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:

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Blurb from Goodreads

In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. Now in one volume, Tiina Nunnally’s award-winning definitive translation brings this remarkable work to life with clarity and lyrical beauty.

As a young girl, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussøn, she defies her parents in pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty.

With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway’s most beloved author, one of the twentieth century’s most prodigious and engaged literary minds and, in Nunnally’s exquisite translation, a story that continues to enthrall.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Technically, it is already Tuesday. Nevertheless, I hope you all had a restful weekend in preparation for the work week ahead. I hope you were able to recuperate and rejuvenate your manna. I know. Nearly everyone have a covert – or maybe overt – loathing for Mondays, and I am no exception. Still, I look at Mondays as windows of opportunity to recalibrate and restart afresh. It is a chance to work on our goals although starting is often the most difficult part in any endeavor. After a couple of rainy weeks, the stifling Manila heat is back. I just hope everyone is starting or has started the workweek on a high note. I hope everyone makes it through – or survives – the workweek. I hope that the weekend equipped everyone for the tedious week ahead.

Time does fly fast. Just like that, we are nearly midway through the eighth month of the year, although it feels like nothing of consequence has happened yet. Well, I guess I should be thankful. Regardless, I hope that the notorious ghost month is going well for everyone. I hope that August will be a good month for everyone. I hope that 2025 is treating everyone gently, and with kindness. I hope that as 2025 moves forward, everyone is showered with blessings, positivity, healing, and growth. I hope good news and kindness will come knocking on everyone’s doors in the coming months. I wish success and blessings for everyone. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well, in mind, body, and spirit.

In August, I continued my pursuit into the works of European literature. This is also in line with my goal of making headway into my reading goals and challenges. I realized that I have been been lagging behind in my reading challenges. Several books in these challenges are within the ambit of European literature although my current read, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, is not part of any of my reading challenges although, being part of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, it is helping me tick one more book from the said list. Anyway, since I have been immersing myself in the works of European literature, I have also been featuring works of European writers in this weekly update. This week, I am featuring Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928, I have always been curious about Sigrid Undset; had it not been for the Nobel Prize, I would have not encountered the Norwegian writer. She is one of the very few women awarded by the Swedish Academy (a sad reality). The Academy’s motivation for her selection is principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages. This is embodied in her novel I featured in this week’s Goodreads Monday update. This also makes me look forward Kristin Lavransdatter which is also a trilogy comprised of Kransen (The Wreath), first published in 1920, Husfrue (The Wife), published in 1921, and Korset (The Cross), published in 1922. The novel was also the primary basis for Undset’s selection for the Nobel Prize. This makes me look forward to reading the book even more.

Personally, reading the book is an opportunity to expand my exploration not only of Norwegian literature but also of Scandinavian and Nordic literature. Sadly, my exploration of these literatures is rather sparse. Acquiring a copy of the book, however, poses a problem because such works are difficult to acquire here in the Philippines. 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!