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:

Clérambault by Romain Rolland

Blurb from Goodreads

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.

We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are already on the first Monday of the fifth month of the year. 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 be kind to 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. Meanwhile, here in the Philippines, the stifling summer heat is making its presence felt. The dry spell has been quite alarming, and there seems to be no end in sight. It is even getting more heated and intense. Anyway, I hope everyone has had a good start to the workweek. I hope everyone is in a place of comfort. The new week beckons 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. I hope that everyone’s workweek will go smoothly. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well—mentally, emotionally, and physically. After spending the first two months of the year reading works of Latin American and Caribbean writers, I commenced a journey across the European continent in March. 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 have extended this journey to April because I still have several European literary works on my reading challenges. Extending this journey to May is also a foregone conclusion.

For this week’s Goodreads Monday update, I am featuring a book written by a European Nobel Laureate in Literature. In April, I commenced a Nobel Prize in Literature reading binge. The Swedish Academy has long been the subject of criticism for its Eurocentrism (and male-centrism). European writers have long dominated one of the, if not the most prestigious, literary prizes in the world. French writers are the most awarded, and it comes as no surprise that I haven’t read some of their works. Among these French Nobel Laureates in Literature whose oeuvre I have yet to explore is Romain Rolland, who was recognized in 1915 “as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings.” Honestly, had it not been for the Nobel Prize, I would not have encountered the French writer, who happens to be a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

Among his novels is Clérambault: The Story of an Independent Spirit During the War. As the title suggests, it is a story about the war. I can’t help but observe the love affair between the Two Great Wars and Nobel Prize in Literature awardees. I can’t blame them, I guess. The two wars, after all, have exposed both the best and the worst of the human spirit. Clérambault seems to be a great addition to this canon. The titular Agénor Clerambault is a minor poet. He believes in peace and brotherhood. However, he found himself entangled in the nationalistic fervor and militarism of the First World War. This kind of reminds me of Rolland’s countryman, Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night. This premise makes me look forward to the novel, because it seems that young, idealistic men of the period were all seized by a sense of nationalism that made them want to fight for their country; I have also noted this in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914.

For now, I hope I get to secure 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!