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 Morningside by Téa Obreht

Blurb from Goodreads

From the critically beloved, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife and Inland, a magical novel of mothers and daughters, displacement and belonging, and myths both old and new.

There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to the Morningside.

After being expelled from their ancestral home, Silvia and her mother finally settle at the Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she know why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality.

Enchanted by Ena’s stories, Silvia begins seeing the world with magical possibilities and becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman who lives in the penthouse of the Morningside. Bezi Duras is an enigma to everyone in the building. She has her own elevator entrance and leaves only to go out at night and walk her three massive hounds, often not returning until the early morning. Silvia’s mission to unravel the truth about this woman’s life, and her own haunted past, may end up costing her everything.

Startling, inventive, and profoundly moving, The Morningside is a novel about the stories we tell—and the stories we refuse to tell—to make sense of where we came from and who we hope we might become.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! Wow. How time flies! Just like that, we are already on the last Monday of the first month of the year. It did take some time but we are finally in the closing days of January. I keep seeing memes saying how January feels so long. This is the same case as January 2023 which felt like it stretched for more weeks than it actually did. Anyway, I hope that the first month of the year has been great for everyone. I hope that this will also be the cast for the rest of the year which I pray will be filled with blessings and great news. I also hope that everyone had a great start to the week. I know, Mondays are our least favorite day of the week, at least the majority of us. I just came off a long holiday and I really don’t feel like working. Anyway, I hope everyone will be healthy throughout the year. With the new year comes the time to turn in new leaves.

To kick off another blogging week is a fresh Goodreads Monday update. A blogging week would not be complete without one. So far, my 2024 reading journey has been productive; I am currently reading my 11th book this month. I guess this is because I was able to sustain the momentum I gained in the past two years; the past two years were the most productive reading years I ever had. I hope that I don’t lose this momentum as the year progresses although I must say that I have quite lofty goals this year. For one, my reading challenges are brimming with thick books. As such, more than lofty goals, I have set realistic goals. But before I get lost in a sea of words, let me go back to what this post is about. Like my previous Goodreads Monday update, I am featuring a book written by a familiar name.

It was way back in 2015 when I first encountered Téa Obreht. I borrowed from my friend her copy of Obreht’s debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife. I admit, I did struggle a bit with the book because of its magical realist elements. This was a time when I hadn’t explored much of this genre. Nevertheless, I was in awe of the beauty of Obreht’s storytelling. It is this wonderful storytelling that made me reconsider dipping my toes again into the body of her work. I did skip her sophomore novel, Inland, but I am considering her latest novel, The Morningside which is set to be released later this year.

What is piquing my interest is how the novel is going to be different from her two earlier works. The Tiger’s Wife, for instance, was set in the Balkans where the writer’s father originated. It also had elements of folklore. Inland, on the other hand, was about the American frontier. Her third novel, meanwhile, is more apocalyptic. It is said to be a work of dystopian fiction which added my interest in the book. However, it seems that magical realist elements were again integrated into the novel. More than anything else, I want to rediscover a literary world that I last explored almost nine years ago.

I just might actually consider reading Inland before reading The Morningside. Anything can go so we’ll see how the future evolves. 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!