Gabriel, Philip

A huge bestseller in Japan, every page is a joyous celebration of cats and how we cannot resist sharing our lives with them.

Against changing seasons in Japan, seven cats weave their way through their owners' lives.

Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called Akamatsu, meaning ‘red pine’, and Oumi, ‘blue sea’, while the girls’ names were Shirane, ‘white root’,and Kurono, ‘black field’.

By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revealing, both for fans of this masterful yet private writer and for the exploding population of athletes.