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:

Switzy by Emma Cline

Blurb from Goodreads

A mesmerizing portrait of an aging man’s last pilgrimage, from the New York Times best selling author of The Girls and The Guest.

A private plane cuts through the winter night, somewhere over Greenland. David, a retired executive, sits back in his leather seat, playing solitaire on his phone. Click. Click. Drag. Click. The notebook in his jacket pocket is filled with familiar phrases, urgent reminders to himself, but he struggles to recognize his own handwriting.

A mystery, among many mysteries. The world, once so knowable, has been rendered inscrutable.

This is what David Cody, his assistant, asleep in the seat next to him, will shepherd him along the voyage. A stopover in London. Dinner with his adult daughter. A meeting in France with an old friend, estranged for decades.


His final destination is Zurich.

David glides through hotel rooms and airports and foreign cities, running out the clock on his mortal life. His grasp on the present slips away, and the past rushes the Sunday roasts of childhood. The stiff clothes meant only for church. A summer at a school friend’s house. The losses and missteps that punctuate a life.

As David’s arrival in Zurich looms, an exquisitely rendered portrait of an unraveling mind emerges, both darkly humorous and profoundly moving. Hypnotic and startlingly original, Switzy probes the depths of human consciousness, revealing what a man is left with when the accomplishments and compromises that have defined him, and the illusions he’s relied on, vanish.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! We are already in the eighth month of the year. How time flies! As always, time takes its natural course, ever flowing forward, with no 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 rest of the year will be kind to you all. Things are still erratic, whether at work or in geopolitics. I hope the tensions in the Middle East begin to de-escalate and that peace is gradually restored. I also hope things start to slow down at work. They remain hectic, and I am hoping things will start looking up. It has been a damp start to the week, as it has been intermittently raining since the weekend. Actually, it has been some time since we’ve had a sunny day. 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, and I hope it unfolds in everyone’s favor. Wishing you continued success and happiness. I hope everyone is doing well, in body, mind, and spirit.

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 progresses, you gradually gain some momentum. I hope everyone’s workweek goes smoothly. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well mentally, emotionally, and physically. I spent four months exploring the works of European authors. What was supposed to be a two-month stay doubled. I chose to focus on European writers because most of the books on my 2026 reading challenge list were written by them. I am thankful that I was finally able to complete all the European books on my reading challenge list. I then pivoted toward a literary landscape closer to home: Asian literature. I commenced this journey in July, and although I have already completed the Asian works included in my reading challenge, I decided to extend the journey into August. There are still several works by Asian writers that I want to read, including my current read, Four Treasures in the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang.

This week’s featured book, however, is not by an Asian writer. Apparently, it is Booker Prize season again. I didn’t realize it until the 2026 longlist was released about two weeks ago. The prestigious award has introduced me to many outstanding books over the years, including Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. I always make it a point to read the year’s winner as soon as I can obtain a copy. This year’s longlist is particularly interesting, though that is rarely surprising. As always, it features several writers I have yet to discover. Of the thirteen longlisted authors, I have previously encountered only three, all through the Booker Prize; I have read the work of two of them. In last week’s Goodreads Monday update, I featured one of them, Marlon James, and his latest novel, The Disappearers. This week, I am featuring the work of one of the ten writers whom I have just encountered through this year’s longlist—or perhaps I have encountered her before but simply held back from reading her work.

I just realized that I have come across Emma Cline and her novel, The Guest, before. Anyway, Cline made her literary debut in 2016 with The Girls. It was warmly received by literary pundits and readers alike. In 2026, she is set to make a literary comeback with Switzy, which earned Cline her first nomination for the prestigious Booker Prize. I find the premise interesting. According to the blurb, it is the story of David Hastings, a retired executive. During his plane ride to Zurich, he begins to ruminate on his life. The present merges with the past, it seems. This is classic Booker Prize material, reminding me of Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea and even Geetanjali Shree’s The Tomb of Sand. Still, I expect that Switzy will stand out on its own. For now, I can only hope to secure a copy once it is released. 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!