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I read two chapters from The Brothers Karamzov today. The first one involved "main character" Alyosha coming to terms with a great loss, eventually treating it as a sort of marker designating a new, hopeful chapter in his life. I loved the prose in this one, especially in the last few paragraphs of the chapter. There were many lines that I loved, but my favorite was: "Above him wide and boundless keeled the cupola of the heavens, full of quiet, brilliant stars." I don't want to get into any deep literary analysis here, but I love the imagery of this — that the stars act as a sort of ramshackle decoration to the top of the heavens, which are apparently lower than expected. The second chapter deals with Alyosha's brother Dmitry as he embarks on the path that is hinted will ultimately lead to tragedy. No passages stuck out to me here, but it was a tense and fun-to-read chapter.

As for what else I did today, I got my taxes done and went to the gym. I also ate a really good breakfast at my favorite diner. It was a nice day off.