Memoirs of a Geisha

 

“We become geisha’s not because we want to but because we had no choice”

A great book by Arthur Golden.  One of the elite books in my cabinet hahaha.  It talks about hopes, dreams and fate.  It only goes to show that with determination, we can achieve our goals.  It’s about a girl who was taken from a poverty-stricken village to work in a big city, only to end up as a maid.  She and her sister experienced a different twist of fate, her sister landed as a prostitute.  Eventually she was given a name Nitta Sayuri — because her Okiya adopted her.  However the resident geisha, Hatsumumo, will not just about to relinquish her role as premier geisha in the house without putting up a good fight.  She made things miserable for Sayuri.  Sayuri didn’t really plan to be a geisha, she just wanted to find her sister and run away. However things didn’t go as planned.  In the process, Sayuri-san earned her freedom and became a full-pledged geisha under the tutelage of  Mameha-san, another influential geisha.  And in the end, Sayuri-san finaly got what she wanted, the Chairman– whom she dreamt of being with after that fateful day by the bridge when he gave her a hanky after seeing her cry,  became her danna.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

 

 

One of my favorite books, Practical Magic is about the will to live life as normal as possible and that family ties is at its strongest when a family member needs help. A story of 2 sisters who are both opposite in character, sensible Sally and the liberated Gillian. But in the end, blood is after all thicker than water, so no matter how ugly Gillian’s past is, she’s always welcome home. Magic is after all in love and forgiveness.

“Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulders. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”