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:

Quentins by Maeve Binchy

Blurb from Goodreads

Every table at Quentins Restaurant has a thousand stories to tales of love, betrayal and revenge. There has been great hope and deep despair. The staff who come and go have stories of their own, and the restaurant itself has had times when it looked set fair for success and others when it seemed doomed to failure. Ella Brady wants to make a documentary about the renowned Dublin restaurant that has captured the spirit of a generation and a city in the years it has been open.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Technically, it is already Tuesday. I know—not many people get excited about Mondays (though I’m sure a few are out there). I, too, am not exactly a fan. After all, we’ve got to start somewhere, and Monday is one of those starting points. It provides us an opportunity to work on our goals; ironically, in any endeavor, the start is often the hardest part. As such, I hope everyone had a restful weekend and is ready for the week ahead. The weather here in the Philippines has been unpredictable. Over the weekend, it has been a mix of overcast and sunny. The same is true today. The stifling Manila heat has been replaced by the holiday breeze. The cold has led to an inevitable increase in cases of colds and coughs. With this, 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 already in the final stretch of the year. Today is the last Tuesday of the year. December has literally zoomed past us. In a day, we will bid farewell to 2025 and welcome a new year. 2026 is just over the horizon. 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. The new year brims with hope and fresh starts. I hope everything goes well for everyone in the remainder of the year. I hope 2025 has been kind to us all and showered us with blessings, positivity, healing, and growth. I hope good news and kindness come knocking on your doors in the coming year. Wishing you continued success and happiness.

With the start of a new week also comes a new reading adventure, hence a fresh Goodreads Monday update. My 2025 reading journey is about to draw to a close. I am glad I was able to complete all my major reading goals. For the fourth year in a row, I managed to complete at least 100 books. I was also able to finish all books on my 2025 Top 25 Reading List and 2025 Beat the Backlist Challenge. Life is still good, I guess. Further, I managed to expand my reading horizons, which is the ultimate goal. With the year drawing to a close, it is time to share my final Goodreads Monday update for 2025. This has been a weekly blogging tradition, although I was a day late majority of the year. Regardless, I made sure never to miss a beat. The last featured book this year is by a familiar writer. It has been a decade since I first came across Maeve Binchy. Her works are easily available in local book sale shops.

However, it has been nearly a decade since the last time I read any of her works, before I started doing book reviews. Further, I have been swamped by the works of other writers, although I have been meaning to get back to her oeuvre. One of her works I wanted to read is Quentins. What initially piqued my interest in the book is its cozy atmosphere. I guess this holds through for all of Binchy’s works. Her works often explore family and friendship dynamics. She provides heartwarming portraits while exploring seminal themes related to these subjects. These are among the reasons why she has earned a fan in me. I sure hope I get to obtain a copy of Quentins because a Binchy fix would really help me.

There is also a facet of healing about Quentins that made me gravitate toward it. It is giving me recent Japanese slice-of-life stories like Before the Coffee Gets Cold or Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Regardless, there are several reasons for me to resume my exploration of the Irish writer’s lush body of work. 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!