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 Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

Blurb from Goodreads

The Nobelist’s latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.

In September 1913, Mieczysław, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the surrounding highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone–or something–seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore, and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! It is the start of another work week. Yes. I know. It is that dreaded day of the week again. From a different vantage point, Mondays present new opportunities to start afresh. It is an opportunity to learn something new or start a new adventure. It is an opportunity to recalibrate, redirect, or perhaps even take a new path. I know most of us are feeling sluggish but it is time to slug it out, whether at school, at the office, or just at life in general. It will be a long week ahead, so I hope everyone shrugs off the weekend blues, slowly picks up their pace, and gradually builds it up as the work/school week progresses. 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.

Woah. Today is the last day of September. It seems like it was just yesterday when it started but now we are about to greet the tenth month of the year. What are you looking forward to in October? Whatever it is, I hope that the remainder of the year will be kind to everyone. I hope and pray that the final stretch of the year will however everyone with blessings and good news. I hope that everyone gets repaid for their hard work this year. In terms of reading, September was a mixed bag. It was an extension of my foray into recently published works, a journey I commenced last August but also an immersion into books that are part of my reading challenges. After exhausting recently published books, I am currently reading Gu Hua’s A Small Town Called Hibiscus, the 21st book from my 2024 Top 24 Reading List I read.

Regardless, for this weekly book meme, I am featuring books that have been or are about to be published this year. Among these books is Polish Nobel Laureate in Literature Olga Tokarczuk’s latest novel, The Empusium. Before her being awarded the Nobel Prize back in 2019 (she was the 2018 awardee), I had never encountered Olga Tokarczuk nor had I read any of her works before. That Nobel Prize recognition introduced me to a new voice and a new territory. I would read three of her works after the announcement, including what the Swedish Academy cited as her magnum opus, The Books of Jacob. The book left me in awe and the citation was truly earned. With every novel by Tokarczuk I read, I am introduced to a new world, Flights was an abstract story but fascinating.

I didn’t even know that Tokarczuk was releasing a new work until I researched for autumn book releases. The book immediately caught my fancy; after all, it was inspired by another Nobel Laureate in Literature’s work. This made me look forward to the book which, upon encountering it at the bookstore, I obtained a copy of without further ado. Now, I am reserving the book to be my 100th read this year; I just have to finish my current read and another book before I cross the three-digit mark for the third year in a row. 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!