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:

Land by Maggie O’Farrell

Blurb from Goodreads

A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy.

On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?

Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are already midway through the sixth 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, the southern region of the Philippines is still experiencing powerful aftershocks from the previous week’s powerful earthquake. Please pray for my countrymen. On another note, 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. Still, I hope that as the week moves forward, you slowly gain a semblance of momentum. I hope everyone’s workweek goes 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 have been immersing myself in the works of European 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. Still, I have several works by European writers on my reading challenges, hence the inevitable extension of this literary journey into June. I find it ironic that the books in my reading challenges remain unread, even though I began this venture into European literature specifically to complete them earlier than usual.

As the year is nearly halfway through, literary publications are sharing their lists of best books of the year so far. This is how I came across Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, Land. It was during the start of the pandemic (2020) when I first encountered the Irish-British novelist. Her novel, Hamnet, was listed as among the best works of historical fiction released in 2020. It even won the Women’s Prize for Fiction; if I remember correctly, it was the Women’s Prize that introduced me to Hamnet. It was also a timely read, for it was about a pandemic. I secured a copy of the book. It earned O’Farrell a fan in me. It was this pleasant reading experience that made me want to read her other works. In 2022, I read The Marriage Portrait. It was yet another work of historical fiction. I was again mesmerized, especially with O’Farrell’s lyrical storytelling.

While her works are steeped in history – both of her two novels I read so far were inspired by actual historical figures – they resonate in the present. It is for these reasons that I am looking forward to her latest novel. I believe I heard of its release earlier this year, when I was searching for books to include in my 2026 Books I Look Forward To List. I would again encounter the book through the New Yorker’s list of Best Books of 2026 So Far. The book was just released earlier this year. It is no surprise that it is a work of historical fiction. O’Farrell is taking us to her two homelands, Ireland; Hamnet was set in the United Kingdom, while The Marriage Portrait was set in Italy. Land chronicles the 1840’s Great Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine. I think I may have encountered this subject in other novels, but Land would be the first, if ever, that entirely deals with it. This makes me look forward to the novel.

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!