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:

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

Blurb from Goodreads

From a visionary Mexican author, a hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story that reimagines the fall of Tenochtitlan.

One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the city of Tenochtitlan – today’s Mexico City. Later that day, he would meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.

Cortés was accompanied by his nine captains, his troops, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn, former slave, and Malinalli, a strategic, former princess. Greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely princess Atotoxli, sister and wife of Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance to the city. As they await their meeting with Moctezuma – who is at a political, spiritual, and physical crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get himself through the day and in quest for any kind of answer from the gods – the Spanish are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the city, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.

You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenochtitlan at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Alvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counter-attack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! Well, technically it should be “Happy Tuesday everyone!” It is the start of yet another workweek. I know. Most of us are not looking forward to Mondays because most of us are suffering from a weekend hangover. 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. But then again, this is our reality. We have no choice but to conform to society’s expectations. We have 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 know it is going to be a tedious one but I am looking forward to what the week has in store. On the other hand, Mondays, 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.

Time does fly fast. Just like that, we have already entered the second half of December. Before we know it, we will already be welcoming the new year. I hope that 2024 has been good and that the remaining days of the year will be filled with kindness, blessings, and good tidings. 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 December reading journey was shaped by books from these challenges. There is, I guess, nothing new with me cramming toward the end of the year. I have just completed Yukio Mishima’s Thirst for Love, thus, completing my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge. I am just now down to my 2024 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list although my chances of completing it are quite slim; I have yet to acquire a copy of one of the ten books on the list.

Back to this weekly book meme. With no specific reading theme in the past few months, the books I have been featuring on this weekly update are an eclectic mix. Some share some similarities. For one, they were all published this year, or at least their English translations were released this year. Some are books that are listed as among the best novels of 2024 by literary pundits and magazines; I have been patiently perusing such lists to look for books that I can include in my perpetually growing reading list. Among the books I encountered in such lists is Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires. Before this year, I had never encountered the Mexican writer but the book immediately piqued my interest. I first encountered it earlier this year as one of the most anticipated releases. I actually listed it in one of my Top Five Tuesday updates as one of the 2024 releases I am looking forward to.

As the year approaches its close, I once again encountered the book. It was included by the New York Times as one of the ten best books of 2024. This further piqued my interest in the book. It is also a work of historical fiction which is just right up my literary alley. Its promise of brining Tenochtitlan back to life during its peak is another factor in my interest in the book. I can remember how during my high school years I read extensively about Aztec and Mayan history. My research paper was also about the rise and fall of empires and these two were among the empires that intrigued me. The entry of Hernán Cortés into the Mexican hinterland, of course, resulted in the decline of the once-almighty Aztec empire. I am hoping that the book will give an inspired depiction of the moments when the Spaniards usurped the natives.

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