Adult book club: Taiwan Travelogue

Join fellow community members for a discussion of Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ.

Participants can attend at the library or via Zoom. All are welcome!

Registration is required by 12 p.m. on the day of the discussion. For those attending virtually, the Zoom link will be sent to the email address you used to register. The meeting link and reading guide will be emailed on the day of the event.

We have a limited number of copies for registrants to borrow, based on the order that they register. Registrants will be contacted if a copy is available. If all of the copies are spoken for, you can try to find one by:

• Placing a hold on a regular circulating copy in the NVCL catalogue;
• Checking at other local libraries, such as North Vancouver District Library or West Vancouver Memorial Library. 

Do you have questions or need help finding a copy? Email info@nvcl.ca or call 604-998-3450.

About the book

"May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear.

"Soon a Taiwanese woman—who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name—is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is” [publisher].