Boris Akunin's The State Councilor

I enjoyed reading the first book of the Earst Fandorin series a couple of years ago, and was eager to read The State Councilor, but I was greatly disappointed by the novel.  Fandorin is overshadowed by several other characters, and at times his main contribution seems to be standing quietly while things are happening to/around him.  He doesn't seem particularly clever or insightful, and certainly doesn't rise, in this novel, to the level of a character with a series named for him.  Part of the problem might be that the novel itself seems neither carefully plotted nor interesting.  I kept reading it because I assumed that something incredible was about to happen in the pages ahead.  I thought that was starting to happen as the baths episode unfolded, but it never actually did.  Not only was that episode improbable, but it also seemed like Akunin had rushed to finish it.  The result there, as in other parts of the novel, was that it felt hastily completed.

It is possible that the novel was more nuanced in Russian, and the translation didn't capture subtleties throughout the novel.  Fandorin's final act in the novel might, for instance, have seemed more clearly set up in the original language.  In this translation, it seemed almost unrelated to the rest of the novel.
In the end, The State Councilor is pretty pedestrian stuff.

A Winter's Respite Readathon

And now on to the two-week readathon (tonight through January 29), organized by Michelle@ True Book Addict.  I'm intrigued by the two-week format, and hope to finish a couple more books during that time.

I wrapped up the Bout of Books readathon having finished Hockey Night Fever and almost completing Voices from Chernobyl, which I have since completed (btw--the documentary The Russian Woodpecker is a great follow-up to reading Voices).  I've just received a history of Ukraine, The Gates of  Europe, which I plan to work on during the Winter's Respite event.  I've also got an ARC of Stalin and the Scientists, which I've already begun, so I'll be working on that one as well.

Day 1--Bout of Books 18

I started off the morning reading Adam Bede and got about 70 pages in.  The middle of the day consisted of lots of family fun (last day of Christmas break!), so I didn't get any reading in.  (I also lost several games of Yahtzee and Settlers of Cataan, but that's besides the point.)

End of the day, I read some more of the extremely entertaining Hockey Night Fever--a great read for those who grew up, and fell in love, with hockey in the 1970s.

Bout of Books 18

New Year's Day is one of my favorite holidays because everything resets.  Year-long reading challenges are fantastic when you are on pace to succeed: in the years when that has been the case, I've really enjoyed reading throughout the fall.  When I've gotten behind early, as I did in 2016, however, I feel a growing sense of failure that only goes away when the year ends and new challenge begins.

That's where I am today:  start of another year-long challenge that I plan to complete.  The Bout of Books 18 challenge is a great way to get some momentum at the start of the challenge.  It begins tonight at 12:01 am and runs for a week.

In past reading marathons, I haven't been able to stay up to start at 12:01--tonight, I think I'm ready to read right at the start before sleep overwhelms me.

I plan to complete a couple of books I received for Christmas:  Voices from Chernobyl and the much lighter Hockey Night Fever.  I'll keep reading Gareth Stedman Jones' Karl Marx:  Greatness and Illusion and probably some random books I pick up during the week.  One project I've set for myself this year is to read a novel or two from a specific 19th-century novelist each month:  January is George Eliot month, so I will probably begin Adam Bede this week as well.