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:

Parade by Rachel Cusk

Blurb from Goodreads

rom the exhilarating mind of Rachel Cusk, author of the Outline trilogy, Parade disturbs and defines the novel.

Midway through his life, an artist begins to paint upside down. Eventually, he paints his wife upside down. He also makes her ugly. The paintings are a great success.

In Paris, a woman is attacked by a stranger in the street. Her attacker flees, but not before turning around to contemplate her victim, like an artist stepping back from a canvas.

When a mother dies, her children confront her the stories she told; the roles she assigned to them; the ways she withheld her love. Her death is a kind of freedom.

An artist takes on a series of pseudonyms to conceal his work from his mother and father. His brother does the opposite. They share the same parents, but they’ve inherited different things.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! Well, technically it is already Tuesday so, happy, Tuesday everyone. I hope everyone started the workweek on a high note even though I surmise that it is not something most of you are looking forward to; I, for one, dread Mondays. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to what the week has in store. Mondays, after all, also present new opportunities to learn, start a new adventure, or even explore new worlds. Despite a sluggish start to the week – I hope not – I hope everyone will be able to gradually build momentum as the week moves forward. I hope everyone makes it through the week. I hope that the week will flow smoothly. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit.

Woah, time does fly fast. We are nearly midway through November. It still feels like the eleventh month of the year just started yesterday. We cannot reverse it. We are inching closer to the end of the year and to the start of a new one. I hope that 2024 has been a good one and that the remaining months of the year will be filled with kindness. I hope it will shower everyone with blessings and good tidings, good news. I hope your prayers get answered or that you at least achieve a sense of clarity. I hope that everyone gets repaid for their hard work. I hope that everyone achieves all their goals this year. With several reading challenges still ongoing, my November reading journey is going to be shaped by books from these said lists. There is, I guess, nothing new with me cramming toward the end of the year. I am currently reading Sami Bindari’s The House of Power, the fifteenth book from my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge.

Back to this weekly book meme. As November has no particular reading theme, the books I have been featuring on this weekly update is eclectic. Nevertheless, they share some similarities. For one, they were all published this year. They are also listed by literary pundits and magazines as among the best books of the year. Among these best books is a familiar name, Rachel Cusk. Technically, she is not quite familiar to me as I have only read one of her works, her Booker Prize-longlisted novel Second Place (2021). It was actually through the Booker Prize that I first came across her. Second Place did impress me despite its abstract concept. It made me look forward to reading more of the Canadian writer’s works. In fact, I obtained another one of her works during the 2023 Big Bad Wolf Sale.

Now, I wasn’t even aware that she was releasing a new work this year. Regardless, I am looking forward to Parade mainly because it pushes the boundaries of storytelling, at least that is how The Guardian advocates it. I can see why. Second Place provided me a different dimension upon which to appreciate storytelling and writing. Cusk has been known for refusing to conform to the conventions of storytelling, a plus for her from me. I can only expect the same from Parade. For now I just hope I could obtain a copy of the book. 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!