Cross-Genre Reading Group

Welcome to 'Book Salad'!

Meeting on the last Tuesday of every month, our 'Book Salad' group is dedicated to picking up books from different genres and saying, 'Let's try this one'.

This book group is a salad - to make a salad you put together things you'd like to eat that are each different in some way. Instead of reading one kind of book every month, we mix our genres. We read mostly imaginative fiction, occasionally non-fiction, even more occasionally a graphic novel, by authors from different ages and backgrounds.

This group is hosted by David, a specialist in nothing in particular but generally willing to read whatever is in front of him.

For the first book of 2025, we are reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who 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 masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the 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.

Reading Group Structure

Ticketing: Each place is £5, which can be redeemed against a copy of a reading group book.

Frequency: Each reading group will meet once a month, on a set day of the week. You do not need to commit to one group, or every meeting! Just book for those you're interested in each month, and we hope to entice you back for another one.