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:

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

Blurb from Goodreads

The 40th anniversary reissue of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Fear of Flying, with a new introduction by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner

Originally published in 1973 by Holt, Reinhardt and Winston, Fear of Flying, the internationally bestselling story of Isadora Wing by Erica Jong, coined a new phrase for a sex act and launched a new way of thinking about gender, sexuality, and liberty in our society. On the 40th anniversary of its initial publication, we, the original publisher, are reissuing this seminal work with a new introduction by Jennifer Weiner.

Why I Want To Read It

And just like that, it is Monday again! The weekends are over so, happy Monday everyone! I really hope and pray that the first day of the work week is brimming with happiness. Yeah, I do realize that Monday is the day of the week most of us dread the most. I can certainly understand why; I often find myself feeling sluggish every Monday. On the other hand, Mondays represent a fresh start, new doors, and new opportunities to become better. I hope that in this coming week, you will be able to accomplish everything you set out to achieve. I hope that your week will be productive. However, if you are not up to it, I hope you spend the week resting and recovering. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in body, mind, and spirit.

To kickstart the blogging week, I am posting a new Goodreads Monday update. I kicked off my reading year by reading works published in the previous year – this is a reading catch-up reminiscent of how I started my 2022 reading journey. February, in turn, turned into a foray into British and Irish literature – it was without design. I felt like it was the way to go after I opened proceedings with two works by James Joyce, the second of which, Ulysses, was my 1000th novel. For this Goodreads Monday update, however, I am not featuring a work of a British writer, rather, I am featuring Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying.

If there is one thing that Fear of Flying shares with Ulysses – and Trainspotting and my current read, Far from the Madding Crowd as well – is that they were both listed as part of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List. Actually, it was through must-read lists – including the aforementioned 1,001 BYMRBYD – that I first came across Fear of Flying. Originally published in 1973, the book was quite ubiquitous. It was one of those books that immediately grabbed my attention for reasons I cannot fathom. The moment I read the title, I just knew I wanted to read it, a case that is quite similar to Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Despite my initially not having an iota of what these two books were about, I ended up loving both of them. I am hoping for the same in Fear of Flying.

What is holding me back, however, is the book’s lowly rating on Goodreads. But I am not letting this prejudice my interest in the book. After all, it took me years to obtain a copy of the book. Oh. Quick research yielded that the book was written during the height of the Sexual Revolution of the 1970s, the second wave of feminism. Interesting. Because this is a book I have been looking forward to for a long time, I listed it as part of my 2023 Top 23 Reading List. How about you fellow reader? How was your Monday? What books have you added to your reading list? Do drop it in the comment box. For now, happy Monday and, as always, happy reading!

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