The Master of Go - Yasunari Kawabata, Vintage Publishing

Luminous, suspenseful and serene, The Master of Go is a compelling portrait, quietly devastating of two men – and a whole society – facing defeat. Simple in its fundamentals, infinitely complex in its execution, the strategy game Go is an expression of the Japanese spirit. But when a revered Master is challenged by a younger, more modern upcomer, their match, waged over several months and layered in ceremony, pits imperial Japan against the twentieth century. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days