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:

They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy

Blurb from Goodreads

Painting an unrivalled portrait of the vanished world of pre-1914 Hungary, this story is told through the eyes of two young Transylvanian cousins, Count Balint Abady and Count Laszlo Gyeroffy. Shooting parties in great country houses, turbulent scenes in parliament, and the luxury of life in Budapest provide the backdrop for this gripping, prescient novel, forming a chilling indictment of upper-class frivolity and political folly, in which good manners cloak indifference and brutality. Abady becomes aware of the plight of a group of Romanian mountain peasants and champions their cause, while Gyeroffy dissipates his resources at the gaming tables, mirroring the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself. The first book in a trilogy published before World War II, it was rediscovered after the fall of Communism in Hungary and this edition contains a new foreword.

Why I Want To Read It

Ah. It is Monday again, the day everyone – at least most of us – dreads. The weekends do leave something to be desired. How I wish they were longer. Nevertheless, it is time to perk up and gear up for another work week. While most of us dread the first day of the week, I also see Mondays as an opportunity to start afresh. It is a window of opportunity to go after our goals. With this, I hope that everyone has started the work week on a high note even though they still feel sluggish. Here’s to a great work week ahead; may it be filled with good tidings and positive energy. Brush those negativities away.

Oh. I just realized. Today is the last Monday of June. How time flies! We are nearly halfway through the year. I hope that 2024 has been kind to everyone. I hope that the remainder of the year will shower us with blessings and good news. We still have six more months to achieve what we want and go after our heart’s desires. For this year, I have set some lofty goals, reading-wise. I am crossing my fingers that I get to complete them before the year ends. I hope we all end this year triumphantly. More importantly, for us to achieve our goals and dreams this year, I hope everyone remains healthy, in body, mind, and spirit, for the entirety of the year.

To kick off another blogging week, I am featuring a fresh Goodreads Monday update. June has been an extension of my foray into the works of European Literature. I commenced this journey last month when I focused on the works of European Nobel Laureates in Literature. However, I realized that I still have quite a lot of works of European writers that I wanted to read; most of these books are part of my active reading challenges. One such book – it is part of my 2024 Top 23 Reading List – is László Krasznahorkai’s Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming. This is my second book by the Hungarian writer. To align with the main reading theme, I have featured works of European literature I am looking forward to in my Goodreads Monday update.

For this week, I am featuring another Hungarian writer. It was actually just today that I learned about Miklós Bánffy. He was a nobleman and his complete name is Count Miklós Bánffy de Losoncz. Hmmm. Interesting because the first book he wrote that I encountered was The Transylvanian Trilogy; it was also published as A Transylvanian Tale and The Writing on the Wall. The first thing that I relate to Transylvania is Bram Stoker’s Dracula; the titular Dracula is a count. Anyway, that is an aside. Count Bánffy is also a politician who served as a Foreign Minister of Hungary in his cousin Count István Bethlen’s government of 1921.

His trilogy was published between 1934 and 1940. The first book in the trilogy is They Were Counted (Megszámláltattál, 1934). The entire trilogy is a work of historical fiction that captures the decline of the Hungarian aristocracy and the loss of Hungary as a nation following the outbreak of the First World War. This is one of the reasons why I want to read the book. This is on top of being able to explore the works of a writer whose oeuvre I have not explored before. I just 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!