Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners but is currently 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 explain why you want to read it. It is that simple.

This week’s book:

The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch

Blurb from Goodreads

The Discovery of Heaven begins with the meeting of Onno and Max, two complicated individuals whom fate has mysteriously and magically brought together, They share responsibility for the birth of a remarkable and radiant boy who embarks on a mandated quest that takes the reader all over Europe and to the land where all such quests begin and end. Abounding in philosophical, psychological and theological inquiries – yet laced with humour that is as infectious as it is wilful – The Discovery of Heaven convinces us that it just might be possible to bring order into the chaos of the world through a story.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! It is Monday so it means it is time to go back to work, at least for non-Middle Eastern countries; they start their work week on Sundays. I guess most of us are not feeling happy it is already Monday. I guess I am an exception mainly because I am on vacation the entire week. This is after having had a very tedious first three weeks of the month, considering that I celebrated my birthday during the first week of the month. In a way, this vacation is my belated birthday celebration. To those who have to work, I hope you started the work week on a high note. We are given a new week to go after our goals. Over there in the Philippines – I am currently in Japan – a typhoon is causing disturbance. I hope everyone is safe and are doing well. I hope that the rest of the week will go well for everyone.

Woah. I just realized that today is the second to the last Monday of my birth month. In a couple of days, we will again welcome a new month. August is just over the horizon. As we enter the final stretch of July, I hope that the year has been kind to and great for everyone. If it went the other way around, I hope you get to experience a reversal of fortune during the remainder of the year. I hope that the last five months of the year will allow us to focus on ourselves and that it will allow us to achieve all the goals we set at the start of the year. I hope the remainder of the year will be brimming with blessings, good news, and positive energy. More importantly, I hope everyone will be healthy, in mind, body, and spirit.

To commence another blogging week is a fresh Goodreads Monday update. Reading-wise, July is an extension of my foray into the vast world of European literature; I commenced this journey way back in May. This means that I am also in the process of wrapping up this three-month journey that took me across the continent. I just finished Max Frisch’s I’m Not Stiller which transported me to Switzerland for the first time during these three months. My next read is Marcel Proust’s Cities of the Plain, the continuation of my goal to finish the French writer’s beloved classic, In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past. To align with the month’s main reading theme, I have featured works of European literature I am looking forward to in my Goodreads Monday update.

For this week’s update, I am featuring a writer who I just learned about today, the same as last week. I admit my foray into Dutch literature is glaringly sparse, to say the least. I just checked my list of books read and it confirmed what I knew: I have not read any books written by a Dutch writer which is kind of unfortunate. I hope that I get to redress this in the coming years. One way would be to expand my knowledge about Dutch writers; sadly, I don’t know that many. One of the Dutch writers I recently encountered is Harry Mulisch. I just learned that he had a prolific career producing over 80 works, including novels, essays, poems, and even philosophical musings. Among his books is The Discovery of Heaven, this week’s featured book.

Originally published in 1992 in Dutch as De ontdekking van de hemel, The Discovery of Heaven is among Mulisch’s most accomplished works; many a literary pundit considers it his magnum opus. In a 2007 poll conducted by NRC Handelsblad, the novel was voted as the best book written in Dutch by the publication’s readers. The book also earned Mulisch several accolades from various parts of the world including the 1999 Prix Jean Monnet de Littérature Européenne and the 1993 Multatuli Prize. All of these encomiums only underline why I have to or need to read the book. The praises just keep coming, making it imperative for me to dip my fingers into it. Oh, the book is also listed as one of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. All the more reason for me to read the book.

For now, the challenge is how to obtain a copy of the book. I just hope I get to obtain a copy of it. 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!