Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha is a hell of a story. I began to read it the other night before bed and the next thing I knew it was 7am. It's been a while since I've been drawn so completely into a book. Aside from the havoc doing so plays on my sleep schedule, I love it when that happen.

Interesting sidenote, Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha credited and thanked in his book(an interview with her led to a rewrite of the novel), sued Golden for breach of contract and a tarnished reputation, claiming that he had promised to keep her identity a secret. She's since published her own book, detailing her history as a geisha during the 1960s and 70s.