If you have ever come out of a movie theater, blinking and looking around as though you've just returned from another world, or put down a book, after turning the last page with a sense of awe, then you know how I am feeling at this moment. I've just finished" Memoirs of a Geisha" the book by Arthur Golden. It was first printed in 1997, but I don't get around to the Library as much as I used to, so I had no idea this work existed until I began to see the trailers on other movies and television. Just from that, I was intrigued and wanted to see the film, but I prefer to read the book first, so I put in a special request for it from our local library. They didn't have a copy available, but I belong to a system that will find what you want and then calls you when they have it, so you can go pick it up.It took them three days to find it, and it took me another two days to find someone who would actually bring it to me.It's a large, hard-bound tome, of exactly 428 pages,and frankly when I saw it, I was a bit dismayed. Gone are the days when I can sit for hours holding a big heavy book, no matter how engrossing the text.By and large, paperbacks are more my speed, because it doesn't hurt my hands and arms to hold them while propped up in bed to read myself to sleep.So, the first couple of days I had this book, I was able to read perhaps a paragraph or two before I succumbed to the arms of Morpheus. But then, it got interesting to the point that I would read some gluck to go to sleep by, have my nap, get up and get some coffee,plant the book on the kitchen table, and read there from "Memoirs"! Lately, it has taken me almost two weeks to read even the lightest of fare, only because I can't read and sleep at the same time.But with this book, I have sailed through it in about a week. The only reason it took that long, was because, as with any really good book, there are moments you stop and savor.Turns of phrase, and metaphors that make you catch your breath with their beauty. Vivid details that trigger your own memories, that send your mind reeling into another time, another place,and you can't help but go with it, only to come back to yourself sometime later with a sigh. For those of us who do this funny thing called reading, rather than just running out to the theater to see the movie, this is another soon-to-be-classic, which will outstrip the film production of it, simply because the translation of the printed word to the theatrical always suffers.Unfortunately, those who only see the movie will never know what they are missing by not reading the book first, because there are some things they simply cannot do on screen to match the printed page.
I have tried and tried to come up with just one example of a passage, of which I speak, but I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to choose just one,only because there are so many of value. Therefore, I leave it to you, dear reader, to get the book yourself, and see what I mean on your own. There is something in this book for everyone who enjoys great literature.
Oh, by the way. This may not be what one considers a proper book review, but that's what I am calling it. My rules! I make them up!
OUI?
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