That's Right, I Read Dostoevsky

"It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do..." -Lester Burnham, American Beauty.

I finished The Brothers Karamazov. 

I. Me. Steve. I did it. I read every word of the 1,045 pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Or, more accurately, Andrew MacAndrew's English translation thereof. 

You can put it on the board, yes.

Ok, so, I am making more of a big deal of it than even I consider it to really be, but... disregarding Harry Potter books, I just have a record of not finishing books that I start, especially books of significant length.

I am eager to learn more about the book I just read and to say thoughtful things about it, but now I am focused on writing about the accomplishment of actually having read it.

1,045 pages sounds daunting. I bought the book at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on May 30, I am pretty sure I began reading it on the flight to Denver I took that day. I am not certain that I got even 10 pages in. 

I completed it shortly after midnight on August 15th. 77 days. That averages to 13.5 pages per day. 13.5 pages per day. Suddenly doesn't sound so daunting, eh? I had set a goal of a mere 10 pages per day, amounting to a desired completion date of September 15. Exceeding my goal by an average of 3.5 pages per day amounted to completing my reading project a month early. 

Of course there were some days when I read zero pages, and some, especially in the last week or so, where I am pretty sure I took down a full 100 pages in 24-hour spans. Pretty sure I did that at least once as the book got riveting towards the end.