Kyoto Book Club

Details
Hi everyone!
For our February book club, we will be reading and discussing
The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth by Veeraporn Nitiprapha.

First published in Thailand in 2015, this novel won the Southeast Asian (SEA) Write Award, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the region. As Veeraporn Nitiprapha’s debut novel, it caused a literary sensation in Thailand.

Synopsis
On the day Chareeya is born in a riverside town on the outskirts of Bangkok, her mother discovers that her father has been having an affair with a traditional Thai dancer. From that moment on, Chareeya’s life is fated to bear the weight of her parents’ disappointment.

Growing up in an insular world with her younger sister Chalika, Chareeya’s sheltered life changes when they are joined by Pran, a quiet orphaned boy. Together, the three enter a labyrinth of their own making, each struggling to escape a destiny that seems impossible to avoid.

Historical Background
The novel reflects a period of transition in Thailand, moving from traditional rural life to the chaos and intensity of Bangkok as a modern metropolis. Beneath the surface of the story lies the backdrop of political polarization and protest movements that intensified after the 2006 military coup.

In particular, the military crackdown on the Red Shirt movement evokes what the author herself witnessed: a nation that appeared calm on the surface, yet marked by a troubling sense of public indifference. In this context, the novel’s “labyrinth of love” functions as a metaphor for the repeated cycles of repression and division within Thai society.

Strongly influenced by Buddhist mythology and classical Thai literature, the novel employs magical realism, blending reality and fantasy to portray contemporary experiences of loneliness, inequality, and inescapable fate.

About the Author
Veeraporn Nitiprapha (วีรพร นิติประภา) was born in Bangkok on August 4, 1962. After growing up in Bangkok, she briefly studied in Melbourne, Australia. She worked as a fashion magazine editor, copywriter, and creative director at an advertising agency before running her own jewelry brand for over a decade. Following the brand’s closure, she devoted herself fully to writing.
She is married, has one son, lives in Bangkok, and is well known for her love of gardening and cats.

Book Details
Length: approximately 206 pages
Price: Kindle ¥1,341 (about USD $8.55)

Join Us!
Our online book club will take place on
Sunday, February 15, 2026
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Japan time)
You can join even if you don’t have a Jitsi account by clicking the URL provided on the right.

Please do not click “Join in app”—simply select “Join in browser.”
What We’ll Do
You don’t need to finish the book to participate—though reading it will certainly enrich the discussion! Bring a cup of coffee or tea and share your favorite passages, thoughts, and questions. We’ll use a discussion guide based on the novel to help structure our conversation.

Important to Know
✓ For smooth communication and security, please keep your camera on during the session. If your camera is off or your face is not visible, you may be removed from the call. Thank you for your understanding.
✓ There is no entrance fee or membership fee.
✓ Participants come from diverse backgrounds—please be respectful of different perspectives.
We would love for you to join us!
We look forward to discussing this beautiful novel together and spending a wonderful time with everyone.

Details
Hi everyone!
For our March book club, we will be reading and discussing
Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

Synopsis
Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends—the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that—but his devoted mother and grandmother provide him with a safe and content life. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful Post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you," and when to laugh.
Then on Christmas Eve—Yunjae’s sixteenth birthday—everything changes. A shocking act of random violence shatters his world, leaving him alone and on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Yunjae retreats into silent isolation, until troubled teenager Gon arrives at his school, and they develop a surprising bond.

As Yunjae begins to open his life to new people—including a girl at school—something slowly changes inside him. And when Gon suddenly finds his life at risk, Yunjae will have the chance to step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become the hero he never thought he would be.

About the Author
Won-pyung Sohn (손원평) is a South Korean writer and filmmaker born in Seoul in 1979.
Her debut novel, Almond (2017), became a bestseller in Korea and has been widely translated, earning international acclaim for its compassionate portrayal of emotional difference and youth.

Book Details
Length: approximately 272pages
Price: Kindle ¥2190 (about USD $13.90)
Join Us!
Our online book club will take place on
Sunday, March 8, 2026
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Japan time)
You can join even if you don’t have a Jitsi account by clicking the URL provided on the right.
Please do not click “Join in app”—simply select “Join in browser.”

