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:

Flashlight by Susan Choi

Blurb from Goodreads

A novel tracing a father’s disappearance across time, nations, and memory, from the author of Trust Exercise.

One summer night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the breakwater. Her father is carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach, soaked to the skin, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.

Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, is Korean, but was born and raised in Japan; he lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to North Korea. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her Midwestern family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.

But now it is just Anne and Louisa, Louisa and Anne, adrift and facing the challenges of ordinary life in the wake of great loss. United, separated, and also repelled by their mutual grief, they attempt to move on. But they cannot escape the echoes of that night. What really happened to Louisa’s father?

Shifting perspectives across time and character and turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Flashlight chases the shock waves of one family’s catastrophe, even as they are swept up in the invisible currents of history.

A monumental new novel from the National Book Award winner Susan Choi, Flashlight spans decades and continents in a spellbinding, heartgripping investigation of family, loss, memory, and the ways in which we are shaped by what we cannot see.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Technically, it’s already Tuesday—I know. Not many people are excited about Mondays (though I’m sure a few are out there). I, too, am not exactly a fan. Still, we push forward. After all, we’ve got to start somewhere, and Monday marks that starting point. It’s a chance to work on our goals; ironically, the start is often the hardest part. I hope everyone had a restful weekend and is ready for the week ahead. The weather here in the Philippines has been unpredictable. After a damp weekend stirred up by Supertyphoon Uwan, the skies have cleared, giving us fairer weather today. Evenings, however, still bring the occasional downpour. I hope everyone is doing well—mentally, emotionally, and physically—and that we all make it through (or survive) the workweek.

Time really does fly. Just like that, we’re nearly halfway through the eleventh month of the year. It seems like only yesterday when we welcomed 2025. Now, we are just a couple of weeks away from greeting a new year. Despite the uncertainties the future holds, time keeps pressing forward—regardless of our readiness. While the future remains shrouded in uncertainty, there’s still much to look forward to. I hope everything goes well for everyone in the remainder of the year. May the rest of the year be kind to us all and shower us with blessings, positivity, healing, and growth. I hope good news and kindness come knocking on your doors in the coming weeks. May you be rewarded for all the hard work you’ve put in this year. Wishing you continued success and happiness.

With the start of a new week also comes a new reading adventure. Monday also means a fresh Goodreads Monday update—albeit a day late, which has been a common occurrence this year. My venture into the vast landscape of American literature—and, by extension, African literature—is in full swing. However, my current read is by the recently awarded Nobel Laureate in Literature, László Krasznahorkai: The World Goes On. This is my third book by the Hungarian writer and my first short story collection in a while. While this is a deviation from my current literary journey, it somehow still fits in. I am currently on a Nobel Prize in Literature reading binge. Anyway, the diversity of my ongoing reading journey makes it all the more interesting. The goal remains the same: to complete all the books remaining in my reading challenges and goals.

Anyway, back to what this weekly meme is about. Susan Choi first piqued my interest when I learned that her novel Trust Exercise won the National Book Award for Fiction. Further, the book was picked by former U.S. President Barack Obama as one of his books of the year. Six years after she won the prestigious award, Choi made her long-awaited literary comeback with Flashlight. I was not aware of the book until it was announced as part of the Booker Prize shortlist. That alone was enough motivation for me to look forward to reading it. Besides, I have yet to read any of the Korean American writer’s works, and I always look forward to exploring a new author. But man, there are too many good books out there and too little time.

The book’s premise piqued my interest. From what I can surmise, it tackles the Korean/Asian diaspora and the challenges of being caught between two cultures. This is a familiar theme, and I can almost connect her works to those of another Korean American writer, Chang-Rae Lee. Regardless, there’s much to look forward to in the book. Several literary pundits have placed it high among the possible Booker Prize awardees; unfortunately, the award went to David Szalay’s Flesh. This, however, will not preclude me from wanting to read the book. How about you, fellow readers? How was your Monday? What books have you recently added to your reading list? Drop your thoughts in the comments. For now—happy Monday, and as always, happy reading!