Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme that was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners but is now currently being hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog. This meme is quite easy to follow – just randomly pick a book from your to-be-read list and give the reasons why you want to read it. It is that simple.

This week’s book:

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

Blurb from Goodreads

In Hell of a Book, an African-American author sets out on a cross-country book tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Jason Mott’s novel and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more urgent: since his novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour.

Throughout, these characters’ stories build and build and as they converge, they astonish. For while this heartbreaking and magical book entertains and is at once about family, love of parents and children, art, and money, there always is the tragic story of a police shooting playing over and over on the news.

Who has been killed? Who is The Kid? Will the author finish his book tour, and what kind of world will he leave behind? Unforgettably powerful, an electrifying high-wire act, ideal for book clubs, and the book Mott says he has been writing in his head for ten years, Hell of a Book in its final twists truly becomes its title. 

Why I Want To Read It

And it is the last Monday of 2021! I can’t believe how quickly time passed us by. It still feels like yesterday that we welcomed 2021 brimming with hope. Now, we are just days from welcoming a new year. Wow. But as the year draws to a close, I hope you all have accomplished everything that you have set out to accomplish this year. If not, don’t be disheartened as there are more opportunities to complete them in the coming year. Such is the beauty of life: it never runs out of chances to let us do the things we want to do. I hope that that 2022 will be a year of great tidings, of healing, and of forgiveness, for you, for me, for everyone. Sure, it will still be dotted with challenges but with prayers and determination, nothing is impossible. I fervently hope and pray that this pandemic will end soon.

I expected that things will slow down, considering that the year will end soon. However, as most accountants would attest to, things are just bound to get more tedious. Year-end closing activities are waving! But that is for another day. As I have kept mentioning these past few weeks, I have been focusing on my reading challenges. My mad dash for the finish line has been productive as I managed to complete all three reading challenges I was aiming to complete! Finally a sigh of relief! Even though it has been a hectic few weeks, I always make it a point to post a Goodreads Monday update where I have been featuring books that I have recently added to my “want to read” list. This week’s featured book is Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book.

Honestly, the book has flown under my reading radar. It wasn’t only towards the end of the year that I have heard of it, when it won the National Book Award. It was enough to pique my interest but was not enough to add it to my reading list. My encounters with the book only increased as Hell of a Book was listed by several publications as one of the best books of 2021. This made me reevaluate adding the book to my (perpetually) growing reading list. The book’s Goodreads blurb further piqued my curiosity as the premise of the book seems to be like a story within a story. I hope to find a copy of the book soon so that I can immerse in what Mott’s prose can offer.

How about you fellow reader? What are the most recent additions to your reading lists? Perhaps you could share it in the comment box. For now, happy Monday! I hope you will all have a great week ahead! And as always, happy reading!

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