What We’ll Do
You don’t need to finish the book to participate—though reading it will certainly enrich the discussion! Bring a cup of coffee or tea and share your favorite passages, thoughts, and questions. We’ll use a discussion guide based on the novel to help structure our conversation.

Important to Know
✓ For smooth communication and security, please keep your camera on during the session. If your camera is off or your face is not visible, you may be removed from the call. Thank you for your understanding.
✓ There is no entrance fee or membership fee.
✓ Participants come from diverse backgrounds—please be respectful of different perspectives.
We would love for you to join us!
We look forward to discussing this beautiful novel together and spending a wonderful time with everyone.

Details
Hi everyone!
For our April book club, we will be reading and discussing
Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Synopsis
The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story
There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii, but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu Killer”—Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance, and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

Background
Butter is inspired by a real-life crime in Japan known as the “Konkatsu Killer” case, which shocked the country in the late 2000s.
Beyond the crime itself, the novel reflects contemporary Japanese society, where women are often judged for their bodies, appetites, and choices.

Through food, desire, and media obsession, Butter explores misogyny, beauty standards, and the pressure placed on women—making it not just a crime novel, but a sharp social portrait of modern Japan.

About the Author
Asako Yuzuki was born in Tokyo in 1981.
Her English-language debut, Butter, became an international bestseller and was selected as Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, as well as winning the British Book Awards 2025 Debut Fiction Award.
She also received the Yamamoto Shūgorō Award for Hooked.

Book Details
Length: approximately 464pages
Price: Kindle ¥2191 (about USD $13.97)

Join Us!
Our online book club will take place on
Sunday, April 19th, 2026
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Japan time)
You can join even if you don’t have a Jitsi account by clicking the URL provided on the right.
Please do not click “Join in app”—simply select “Join in browser.”

What We’ll Do
You don’t need to finish the book to participate—though reading it will certainly enrich the discussion! Bring a cup of coffee or tea and share your favorite passages, thoughts, and questions. We’ll use a discussion guide based on the novel to help structure our conversation.

Important to Know
✓ For smooth communication and security, please keep your camera on during the session. If your camera is off or your face is not visible, you may be removed from the call. Thank you for your understanding.
✓ There is no entrance fee or membership fee.
✓ Participants come from diverse backgrounds—please be respectful of different perspectives.

We would love for you to join us!
We look forward to discussing this beautiful novel together and spending a wonderful time with everyone.

Details
Hi everyone!
For our May book club, we will be reading and discussing
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Synopsis
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

About the Author
Amor Towles is an American novelist known for his elegant prose, sharp wit, and deep interest in how individuals maintain dignity and meaning amid historical change. Born in 1964 in Massachusetts, he studied at Yale University and earned a master’s degree in English literature from Stanford.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Towles spent nearly two decades working in finance—an unconventional background that lends his fiction a keen eye for social dynamics and class. He gained international recognition with A Gentleman in Moscow, a global bestseller translated into more than thirty languages, admired for its warmth, intelligence, and timeless humanity.

Book Details
Length: approximately 465pages
Price: Kindle ¥1991 (about USD $12.70)

Join Us!
Our online book club will take place on
Sunday, May 24th, 2026
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Japan time)
You can join even if you don’t have a Jitsi account by clicking the URL provided on the right.
Please do not click “Join in app”—simply select “Join in browser.”

What We’ll Do
You don’t need to finish the book to participate—though reading it will certainly enrich the discussion! Bring a cup of coffee or tea and share your favorite passages, thoughts, and questions. We’ll use a discussion guide based on the novel to help structure our conversation.

Important to Know
✓ For smooth communication and security, please keep your camera on during the session. If your camera is off or your face is not visible, you may be removed from the call. Thank you for your understanding.
✓ There is no entrance fee or membership fee.
✓ Participants come from diverse backgrounds—please be respectful of different perspectives.
We would love for you to join us!
We look forward to discussing this beautiful novel together and spending a wonderful time with everyone.