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 Third Realm by Karl Ove Knausgård

Blurb from Goodreads

From bestselling author Karl Ove Knausgaard, a kaleidoscopic novel about human nature in the face of enormous change—and the warring impulses between light and dark that live in all of us

Shapeshifting visitors, unsolved murders in the forest, black metal bands, and an online bank of thousands of people’s dreams—the star is back. Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Morning Star kept readers up all night, immersed with nine characters whose individual lives are heightened by the sudden appearance of a blazing new star, and The Wolves of Eternity portrayed the intimate experiences of two estranged half-siblings decades before the star rises. In The Third Realm, the effects of the star are felt around the world, as people start to reckon with what it might possibly mean.

With this next novel, the limitless scale and ambition of Knausgaard’s new universe are clear. This is life, death, the human condition, and the real-time creation of an epic and utterly immersive world.

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; I am also suffering from one. How I wish weekends were longer, even just for a day; one day is for resting, another for completing household chores, and the last day to pursue things that we are passionate about. Oh well, this is our reality. At least for now. We have no recourse but to pick up our energies quickly because we still have a long week to go. As such, I hope everyone started the workweek on a high note. I am looking forward to what the week has in store; it did start on a busy note. 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. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit.

Woah, time does fly fast. We are already in the last week of November. It still feels like the eleventh month of the year just started yesterday. It is just too bad that we cannot slow down or keep it from moving forward. This also means that 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 for anything ambiguous. 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 was shaped by books from these challenges. There is, I guess, nothing new with me cramming toward the end of the year. With my 2024 Top 24 Reading List done, I am focusing on the remaining five books on my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge.

Back to this weekly book meme. With no specific reading theme this month, 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 a familiar name, Karl Ove Knausgård. It was, however, only in the past few years that he has become a familiar presence, at least to me. His works – which include novels and collections of essays – are highly regarded across the world. This piqued my interest in his oeuvre; his countryman Jon Fosse’s awarding by the Swedish Academy is also a plus.

This year, the English translation of the third book in his Morning Star series was released. The Third Realm promises to be an engaging read; I have already read the second book in the series, my primer to Knausgård’s body of work. The book was listed by The New Yorker as among the best works of 2024, so far. It seems that The Wolves of Eternity is not enough a preparation for The Third Realm. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to reading the book; I also acquired a copy of the book in the series. How was your Monday, Tuesday rather? 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!