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:
Trilogy by Jon Fosse
Blurb from Goodreads
Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature This is Jon Fosses critically acclaimed, luminous love story about Asle and Alida, two lovers trying to find their place in this world. Homeless and sleepless, they wander around Bergen in the rain, trying to make a life for themselves and the child they expect. Through a rich web of historical, cultural, and theological allusions, Fosse constructs a modern parable of injustice, resistance, crime, and redemption. Consisting of three novellas (Wakefulness, Olavs Dreams, and Weariness), Trilogy is a haunting, mysterious, and poignant evocation of love, for which Fosse received The Nordic Councils Prize for Literature in 2015.
Why I Want To Read It
Happy Monday, everyone! Just like that, we are already in the tenth 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. With nine months done, I hope the rest of the year will flow and continue to flow in everyone’s favor. I hope the rest of the year will be kind to you all. With the start of a new month comes its own set of challenges. For accountants, quarter-ends are often hectic. Further, I am currently learning the ropes at my new job, and I am still adapting. 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. The super El Niño looms, but I fervently hope and pray that its impact wouldn’t be as devastating as initially forecasted. 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. In September, I commenced a journey across the American literary landscape. As I still have a lot of American books in my reading challenges, I am extending this journey into October. I hope this literary journey will be a memorable one.
My current read, Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, is part of my 2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge. This is my first book by Roth, who I kept encountering in must-read lists. This week’s featured book, however, is not the work of an American writer. It is already October and this means that the Swedish Academy will announce the newest Nobel Laureate in Literature later this week. Speaking of the Nobel Prize, I am featuring in this week’s Goodreads Monday update a work by a Nobel Laureate in Literature. Awarded the Prize in 2023, Jon Fosse is a writer whose ouevre I have yet to explore. I have been meaning to secure a copy of the Norwegian writer’s novels. However, I never got the chance. Until last week. Through an online bookseller, I was able to obtain a copy of Trilogy. Interestingly, I had never come across Fosse until early 2022, when his novel A New Name: Septology VI-VII was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
As mentioned, I was finally able to secure one of Fosse’s works. This is the book that I am featuring in this week’s update, Trilogy. Originally published in 2014 as Trilogien, Trilogy, apparently, is comprised of three interconnected novellas: Wakefulness (Andvake, 2007), Olav’s Dreams (Olavs draumar, 2012), and Weariness (Kveldsvævd, 2014). On the surface, the novel masquerades as a love story. However, I am quite sure that there is more to the story than simply being a love story. The blurb alludes to “a rich web of historical, cultural, and theological allusions,” which naturally piques my interest. Honestly, I have no idea how to approach Fosse’s body of work, as I have not read any of his works before. Still, I am looking forward to experiencing his prose. I hope that Trilogy will be a wonderful primer to Fosse’s oeuvre.
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!
