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 Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje

Blurb from Goodreads

An extraordinary love story and a captivating novel about the power of memory and imagination. 

Flanders 1922. After serving as a soldier in the Great War, Noon Merckem has lost his memory and lives in a psychiatric asylum. Countless women, responding to a newspaper ad, visit him there in the hope of finding their spouse who vanished in battle. One day a woman, Julienne, appears and recognizes Noon as her husband, the photographer Amand Coppens, and takes him home against medical advice. But their miraculous reunion doesn’t turn out the way that Julienne wants her envious friends to believe. Only gradually do the two grow close, and Amand’s biography is pieced together on the basis of Julienne’s stories about him. But how can he be certain that she’s telling the truth? In The Remembered Soldier , Anjet Daanje immerses us in the psyche of a war-traumatized man who has lost his identity. When Amand comes to doubt Julienne’s word, the reader is caught up in a riveting spiral of confusion that only the greatest of literature can achieve.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are nearly through the third month of 2026. Today is the last Monday of March, while tomorrow is the last day of the month. We are about to conclude the first quarter of the year and welcome 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. Because the Philippines observes Holy Week, Thursday and Friday are holidays in the country. I guess this allows me time to rest, and well, reflect. Still, I hope that everyone’s workweek will go smoothly. 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 Jenny Hval’s Paradise Rot; this is my first by the Norwegian writer.

In line with this month’s primary reading motifs, I am featuring Anjet Daanje’s The Remembered Soldier. Daanje, being Dutch, 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. Honestly, it was only recently that I came across Daanje. Apparently, it is the pseudonym used by Anjet den Boer. Her most renowned work is De herinnerde soldaat, which was published in 2019. It earned her several accolades. In 2025, it was made available for Anglophone readers as The Remembered Soldier. It was, I learned, inspired by the true story of  Anthelme Mangin, a French soldier who suffered amnesia after the First World War; I guess this is where the English title is derived.

Personally, Dutch literature is a part of the literary world that I have scarcely explored. Among the books I read, the only title that comes to mind is Yael van der Wouden’s Women’s Prize for Fiction-winning novel, The Safekeep. Interestingly, the novel grapples with the heritage of war, but, unlike this week’s featured book, it deals with the legacy of the Second World War. There is just something about the world wars and European literature. Somehow, it is integral in their contemporary literature. I cannot blame them. War, after all, is a horrific event, and we have to be reminded of the voices that were muted by these atrocious events. The two books also share the distinction of being nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize, albeit in different categories. The Remembered Soldier is longlisted for the International Booker Prize; it was actually the book’s longlisting that made me learn about Daanje, in the same way that the Booker Prize introduced me to van der Wouden.

For now, I am hoping I get to obtain a copy of the book. I am crossing my fingers. 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!