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:

White River Crossing by Ian McGuire

Blurb from Goodreads

A breathtaking and cinematic novel about the lust for gold and its bloody consequences, set in the unforgiving landscape of the sub-Arctic Canadian wilderness, from the acclaimed author of The North Water

A ragged fur peddler arrives at a remote outpost of the Hudson Bay Company in the winter of 1766 with a lump of gold, claiming that there is plenty more like it further north at a place called Ox Lake. The outpost’s chief factor, Magnus Norton, dreams of instant riches and launches a secret and perilous expedition to find the treasure and bring it back.

Led by a family of native guides, the party of prospectors includes Norton’s brutish deputy, John Shaw, and Thomas Hearn, the insular and intellectual first mate from the factory’s whaling sloop. During their long journey north, Shaw’s callousness and arrogance lead him to commit an act of sexual violence whose disastrous consequences will only fully emerge once they reach their final destination. There, amidst the bleak beauty of the Barren Grounds, as Norton’s carefully crafted plans begin to fall apart and the brutal arctic winter starts to descend, Hearn is forced to make a choice that will define his character and determine his future forever.

Utterly captivating, White River Crossing transports us back to the furthest edges of the eighteenth-century British empire where two radically different worlds—indigenous and European—collide with calamitous and deadly results.

Why I Want To Read It

Happy Monday, everyone! We are already at the last Monday of the ninth 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. I hope the year is flowing—and will continue to flow—in everyone’s favor. I hope the rest of the year will be kind to you all. With September about to draw to a close, things are about to get hectic at work, especially as this will be my first month-end closing in my new job. While I am a little nervous about the pressure that comes with my new responsibilities, I am looking forward to what the future has in store for me. Anyway, I hope and pray that everyone is being showered with blessings and positive news as well, especially during the final stretch of the year. I also hope everyone has had a good start to the workweek. 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). Yet the new week beckons with hope and fresh starts, and I hope it unfolds in everyone’s favor. Here in the Philippines, the heat is once again making its presence felt after several damp weeks brought on by the monsoon season. Anyway, I hope you gradually gain some momentum as the week progresses. I hope everyone’s workweek goes smoothly. More importantly, I hope everyone is doing well mentally, emotionally, and physically. With the beginning of a new month comes a new literary venture. After touring across the Asian continent, I am now crossing the Pacific to the United States of America. Apparently, I have quite a lot of American books in my reading challenges. Still, I hope this literary journey will be a memorable one.

My current read, Myla Goldberg’s Bee Season, is part of my 2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge. This week’s featured book, however, is not the work of an American writer. As the year approaches its halfway mark, literary publications often share their lists of the best books of the year so far. This is how I came across Ian McGuire and his novel White River Crossing. Honestly, it was only today that I learned about the English writer and academic. His works have appeared in prominent publications such as the Paris Review and Chicago Review, among others. He has also published articles on Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and William Dean Howells. Ostensibly, his sphere of interest is American history. He even earned a Ph.D. in 19th-century American Literature from the University of Virginia. In 1996, he joined the University of Manchester as a lecturer in American Literature.

He has also published several novels, including The North Water (2016), which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named by the New York Times as one of its Ten Best Books of 2016. A decade later, he is making another literary comeback with White River Crossing. It is a work of historical fiction that transports readers to the 18th-century Canadian wilderness, particularly Prince of Wales Fort, a remote trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company in what is now northern Manitoba. Founded by royal charter in 1670, the company was granted sole rights to trade and conduct commerce across the vast territory. However, the British venture was also established to exploit the Indigenous fur trade. Investors were also hoping for lucrative discoveries, particularly silver and gold. The prospect of being transported to the frozen 18th-century Canadian landscape and learning about the realities of the period are, personally, what compel me to read the novel.

For now, I hope I get to obtain 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 and keep safe!