Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (Novel-1997 and Movie-2005)
THE NOVEL (Given to me by my VT sister, Jo Iwatani) There have been novels that have been outdone by the screenplay, but this is not one of them. Even if I like the movie, I still prefer this one over the screenplay because there were certain important elements that were not included in the movie. I know for a fact that it's close to impossible to include everything in the screenplay, unless it's going to be a mini-series or something, but elements that make the story special should never be deleted or changed. As a reader, I would choose Nobu over the Chairman, but as a member of the cinema/theater audience, I would definitely choose the Chairman because he was portrayed by Ken Watanabe, and not because of his character or anything. Nobu loves/loved Sayuri and the Chairman only made Sayuri his kept woman until his final breath. I couldn't help but compare it to Pygmalion / My Fair Lady , Gigi and Pretty Woman . Gigi got married to ...