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 Wax Child by Olga Ravn

Blurb from Goodreads

Based on a real-life seventeenth century Danish witch trial, The Wax Child tells in vivid prose the story of Christenze Kruckow, a noblewoman long pursued by a scandal of sorcery. People whisper that in her wake one finds illness, death, and unsettling behaviour by pigs and cats. Some even say she once fashioned out of wax a child, an instrument of the most sinister magic. Christenze will flee the rumours to Aalborg, that great city of seawater and mist. But even there suspicion and fear rule, and once a rumour of witchcraft has taken hold, it can prove hard to shake…

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are nearly through the third month of 2026. Today is the second-to-last Monday of the month. In a couple of days, we will be concluding the year’s first quarter and welcoming a new month. Woah—how time flies! As always, time takes its natural course, ever flowing forward, sans regard for any of us. It does not wait for anyone. As such, I hope the year is going—and will continue to go—well for everyone. I hope the year will curry favor with you all. Things are still erratic, whether at work or geopolitics. I sure hope the tension in the Middle East will start to de-escalate. I hope that peace will gradually be restored. Anyway, I hope everyone has had a good start to the workweek and the year. The new week brims with hope and fresh starts. I hope it flows in everyone’s favor. Wishing you continued success and happiness.

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. I hope that as the week moves forward, you slowly gain a semblance of momentum. After all, we’ve got to start somewhere, and Monday is one of those starting points. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well—mentally, emotionally, and physically. In March, I commenced a literary journey across the European continent. This comes after spending the first two months of the year reading works of Latin American and Caribbean writers. It took me some time to decide where to land next, but in the end, I chose to read European writers, since most of the books on my 2026 reading challenge list are by European authors. I am currently reading Virginie Despentes’ Dear Dick Head.

In line with this month’s primary reading motifs, I am featuring Olga Ravn’s The Wax Child. Ravn, being Danish, ticks off the first box. Coincidentally, March is Women’s History Month, while International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. This is also the reason why my last few reads are works by European women writers. It was a no-brainer to feature a work by a European woman writer in this weekly book blogging meme. It was during the pandemic that I first heard about the Danish writer. Ravn’s first foray into a literary career came in the form of poetry. In 2015, she published Celestine, her first novel. Global recognition arrived with her 2020 novel Mit arbejde. The novel’s English translation, My Work, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. I am not exactly sure why I held back on reading the book. Regardless, I am looking forward to reading the book.

However, it is another Ravn novel that I am featuring in this weekly book blogging meme. Once again, through the International Booker Prize, I came across her latest novel, The Wax Child, which was longlisted for the prestigious literary prize. Originally published in 2023 as Voksbarnet, The Wax Child is apparently based on real events. Back in the seventeenth century, witch hunts were prevalent; the most famous of them all, the Salem witch trials, was also taking place across the Atlantic. I am actually surprised by the novel’s premise. Still, it is a promising one. After all, it is also a work of historical fiction, which is just right up my alley. This makes me look forward to the novel. I have just secured a copy of it, but it might take days before it gets delivered.

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!