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:

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Blurb from Goodreads

From the Booker Prize finalist author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two rivers, all under the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. “Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf… you won’t regret it.” (Arundhati Roy)

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! After a brief two-day break, it is time to grind it out once again. How I wish weekends are longer and work weeks are shorter. Regardless, it is time to put our best foot forward for another tedious week at the office or at school. I know many are still feeling a little sluggish, especially coming from the weekend. Perhaps a weekend hangover? Nevertheless, I hope everyone picks up their pace and starts their work or school week on a high note. Mondays, after all, present opportunities to start afresh and to pursue our dreams. It is an opportunity to recalibrate, redirect, or perhaps even take a new path. Whatever Monday means to you, I hope the rest of the week will go in your favor. I hope that the week will flow smoothly. More importantly, I hope that everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit.

Just like that, the first half of September is already gone. We are slowly inching toward a new year. I hope that the remainder of the year will be kind to everyone. I hope and pray that everyone will be showered with blessings and good news. Reading-wise, September is an extension of my foray into recently published works, a journey I commenced last August. The goal is to read highly recommended books and books that are part of my 2024 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list. This also fulfills my goal of reading at least 15 new books this year. Actually, the main motivation for this journey is the announcement of the 2024 Booker Prize longlist. The list has provided me with several great reads. Three of the books in my 2024 To 10 Books I Look Forward To List were included in the long list.

Speaking of the Booker Prize, Elif Shafak has also been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, back in 2019. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World – shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize – was the first book written by Shafak I read; I did acquire The Bastard of Istanbul first. Five years later, I have read five of Shafak’s novels. This year, I am looking forward to her latest novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky. I wasn’t even aware that she was releasing a new work until midway through the year. It seems that the novel has several timelines, with one in ancient times. This immediately piques my interest because I believe this is the first time I am going to read a novel written by Shafak that is set in different periods. Sure, most of her books are works of historical fiction but they don’t flow through different periods. The concept interests me.

For now, I just hope I get to obtain a copy of the book and hopefully, soon. 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!