2 Books Like Routledge Handbook of Chinese Media

Butter is the kind of novel that sneaks up on you. You think you’re reading a true-crime story about a woman accused of murdering men with her cooking, and then suddenly you’re knee-deep in questions about appetite, femininity, power, and why women are taught to be ashamed of wanting anything at all.

Asako Yuzuki uses food as both pleasure and weapon. Every recipe feels lush and intimate, but also slightly menacing. The real tension isn’t did she do it? so much as why does society need her to be a monster? The novel is at its sharpest when it skewers misogyny, fatphobia, and the way women’s bodies are treated as public property.

It’s not a fast thriller and it doesn’t offer neat answers. Instead, Butter simmers—rich, unsettling, and satisfying. You’ll finish it hungry, a little angry, and far more aware of how often women are punished simply for having an… show more.

This is not a book that scolds you. That’s part of its power. Naomi Alderman doesn’t wag her finger or declare herself morally superior. She does something far worse (and better): she recognizes the impulse. The pleasure. The little rush that comes with being on the “right side” of outrage. And then she calmly explains why that rush has historically ended in bonfires.

The essays move between witch trials, social media pile-ons, feminism, power, religion, and storytelling, but the throughline is simple: humans love certainty, and we love punishing people even more—especially when we can call it justice. Alderman’s great trick is showing how good intentions don’t actually protect us from cruelty. Sometimes they grease the wheels.

What I loved most is her refusal to give easy villains. This isn’t a “cancel culture is bad” rant, nor is it a “people are too sensitive now” manifesto. It’s more like: What… show more.