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:

An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector

Blurb from Goodreads

What to make of a writer who follows the metaphysical heights of her great Passion According to GH with a book that looks suspiciously like a romance novel?

In The Apprenticeship, or The Book of Pleasures, Clarice Lispector tries to discover how to bridge the gap between people, or how to even begin to try.

A woman struggles to emerge from solitude and sadness into love, including sexual love: her guide on this journey is Ulisses, who (yes) leads her patiently into the fullness of life. The Apprenticeship was a bestseller and, as her biographer Benjamin Moser writes, “This accessible love story surprised many readers. When it came out, an interviewer said: ‘I thought The Book of Pleasures was much easier to read than any of your other books. Do you think there’s any basis for that?’ Clarice answered: ‘There is. I humanized myself, the book reflects that.’”

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday again I guess! As promised, I will be sharing two Goodreads Monday – by now, a weekly blogging tradition – updates for this week. This is to make up for last week when I missed to share an update. Today is also the second day and the first Monday of October. How time flies! With the year slowly drawing to a close, I hope that the coming months will be filled with nothing but good news and positive vibes. I hope everyone will get repaid for the hard work they put in during the year. Let us end the year with a bang. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit.

I am currently in the midst of a foray into one of the parts of the literary world that I have severely underexplored: Latin American literature. To redress this, I hosted my first Latin American literature back in 2021, a memorable journey that introduced me to a diverse set of Latin American writers. However, Latin American literature is a vast territory which means I still have a lot to explore. This led to my second Latin American literature month this year. However, my stay will be brief as I will be focusing on books that are part of my reading challenges.

For this Goodreads Monday update, I am featuring Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector and her novel An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures. It was during the pandemic that I first encountered Lispector. I kept encountering her through online booksellers. She immediately piqued my curiosity which makes me wonder why I am featuring her in a Goodreads Monday just now. I also am not sure why. Maybe because most of her books are rather short? Anyway, I am curious about Lispector’s oeuvre. Her oeuvre has recently been gaining wider global recognition, just like in the case of Danish writer Tove Ditlevsen. While it can be said that it is a little late, I am nevertheless glad their works are gaining this wide coverage.

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!