Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King (International Booker Prize 2026)

Reading anything after The Remembered Soldier was bound to be a disappointment, and as such this is the spirit with which I opened Taiwan Travelogue. I’m not terribly interested in Taiwan, any more than any other country, and yet, every once in a while I came across a quote which struck my jaded point of view.

Consider this passion to record one’s thoughts, so similar to my own:

“What drove me to write was neither a political agenda nor money, but a simple desire to record my observations whenever I saw or heard anything interesting, or whenever I felt moved to reflect on something…Over time, piles of notebooks and scraps covered my desktop and drawers, and slowly consumed the study’s bookshelves, windowsills, and floors.” p. 73

Thus speaks Aoyama, a young novelist who has traveled to Taiwan to document the country. She has been given a translator, named Chizuro, to accompany her. It is through their eyes that we glimpse Taiwan when it was a colony of Japan. Many of our glimpses depict food. It seems, in fact, that most of the novel is about the food they consumed, for Aoyama is passionate about it.

“My gluttony isn’t limited to exquisite or expensive foods, either-whenever I start craving something, anything, my stomach burns with this insatiable greed until I get my hands in whatever it is. That’s the monster in me.” p. 83

I would say that the monster within her concerns more than food. The homosexual undercurrent in this novel begins in a fairly subtle way, and then becomes more and more pronounced. I am not interested in reading about lesbian mentality, especially when the writing itself is not very good. There is no subtle nuance, there is no real plot, nor, to me, much of a redeeming point in Taiwan Travelogue. Ultimately, it both bored, and disappointed, me. 

Read it, if you want to read endless descriptions of food, on every page, along with Aoyama’s ever growing attraction to her translator. How it won the National Book Award, let alone a place on the International Booker Prize long list, is beyond me

The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (International Booker Prize 2026)

 

…she leans over the retouching desk restoring other people’s lives. 

I think, more than any other line, this quotation encapsulates The Remembered Soldier. Yet, how can one fragment of a sentence thoroughly impart the impact of this book? It can’t.

When I first saw the title, and the cover, on the International Booker Prize, I balked. “I do not want to read a book about war,” I said to myself. But, The Remembered Soldier is about so much more than war. It is about memory, and identity, being a soldier, and perhaps most importantly of all, being married.

An American author would come out and tell you everything boldly: Julienne found Amand, after searching for eight years, in an asylum; he’d lost his memory, but she claims to be his wife; going home together, they forge a life together. That wouldn’t be much of a story, would it? 

Fortunately, it is not nearly so simple. The nuances must be carefully gleaned to solve this puzzle. We must live through his memories, or lack thereof, and while relying on Julienne’s stories for background we wonder if perhaps she is lying, just to keep her with him.

Julienne says marriage is just like having children, it’s for life, she says, he’s not a dog you can get rid of if you’re not satisfied, and her candor is so disarming that he almost wishes he really were her husband.

Is he? Isn’t he? We don’t know, although we read of their life as a married couple. He builds her a special table to retouch the photographs she takes, as photography is their business. He wakes up next to her in their shabby bed, gets the coal, picks the milk up from outside the door, heats the water so she can wash. In a thousand ways, they are one. 

And then, he must pursue the vision he has, of Kathe, in yellow…

And he dreams he finds not Kathe, but the war, and he realizes that’s what he’s been looking for the whole time, it’s just that he gave his war a woman’s name, and her body is ravaged and cold and infertile and she’s married to death. 

Don’t be deceived. Read on, my friend, to find out who Kathe is. Who Julienne is. Who the remembered soldier is. And as you’re reading, prepare to be mesmerized by writing the likes of which I have never known. This is a book which will I never forget, a mystery I would never have conceived on my own, the quality of which I am unable to accurately describe.

In my opinion, it is the only true contender for the International Booker Prize 2026, and therefore most certainly ought to be declared the winner.

Anticipating The International Booker Prize 2026

We’re about to embark on an epic journey across the world’s fiction, traveling paths forged by the magic of translation. I can’t wait to share the treasures we discover. ~Natasha Brown, Chair of the International Booker Prize 2026 judges

The International Booker Prize will announce the long list of thirteen books on Tuesday, February 24. Once again, the Shadow Jury awaits this announcement with great anticipation. What will this year bring us from the world of translated literature? Which author, and which translator, will equally share the £50,000 prize?

Our Shadow Jury for 2026 is comprised of the following bibliophiles:

• Stu, who is mostly found on Bluesky here and on Instagram here.
• Vivek is on Instagram here.
• David is writing the blog David’s Book World, and can be found on Bluesky here.
• Frances is found on Bluesky here and on Instagram here.
• Paul is on Goodreads here.
• Jeremy is on Bluesky here and on Substack here.
• Marina is writing the blog Finding Time To Write, and can be found on Bluesky here.
• and me, here at Dolce Bellezza and (rarely) on Instagram here.

Together we will read and review the books which are on the long list, eagerly discussing amongst ourselves which we deem most worthy of the prize. Sometimes, we agree with judges. More often, I dissent. But agreeing with them or not, in no way deters from the pleasure of reading books in translation and going through the door they open to broader understanding of the world in which we live. Although I am a reader, and not a translator, I feel much as one of the judges describes below:

To translate is to undertake a powerful act of generosity, creativity and connection to ferry literature across from one language to another, to forge kinship across distance. ~Nilanjana S. Roy, International Booker Prize 2026 judge

I cannot predict with any amount of certainty what will be revealed as a contender for the prize on February 24. However, I am hopeful that a few of my favorite books in translation, which have been published from May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026, will be selected. Specifically, I am hopeful to see these books (click on the cover to go to the publisher):

As you can see, my knowledge base is largely Japanese, but I have read all of these books and consider them to be exceptional. We shall see what the judges have considered exceptional in the weeks to come…