This year I am devoting to the challenge of reading the entire cannon of Dostoevsky. I am blogging about this as I go, and keeping a discussion log in the Club Read 2009 group.

http://www.thelectern.blogspot.com/

http://www.librarything.com/topic/55158

This is not a shameless plug for my blog or thread, but a search to widen and deepen the conversation about this great writer. If you are interested, please drop in and join the conversation. Everyone is welcome.

I tried reading Demons this year and was quite underwhelmed. It seemed to evolve into a romantic Tolstoy-ish kind of thing, which is not how I remember Dostoevsky. If anyone can confirm this, please do. I ended up just putting it down rather than continuing. (This is for the Pevear translation).

I finished The Possessed but I didn't like it that much either. Of the five major novels I still need to read A Raw Youth but so far The Possessed is my least favorite.

The Possessed is the most topical of Dostoevsky's novels. it needs a thorough understanding of the revolutionary groups and thinking that was current at the time to get the most out of it.