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 Czar’s Madman by Jaan Kross

Blurb from Goodreads

Timo von Bock’s release by the Czar from nine years’ incarceration does not spell the end of the Baron’s troubles: he is confined to his Livonian estate to live under the constant eye of police informers planted among his own household, and is subjected to endless humiliations. It is claimed that he is a madman and in need of ‘protection’: a man would need to be insane, after all, to have taken a Czar at his word when asked for a candid appraisal of the state’s infirmities.

From the year of his release from prison and return to his wife Eeva, a woman of peasant stock to whom, with her brother Jakob, he has given a solid education, the Baron’s life is recorded in a secret journal by this same Jakob, a shrewd and observant house-guest.

Reconstructing the events leading up to the Baron’s incarceration in 1818 and subsequent to his release in 1827, Jakob little by little brings to light mysteries surrounding the ‘Czar’s madman’. Was his madness genuine? What was the secret understanding between him and his boon companion Czar Alexander I, who committed him to prison?

In The Czar’s Madman Jaan Kross weaves together the elements of intrigue surrounding those historical characters who survived in post-Napoleonic Russia, and by a skillful shifting of chronology and viewpoints, creates a superbly rich and moving narrative.

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. I am no exception. Viewed from a different perspective, I see Mondays as windows of opportunity to recalibrate and start afresh. It is a chance to work on our goals although starting is often the most difficult part in any endeavor. I 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. I wish you all the best for the week ahead.

Time does fly fast. Just like that, we are in the final stretch of the eighth month of the year; today is the last Tuesday of August. It cannot be denied that time is taking its natural course although it still feels like nothing of consequence has happened. Well, I guess I should still be thankful. Regardless, I hope that the notorious ghost month is going well for everyone. I hope that August has been a good month for everyone – although the ominous ghost month has just started over the weekend – and 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 venture into the works of European literature. While going through my reading challenges – I am lagging behind in most of them – I realized that several of the books I listed in them are part of my reading goals and challenges. As such, this foray into European literature is timely as I am starting to fear that I might not be able to complete these reading challenges. I am currently reading Nobel Laureate in Literature Heinrich Böll’s The Silent Angel which is one of the books in my 2025 Top 25 Reading List. It is my first novel by the German writer. Anyway, since I have been immersing myself in the works of European literature, I have also been featuring works of European writers in my weekly Goodreads Monday update. This week, I am featuring Jaan Kross’ The Czar’s Madman.

It was actually only yesterday when I first came across the Estonian writer. I featured works of Baltic writers in this week’s 5 on my TBR list. When I researched for recommended works of Estonian writers, Kross’ The Czar’s Madman came out. I also can’t recall reading any works of an Estonian or even any Baltic writer before. Apparently, Kross is quite a prominent figure in Estonian literary circles. He is also considered the most translated and nationally and internationally best-known Estonian writer. He has also been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in the 1990s. Of his works, The Czar’s Madman is considered by many as his best. Originally published in 1978 as Keisri hull, the novel was also published as Professor Martens’ Departure.

The prospect of exploring a world I had not explored before is enough a motivation for me to read the book. However, the promise of being transported to Czarist Russia is also a compelling one. Acquiring a copy of the book, however, poses a problem because such works are difficult to acquire here in the Philippines. Still, I am enthusiastic about my chances of reading 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!