This story is a rare and utterly engaging experience. It tells the extraordinary tale of a geisha - summoning up a quarter century, from 1929 to the post-war years of Japan's dramatic history, and opening a window onto a half-hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation.

'Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha with such gentle courtesy and determination that you are quickly brought under the spell of her character. She takes you by the hand and leads you into a world that is both formal and intimate, a world that I had only before glimpsed in the fleeting and beautiful images of traditional Japanese ink painting...Memoirs of a Geisha is a wonderful achievement' - Julia Blackburn

 
This book is part of the BBC Big Read, and has been talked about almost constantly since it's release. I'm not sure I would pick this book under normal circumstances, as it sounds more epiccy and gushy than I would usually choose. However, I'll give it a go as it sounds interesting.