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:

My First and Only Love by Sahar Khalifeh 

Blurb from Goodreads

A deeply poetic account of love and resistance through a young girl’s eyes by Sahar Khalifeh.

After many decades of restless exile, Nadal returns to her family home in Nablus, where she had lived with her grandmother before the 1948 Nakba that scattered her family across the globe. She was a young girl when the popular resistance began and, through the bloodshed and bitter struggle, Nidal fell in love with Rabie, a freedom fighter. He was her first and only real love―him and all that he represented: Palestine in its youth and spring, the resistance fighters in the hills, the nation as embodied in her family home and in the land.

Years later, Nidal and Rabie meet, and he encourages her to read her uncle Amin’s memoirs. She immerses herself in the details of her family and national past and discovers that her absent mother had been nurse and lover to Palestinian leader Abdel-Qader al-Husseini.

Set in the final days of the British Mandate, Sahar Khalifeh spins an epic tale filled with emotional urgency and political immediacy.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday everyone! Technically, it is already Wednesday. Unfortunately – or perhaps not – a new adventure has precluded me from completing this weekly blogging meme on time. I barely had time to rest. Regardless, I hope everyone has had a great start to the week as I prepare myself for yet another climb; I am about to climb Indonesia’s Mt. Rinjani, an active volcano. I am in the midst of a vacation so I can’t complain much really. For those who are forced by capitalism to report to work, I hope you all were able to rest and recover during the weekend. I hope the break prepared you for the tough workweek ahead. I hope that the sweltering heat sweeping the Philippines will start to ease. I honestly can’t wait for colder days. 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, the time has been flying past us. We are already in the last third of the month. Time moves past us 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, everyone’s fortune will prosper. I hope the coming months will shower everyone with prosperity, good news, and kindness. I wish success and blessings for everyone. With the start of the week is a fresh Goodreads Monday update. This weekly blogging meme has 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. Technically, this commenced at the start of the year when I spent 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 ongoing reading motif, I have been featuring works of Asian writers in this month’s Goodreads Monday updates. This week, I am featuring a writer and a book I recently encountered. When searching for recommended books set in Palestine, one of the titles that came out was Sahar Khalifeh’s My First and Only Love. I have never heard of Sarah Khalifeh (سحر خليفة) before. She was the fifth of eight daughters born to a Palestinian family. She was raised believing that she was “a member of a miserable, useless, worthless sex.” At a young age, she found creative outlets such as writing which was nipped in the bud after she was forcefully entered into a marriage shortly after finishing high school. After her marriage ended, she found refuge in writing once again. Inspired by highly-heralded Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, she began with what would be referred to as resistance poetry.

While she initially found success in poetry, Khalifeh’s most renowned works are her novels. Her first novel, After the Defeat, was confiscated by Israeli authorities, and never got the chance to see daylight. This, however, did not stop her from writing. Among her most renowned novels is حبي الأول which is also her most recently published (2010). It was eventually translated into English in 2021 as My First and Only Love. The novel’s premise immediately piqued my interest. I guess this is also driven by my growing interest in Palestinian literature. The novel grapples with the heritage of the Nakba and is interestingly set in Khalifeh’s birthplace, Nablus. For now, I hope to obtain a copy of the book. 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!