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:

Coin Locker Babies by Ryū Murakami

Blurb from Goodreads

A surreal coming-of-age tale that establishes Ryu Murakami as one of the most inventive young writers in the world today.

Abandoned at birth in adjacent train station lockers, two troubled boys spend their youth in an orphanage and with foster parents on a semi-deserted island before finally setting off for the city to find and destroy the women who first rejected them. Both are drawn to an area of freaks and hustlers called Toxitown. One becomes a bisexual rock singer, star of this exotic demimonde, while the other, a pole vaulter, seeks his revenge in the company of his girlfriend, Anemone, a model who has converted her condominium into a tropical swamp for her pet crocodile.

Together and apart, their journey from a hot metal box to a stunning, savage climax is a brutal funhouse ride through the eerie landscape of late-twentieth-century Japan.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are already in the second Monday of the first month of 2026. We are also nearly midway through the month. I surely hope that the year is going well for everyone, or at least everyone is finally getting over their post-holiday slump. Things have certainly been getting more hectic in my new workplace. I have been given more responsibilities, although I am still trying to pace myself. It is one of the things I am looking forward to this year, being able to perform in a new environment. I hope everyone has something to look forward to this new year. The new year brims with hope and fresh starts. I hope 2026 will be kind to us all. I hope good news and kindness come knocking on your doors in the coming year. Wishing you continued success and happiness.

So yes. Mondays. 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. Still, I hope everyone is doing well—mentally, emotionally, and physically—and that we all make it through (or survive) the workweek. With the New Year comes new goals, including those related to reading. I am currently in the midst of a Latin American literature month. I am about to start Alberto Blest Gana’s Martín Rivas. Widely regarded as the first Chilean novel, I have included it on my 2026 Top 26 Reading List. Interestingly, Chilean writers have been winning me over, especially during the pandemic. Beyond Isabel Allende—who I believe is the first Chilean writer whose oeuvre I explored—I have expanded my venture to other Chilean writers like Alejandro Zambra, Roberto Bolaño, and José Donoso.

However, it won’t be a Latin American or even a Chilean writer who I will be featuring in this week’s Goodreads Monday update; the start of a new week also comes with a fresh Goodreads Monday update. Today is 成人の日 (Seijin no Hi) or coming-of-age day for the Japanese. A public holiday celebrated every second Monday of January, it is held to congratulate and encourage all those who have already reached the age of maturity between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year. As such, I have decided to feature a Japanese coming-of-age novel, Ryū Murakami’s Coin Locker Babies. If my memory serves me right, the book comes highly recommended. It is often included in lists of must-read works of Japanese literature. I am not sure why I passed over the book. I guess it has to do with its surreal elements.

Originally published in 1980 as コインロッカー・ベイビーズ (Koinrokkā Beibīzu), Coin Locker Babies has inspired the video a game Silent Hill 4: The Room, the 2015 song by the apanese rock band Urbangarde with the same name, and even the plot of the video game Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Obviously, it is quite the phenomenon and there is no reason for me to pass over the possibility of exploring a new world. More than this, the book has received praises for how it trascends literary genres. It is known to be a combination of social commentary, surrealism, dark comedy, philosophy, noir and horror. The surrealism certainly stands out; he does share the same family name as a certain highly-esteemed Japanese writer renowned for his works of magical realism.

For sure, there are several reasons to look forward to Coin Locker Babies. I just hope I get to acquire a copy of 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!