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:

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Blurb from Goodreads

With precisely 35 canvases to his credit, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of 17th-century art. The meager facts of his biography have been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. Yet Vermeer’s extraordinary paintings of domestic life, with their subtle play of light and texture, have come to define the Dutch golden age. His portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination for centuries—and it is this magnetic painting that lies at the heart of Tracy Chevalier’s second novel of the same title.

Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer’s prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel’s quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant—and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! That is if you find something to be happy about on Mondays. HAHA. I know. Like most of you, Monday is my least favorite day of the week. Thankfully, we only have to report for three days this week here in the Philippines. As a predominantly Catholic country, we observe Holy Week, with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as traditional holidays. With this, I hope everyone will have a week full of reflections. For those who have to work the entire week, I hope that the week will go well for everyone. I also hope that you started the week on a high note. I hope that you all had a great start to the work week and that the rest of the week will go well for everyone.

I am reminded that today is also the last Monday of the third month of the year, which means that we are already a quarter through the year. I hope that the year has been kind to everyone and that the remainder of the year will be as kind, if not, kinder and better. I hope that this year will brim with happiness and prosperity. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in body, mind, and spirit. Kicking off another blogging week is a fresh Goodreads Monday update. In the first two months of the year, I have featured new books, i.e. books to be released this year which I am looking forward to but for March, I decided to shake things up by sharing works written by female writers. This is in line with the month’s main theme: Women’s History Month. I am also in the midst of a reading journey featuring works of female writers.

This week, I am featuring Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. I can’t fully remember when I first encountered the book but one thing is for sure, it isn’t recent. I believe it was way back during my university days. Or it could be that what I first encountered was the painting that inspired the novel; I think it was in one of my Humanities classes. Indeed, Chevalier’s 1999 novel was inspired by the painting by Johannes Vermeer of the same title. Another possibility is the film adaptation of the novel which starred Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Regardless, Girl with a Pearl Earring has piqued my interest and I am curious about what the book has in store. Two elements of the novel captured my interest: its delving into the world of the arts and its historical dimensions.

The novel, which was Chevalier’s sophomore work, has also earned the American-British writer several accolades. This makes me look forward to reading the book even more. I just hope I get 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!