of troubled Russia.

Synopsis
An impoverished student theorises that an extraordinary person can commit crime with no ramifications, if the result is to benefit mankind. Raskolnikov tests this theory and explores the mental impact this has on himself. 

My Thoughts
My first impressions from reading this, is that it is not going to be an easy read. Classic Russian literature is hard! all of the characters have several names depending on who is addressing them, and the names are not easily remembered. It took me a long time to get my head around who everyone was and how they were connected. We see this story through the perspective of the main character - Raskolnikov. Unlike many novels, the main character is not particularly likable, especially from the beginning as you (the reader) realises that his convulouted thoughts are contemplating how easily he could commit a murder. Raskolnikov stays unlikeable through the novel, mistreating his family and friends throughout. However despite all of that, you still don't want him to give himself up. 

He never shows remorse for commiting murder, I thought his main issue was realising that he is not an extroadinary person exempt from the ramifications of the crime he commited. he does eventually turn himself in, after wrestling with himself through all of the preceeding chapters. The punishment part of the title comes into play more with the mental torture he is afflicted with, rather than the coporal punishment of being sent away to do manual labour. that section of the story is incredibly small and pales into almost insignificance when compared with the rest of the text.

I found this a very hard book to get through, however I do feel that it was worth the read. 

My Rating...
Not particularly enjoyable, but it is an interesting read.

Saturday 2 January 2016

Happy New Year!

It's 2016 - happy new year! 



2015 has been a whirlwind, I moved out, moved again, quit my job, got engaged, went on 3 holidays, read a lot, had my appendix out, and all the rest...it's been a busy year! After having done so much this year, I don't feel too bad about not completing my 2015 new years resolutions...

2015 resolutions:

1. I will go hair dye free for a year
COMPLETED! I'll do a separate post about this with some picture updates! Yay me! 

2. I will get to the top of Ben Nevis
I made a good attempt at this. I regret not training as much as I feel I should have, but to be honest it was more my fear of being on a snowy mountainside that stopped me from completing this. I full on freaked out about being on slippery snow with a sheer drop to my right. I got higher than I did last year, which I feel is something to be proud of - regardless of not getting to the top! I won't be attempting this again this year... 

3. I will be able to run a 10k by the end of the year
I did not complete this. I did sign up to race for life 5k, but was deterred by unexpectedly getting my appendix removed! Since then I haven't done any running other than the odd bus chase! 

4. I will be regularly wearing a UK size 16 by the end of the year
We all know I didn't do this, I struggled a lot with my diet this year and had other things going on which took my focus away from this goal. Maybe 2016 will be the year I do this! 

5. I will deep condition my hair once a month
Half completed, I did well for about 5 months and then forgot to do it! regardless, my hair is in better condition so I feel that this is still a win.

I feel proud of myself. I know I didn't fulfill all of my goals, but what I have achieved I feel good about.

This year I have some new goals I'd like to set myself...so here we go! 



BOOM. I'll keep you updated on these! 

Happy new year everybody!