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 Silence of the Choir by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Blurb from Goodreads

FROM THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN

A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by “the most promising Senegalese writer of his generation” ( Le Monde ) and winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt

Seventy-two men arrive in the middle of the Sicilian countryside. They are “immigrants,” “refugees” or “migrants.” But in Altino, they’re called the ragazzi, the “guys” that the Santa Marta Association have taken responsibility for. In this small Sicilian town, their arrival changes life for everybody.

While they wait to know their fate, the ragazzi encounter all kinds of a strange vicar who rewrites their pasts, a woman committed to ensuring them asylum, a man determined to fight against it, an older ragazzo who has become an interpreter, and a reclusive poet who no longer writes.

Each character in this moving and important saga is forced to reflect on what it means to encounter people they know nothing about. They watch as a situation unfolds over which they have little control or insight. A story told through a growing symphony of voices that ends only when one final voice brings silence to the choir.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! It is the start of yet another workweek. Oh, I know. Most of us are suffering from a weekend hangover. How I wish weekends were longer, even just for a day. I know that most of you are still feeling sluggish. But, we have to pick up our energies quickly because we still have a long week to go. 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. Still, 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. 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 inching closer to the conclusion of the eleventh month of the year even though it feels like November just started yesterday. Unfortunately, we cannot slow down or reverse time. We are inching closer to the end of the year and the start of a new one. I hope that 2024 has been good and that the remaining months of the year will be filled with kindness, 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 lists. There is, I guess, nothing new with me cramming toward the end of the year. I am currently reading Abdelrahman Munif’s The House of Power, the twenty-third book from my 2024 Top 24 Reading List.

Back to this weekly book meme. As November has no particular reading theme, the books I have been featuring on this weekly update are an eclectic mix. Nevertheless, they share some similarities. For one, they were all published this year, or at least their English translations were released this year. They are also listed by literary pundits and magazines as among the best books of the year. Among these best books is an unfamiliar name, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. Today is just the first time I encountered the Senegalese writer although it seems that he has had quite an accomplished literary career. His 2021 novel La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men) won the Prix Goncourt and was longlisted for the Prix Médicis. It was translated into English just last year. A year later, another one of Sarr’s previous works was made available to Anglophone readers.

Silence du chœur was originally published in 2017 and was translated into Engish as The Silence of the Choir. The book was listed by The New Yorker as among the best works of 2024, so far. This was more than enough to pique my interest. The premise also caught my attention because of the urgency of its message. The refugee crisis has been prevalent in the past decade as geopolitical conflicts threaten communities across the globe. Sarr, it seems, tries to provide a different perspective vis-a-vis the subject. This further piqued my curiosity. For now, I just hope I can 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!