Record Reading

I just managed to finish reading one novel in under a month! Prior to the holidays I realised I had only read one novel all year, and I was forced to read it (yes Life of Pi) and that took me about two months, so I thought I'd see if I could try read a novel within one month! I'm proud to say I read 220 pages within that time! OK so some of you people have read some really thick Harry Potter books within one or two days, but I'm getting there!

I was watching movie trailers (as you do when you don't have money to watch movies) when Memoirs of a Geisha came up. I had no idea what it was about, and to be honest it didn't look too interesting, but because I heard it was based on a novel, I thought what the heck I'd just read the novel. It turned out to be a really really great read!

'In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the geisha's world are forever changed by the onslaught of history.'

Some of my favourite passages in the novel that really made me think included:

'Sometimes we get through adversity only by imagining what the world might be like if our dreams should ever come true'

'I never seek to defeat the man I'm fighting I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. Tow men are equals - true equals - only when they both have equal confidence. '

So if you have nothing to do in the holidays try reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.