Author:Natsume Soseki,Meredith McKinney

Literally meaning 'Pillow of Grass', Kusamakura is Soseki's portrayal of an artist who opposes convention and logic, and shuns emotional involvement. Soseki's artist attempts to live as a hermit using other people as his stimuli for his sensations and reflections. The artist fluently and prolifically composes poetry, but finds himself unable to paint - despite befriending a beautiful young divorcee. He remains emotionally distanced from her for a long time and it is only one day when he sees compassion in her eyes that he finds himself able to paint her, but also reconnected with the emotional undercurrents he had hitherto tried to avoid, thereby ending his retreat from the world. Siseko's beautiful and haikuesque novel is infused with his own musings on art and nature, and helped to establish the novel as a major literary form in Japan.
A beautiful depiction of addiction and hedonism
—— Russell BrandA sexy, booze-fuelled adventure. Instantly entertaining and absorbing
—— HeatSplendidly realised ... bravely un-saccharine
—— Daily TelegraphExtraordinarily candid and moving ****
—— MirrorNihilistic, frank, brutal, embarrassing, depressing, funny and intensely gripping all at once
—— Glasgow HeraldCameron reveals a darker edge to her writing by capturing the frustration and pains of obsession with dense detail. Cameron's story of self-discovery shows just how lost you can get, and her perfect references to the 80s and Australian culture pull you in head-first
—— Gay TimesThis novel should carry a warning: its appeal will be greatest for fans either of Wagner and European history, or of politics and philosophy
—— Sunday TimesWhat Nazism owed to the British Empire fascinates Wilson, and his invention of Hitler's Americanised offspring invites us to relive the macabre history while acknowledging our own uncomfortable complicity in it... Bravely ambitious
—— IndependentWinnie and Wolf is a novel rich in philosophical reference - Nietzsche, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, thorny as you like - and ruminative pleasures
—— Evening StandardWilson's achievement is startling... Most contemporary English fiction looks rather etiolated and pointless by comparison
—— Hywel Williams , GuardianIt would be hard to name a more ambitious recent work of fiction... Wilson brilliantly evokes Wagner's music
—— Financial TimesWilson has done his research impeccably and he writes superbly well
—— Literary ReviewI constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language
—— Simon BrettQuite simply, the master of comic writing at work
—— Jane MooreTo pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment
—— John Julius NorwichCompulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!
—— Lindsey DavisThe Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon
—— Kathy LetteWitty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny
—— Arabella WeirThe funniest writer ever to put words to paper
—— Hugh LaurieThe greatest comic writer ever
—— Douglas AdamsP.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben Elton






