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:

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Blurb from Goodreads

A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been—including the ones she most wants to leave behind—in order to finally claim her own name and story.

At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat. 

Why I Want To Read It

And cue! Another work week has started. Happy Monday everyone! Oh yeah, Happy Valentines Day everyone! I hope you are all surrounded with love and by people who love and cherish you. I pray nothing happiness for everyone. I am hoping that you are all doing well, in body, mind, and spirit. I hope you are all doing well amidst the tumult that has enveloped us these past few years. While uncertainty still looms, I remain hopeful that things will look up as the year moves along. I believe that we are on the final stretch of this proverbial tunnel; light is making its way through. Small rays of light but it provides hope nonetheless. It is my fervent prayer that the pandemic will end soon. I am cognizant that it will take time for things to return to the “old normal” but what is important is that we can move around, uninhibited, sans the threat of the invisible enemy that has enveloped us these past two, going to three, years.

For most of us, Monday is our least favorite day of the week. We often feel sluggish, offshoot perhaps of a weekend party or adventures. One thing is for sure, most of us use Mondays as springboards for the rest of the week. On another note, Mondays also represent new doors for new opportunities. It symbolizes beginnings and I have learned that starting, most of the time, is the most difficult part of a journey. Blogging-wise, Mondays give me the chance to share books that are part of my reading list. While I have quite a lot of backlogs, I always find time to share a Goodreads Monday update. For the past few weeks, I have been featuring 2022 books that I have recently added to my reading list. For this week’s update, I am featuring Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky.

Like all of the writers I have featured in all my Goodreads Monday update for this year, I have never heard of Jenny Tinghui Zhang before. If my memory serves me right, her debut novel was one of the books featured by Goodreads in its 2022 anticipated list. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued. Not only was the book a debut novel but it is also a work of historical fiction. It is just right up my alley! Moreover, it covers a subject that I have never encountered before. That it explores the migrant experience in late 1800s America made me even more interested in what the book has to offer. The focus is on an anti-migrant law which reminded me of recent events. Because of the pandemic, many Asians faced discrimination all over the United States. I actually thought that the book was a work of young adult fiction because of the title and the book cover. Thankfully, I read the synopsis, else, I would have dismissed the book.

To be released in April 2022, I am crossing my fingers that I will get to obtain a copy of the book without much trouble. How about you fellow reader? What 2022 books are you looking forward to? I hope you could share it in the comment box. For now, happy Monday, and as always, happy reading!

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