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:

The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias

Blurb from Goodreads

Guatemalan diplomat and writer Miguel Angel Asturias (1899–1974) began this award-winning work while still a law student. It is a story of a ruthless dictator and his schemes to dispose of a political adversary in an unnamed Latin American country usually identified as Guatemala. The book has been acclaimed for portraying both a totalitarian government and its damaging psychological effects. Drawing from his experiences as a journalist writing under repressive conditions, Asturias employs such literary devices as satire to convey the government’s transgressions and surrealistic dream sequences to demonstrate the police state’s impact on the individual psyche. Asturias’s stance against all forms of injustice in Guatemala caused critics to view the author as a compassionate spokesperson for the oppressed. My work,” Asturias promised when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature, “will continue to reflect the voice of the people, gathering their myths and popular beliefs and at the same time seeking to give birth to a universal consciousness of Latin American problems.”

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! I still feel sluggish after spending a week away from work; I spent a holiday in Vietnam, a country I fell in love with the first time I visited. Vietnam, as always, was a delight and after having spent a longer vacation there this time around, I can truly say that Vietnam is one of my favorite countries. But I have to put this at the back of my mind now as I have to go full throttle at the office. I have quite a lot on my plate. It does not help that I am also learning the ropes of my new function. Good luck to me on that. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great start to the week. I hope that everyone will have a great week ahead.

To kickstart the blogging week, I will be sharing a fresh Goodreads Monday update. Unfortunately, because of my vacation, I was not able to share one last week. To make up for this, I will be sharing two updates this week. After immersing myself in the works of African literature, I have commenced a journey to a different part of the literary world: Latin American literature. Like African literature, Latin American literature is a part of the literary world that I have severely underexplored. I tried to make up for this by holding my first Latin American literature back in 2021. Now, I am hosting my second although this time around, the stay will be a little brief as I will be focusing on books that are part of my reading challenges.

For this Goodreads Monday update, I am featuring Miguel Ángel Asturias’ The President. It was back in 2015 or 2016 that I first encountered Miguel Ángel Asturias. Imagine my surprise seeing his name on the list of Nobel Prize in Literature honorees. I must admit, I know very little of him and his works but seeing him on the list immediately piqued my interest. Sure, I know where Guatamela is but my knowledge about the country and its people is quite limited. I am hoping that through the works of Asturias, I will gain more insight into the Central American nation. Speaking of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the 2023 honoree will be announced this week. I am looking forward to who this year’s honoree is going to be.

Anyway, The President (also printed as Mister President) was originally published in 1946 in Spanish. The original title was El Señor Presidente. Based on my research, it is lauded as one of the hallmarks of Latin American literature, particularly of the dictator novels genre. This was a literary genre I first encountered in 2021 with Paraguayan writer Arturo Roa Bastos’ I The Supreme. Moreover, The President is laced with elements of what would eventually be known as magical realism; it is said that Asturias’ brand of magical realism is one of the earliest forms of the genre. All of these figure in my growing interest in the novel. I also hope to explore Asturias’ other works.

For now, I hope to obtain a copy of the book. 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!