wellll, I technically did not finish finish this but I read all the sections that I wanted to so I suppose I’ll leave this with the ‘read’ status for now.

I got immediately interested in this book after Futaba-san, a pog booktuber I follow, posted a video talking about it (https://youtu.be/X1ES4vsnsRE).

this is basically an anthology of classic (mostly Meiji-era) Japanese authors’ biographies, except they highlight some funnier and stranger aspects of the so called “literary masters”. i thought the language was super accessible + the information was really well blended with the funnier bits so it was a very easy and relaxing read!! 
(for example, I learned that Kunikida Doppo was at one point in his life so so happy living w his bestie Katai that he simply. did not write for a Long Amount of Time; Nakahara Chuuya was absolutely hilarious when we was drunk; Miyazawa Kenji was into p*rn magazines but tried to hide that like a child….)

plus, the chapters come with a bunch of cute and funny caricatures of the authors - that was a pleasure surprise for sure!

I’d 100% recommend this book if you’re into Japanese lit and author lore/gossip hehe
i’m glad i picked this up as learning about authors makes reading their stuff + stuff from their time period much more meaningful :D!