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:

Banaag at Sikat by Lope K. Santos

Blurb from Goodreads

Lope K. Santos’s novel, Banaag at Sikat, is a love story framed as a political tale. Published in 1906, it was later hailed as Asia’s first proletariat novel. It revolves around Delfin, a poor man in love with Meni, a capitalist’s daughter. Delfin is a socialist while Felipe, his friend, is an anarchist. Delfin wants the citizens to have more rights in business and property relations. He believes that society could be changed through education. On the other hand, Felipe believes in tearing down society’s walls. Factories should be owned by those who work there and land owned by those who till it. Banaag at Sikat mirrors the clash of forces during the American empire in the Philippines. Its burning passages on race, class, and colonialism still resonate today. Translated by ‘one of Asia’s best writers’, it is hoped that this modern rendering will inspire new readers to shape their lives so they ‘can help change the world’.

Why I Want To Read It

And, the weekend is over. Also, today is the last day of my birth month, which means July is over and tomorrow, we will be welcoming the eighth month of the year, August. But before that, I want to greet everyone a happy Monday. That is if any of you find something happy about Mondays. Interestingly, today is the end of a month but the start of a week. After all, endings mean the beginning of a new one. I hope that August, and the months succeeding it, will be a great month. I also hope that everyone had a great start to the week. I hope that everyone will have a great and productive week ahead. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in body, mind, and spirit.

The first day of the week also means a new blogging week which I always open with a fresh Goodreads Monday update. Not only has it become a part of my weekly blogging tradition but it has also become an integral part of my discovery of new titles. In the past two months, I have been featuring works of Asian literature in my weekly updates. Since April, I have been featuring books that are in line with my reading motif for the month. Except for Japanese literature, I recently realized how lacking my exploration of Asian literature is. Philippine literature, my very own, is admittedly one of the parts of the literary world that I have to explore more. But I am patting myself on the back because this year, I was able to read four works of Filipino literature, the most I did in a year. To be fair, I wasn’t able to read any last year so I was just making up.

Because of this, and to close my July blogging month, I will be featuring the work of a Filipino writer, Lope K. Santos’ Banaag at Sikat. The title is quite familiar because it was mentioned during our high school (or maybe elementary) history classes. I also recently came across the book during a random trip to the bookstore. Apparently, it was part of the Southeast Asian Classics series by Penguin Books. I recently read one of the books from this series, Amado V. Hernandez’s The Preying Birds (Mga Ibong Mandaragit), Interestingly, Santas was Hernandez’s mentor. Santos was mentioned in the book by Hernandez. Both books were also translated from Tagalog.

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!