The Book Club: Vol 4
The Book Club is a separate section of the newsletter . If you do not want to receive emails about book club, but remain a subscriber to everything else at Martha’s Monthly, you can change your notification settings here. Thanks!
Thank you to all of those who came to the book club meetings last week to discuss Rock, Paper, Grenade! Across both groups we didn’t have a single bust which was interesting to see - and the first time that has ever happened! I think universally we all enjoyed Chekh’s writing a lot.
The Book Club: August 2026
When:
Sunday 9th August, 6pm BST (UTC + 1)
(which is 10am PDT / 11am MDT / 12pm CDT / 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST)
&
Wednesday 12th August, 6pm BST (UTC + 1)
(which is 10am PDT / 11am MDT / 12pm CDT / 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST)
(Note: normally the Wednesday meeting comes first, followed by the Sunday meeting - but it is different this time! My August is busy, so I had to swap the schedule around)
Next time, I am considering moving book club to only a Sunday to have a more regular book club routine. It also means we could employ more of a catch phrase, such as ‘the book club is the last Sunday of every other month’. This would also help people plan far into advance as to whether they can attend, plan their reading etc.
But I’m going to try two meetings one last time just to get more data on the average divide between the groups to see if changing this would work. Thanks for always bearing with me on figuring out the book clubs identity and scheduling in real time. Logistics is my least favourite part of establishing a book club (my favourite being the discussion, obviously).
Where: On Google Meet
As normal, I will send the link to the meeting a week before, along with some pre meeting material.
The Book: Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (translated by Lin King)
The blurb says: Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, Taiwan Travelouge is a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in a mouthwatering exploration of food, language, history and power. Set in May 1938, the young novelist Aoyama Chizuko sails from Japan to Taiwan where her interpreter proffers tantalising glimpses of island life and helps her to taste as much of its cuisine as her larger than life appetite can bear.
The Why:
Winner of both the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the International Booker Prize 2026, I think it’s time we read this book and you all agreed. Everyone is talking about it, so let’s join in and do it together!
Shahnaz Habib from the NYT Book Review said ‘Taiwan Travelouge is a nesting-doll narrative about colonial power in it’s many forms’. The word choice of ‘nesting-doll’ narrative is something that really intrigues me here, and sounds like it could be a strong catalyst for conversation.
August is Women in Translation Month, so it would only be right to honour that by reading a book in translation written by a woman! I am intrigued by the fact it has won two prizes, and that it has been picked up to be turned into a film. This is pretty unusal of sweeping success, especially for a book translated from Mandarin. I am very interested to see what is in this novel that is capturing the admiration of so many.
Accolades aside, I am a big fan of books that explore themes of colonialism, and reading something that is going to take us to Asia! The focus on food sounds like something I can’t recall having come across before, and we haven’t read a queer book yet for book club! All signs are pointing to a book that is different and could potentially be divisive to talk about!
Note - I have heard from several that this is not a very good book to listen to on audio because of the way the book is formatted with extensive footnotes explaining things.
How To Prepare:
Just read the book!
There is only one expectation in this book club, which is to come to the meeting having thought about whether you would categorise it as a buy, borrow or bust.
If you are unfamiliar with my rating system, interpret it as this; if a friend asked you ‘hey, should I read this book?’ would you say yes, maybe or no? There is no right answer!
Let me know what you think of this pick!
Are you excited? Have you perhaps already read it? I am truthfully a little apprehensive because I famously have not liked the winners of the International Booker the last few years. But I am willing to be openminded!
Has anyone read anything translated from Taiwan before? I have only read one, ‘Notes Of A Crocodile’ by Qiu Miaojin. It will be interesting to see if there is any theme overlap between the two.
If you have any questions, you can email me at marthasmonthly@gmail.com.
I will resend the link to the discord in the subscriber chat for those who want to join.
If you can’t find it, but want to join the discord (and are a member of the book club, of course), send me an email and I will send it to you.
See you on either the 9th or 12th August!
Happy Reading of Tawian Travelogue,
Love Martha x
If you know someone who you think would like to be a part of this bookclub, be sure to let them know! The more the merrier!
& remember to subscribe to receive updates about the book club, along with excellent book recommendations.
