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 Extra by A.B. Yehoshua 

Blurb from Goodreads

From Israel’s highly acclaimed author, a novel about a musician who returns home and finds the rhythm of her life interrupted and forever changed



Noga, forty-two and a divorcee, is a harpist with an orchestra in the Netherlands. Upon the sudden death of her father, she is summoned home to Jerusalem by her brother to help make decisions in urgent family and personal matters—including hanging on to a rent-controlled apartment even as they place their reluctant mother in an assisted-living facility. Returning to Israel also means facing the former husband who left her when she refused him children, but whose passion for her remains even though he is remarried and the father of two.

For her imposed three-month residence in Jerusalem, the brother finds her work—playing roles as an extra in movies, television, opera. These new identities undermine the firm boundaries of behavior heretofore protected by the music she plays, and Noga, always an extra in someone else’s story, takes charge of the plot.

The Extra is Yehoshua at his liveliest storytelling best—a bravura performance.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! Technically, it is already Tuesday. Regardless, I hope everyone has had a great start to the week. Yesterday was a holiday here in the Philippines due to the midterm elections. Generally, it was a peaceful affair although there are still some disappointments but I guess they are to be expected. Nevertheless, I hope everyone was able to rest and recover during the weekend. I hope the break, albeit quick, prepared you for the tough workweek ahead. Here in the Philippines, the heat remains oppressive even though we are closing in on the rainy season; it rained heavily in the evening yesterday. I can’t wait for the summer season – it used to be my favorite season – to be over. I sure hope everyone is somewhere comfortable. Anyway, I hope everyone makes it through the week. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit, not only this week but for the rest of the year.

Woah, time has been flying past us. We are already nearly midway through the fifth month of the year. Time does fly fast, sans any regard for anyone. With time taking its natural course, I hope that the year is going great. I hope that as 2025 moves forward, it gets better for everyone. If it is going otherwise, I hope the coming months will shower everyone with prosperity, good news, and kindness. I wish success and blessings for everyone this year. With the start of the week is a fresh Goodreads Monday update. This weekly blogging meme has, over the years, become a weekly ritual that allows me to feature books I am looking forward to. This May, I have been immersing myself in the works of Asian writers, a reading journey I started in April after spending a full quarter reading works of East Asian writers. The journey, as expected, has been magnificent as I have been regaled with the vibrancy and diversity of the continent.

In line with the month’s reading motif, I have been featuring works of Asian writers in this month’s Goodreads Monday updates. For this week, I am featuring a writer and a book that I just recently encountered, Avraham Gabriel Yehoshua’s The Extra. It was during a random trip to the local bookstore that I came across the Jewish writer. It was, I guess, serendipitous because I have long wanted to explore Israeli literature further; this is the same for the entire region. If I recall correctly, the only Jewish writers whose works I read are Amos Oz and David Grossman. Apparently, Yehoshua is quite a prominent name in Israeli literary circles. With a career that spanned decades, he has earned various accolades across the world. He was also shortlisted for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005; the Prize, back then, considers the writer’s entire body of work rather than an individual work.

These are many good reasons to look forward to exploring his body of work. His body of work boasts short stories, essays, and even plays. However, he is more renowned for his novels, including his debut novel, The Lover (המאהב). However, it is a different title that I am featuring. Published in 2014, The Extra is one of Yehoshua’s latter works. I find the novel’s premise interesting, making me look forward to what it has in store. I do expect a reflective piece about the Israeli diaspora. I just might include the book in my foray into the works of Asian writers. 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!