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:

Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Blurb from Goodreads

Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Fyodor Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a “novel-pamphlet” in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. What emerged was a prophetic and ferociously funny masterpiece of ideology and murder in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Why I Want To Read It

The weekend went by like a flash. Just like that, it is Monday again. I hope everyone had a great start to the work week. I know. Monday is certainly the most hated day of the week. Most of us are still feeling sluggish. I just hope the weekends are longer. I guess the weekend here was a blessing because it finally rained. But today, the oppressive heat is back. Nevertheless, I hope you are experiencing better weather than we do here in the Philippines. Speaking of. Today is the last Monday of May. In a couple of days, we will be welcoming the sixth month of the year. Woah. Times flies! Regardless, I hope that the work week will go smoothly for everyone. I hope you are starting the work week on a high. Here’s to a great work week ahead; may it be filled with good tidings and positive energy. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in body, mind, and spirit.

To kick off another blogging week, I am featuring a fresh Goodreads Monday update; this has become an integral part of my weekly blogging routine. This month, I immersed myself in the works of European writers, with a particular focus on Nobel Laureates in Literature. This journey introduced me to new worlds – Knut Hamsun, Patrick Modiano, Doris Lessing, and Imre Kertész among them – while, at the same time, making me re-orbit literary universes that I haven’t been to in a while, such as the worlds of Laxness and Hermann Hesse. But now, the journey has concluded so I am shifting my focus to other European writers; I am currently reading Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, my second novel by the British writer but the first in nearly five years. European literature will also be the theme for my upcoming June reading journey.

But back to the theme of this blogging update. Since it is all set that European literature will still be the theme of my June reading month, I will be aligning it with my Goodreads Monday updates. With this, I am featuring a work by a very familiar writer whose literary territory I haven’t been to in a while. Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky is one of the main reasons why, after Japanese literature, Russian literature has taken my keen interest. His novels Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment are among the most complex books I read. They are also among my favorite all-time reads. However, it has been six years since I last read one of Dostoevsky’s works. This year, I listed Poor People on my 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge in the hope of rekindling our reader-writer relationship.

For this update, however, I am featuring a different Dostoevsky work. During one of my random (or perhaps not) ventures into the bookstore, I came across the Russian writer’s Demons. To be honest, I was not expecting to find him there. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise and despite having no iota about what the book was, I did not hold back from obtaining a copy of it. Surprise, surprise. The book, apparently, is listed as one of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Further, the book is based on a true political murder. From the books by Dostoevsky I have read so far, I am guessing this will be another deep dive into a character’s psychological profile. I am still willing to be surprised though.

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!