Book 33: Memoirs of a Geisha

I am starting 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden today. I saw this movie several years ago and found it interesting, but not one of my favorites. I always enjoy reading books that go with movies and since I don't really remember the movie, I thought I'd read the book now to fit into the Asian theme. I hope I enjoy the story of Nitta Sayuri's life as a geisha.

Book 32: Flower Net

Tomorrow I will be starting book number 32, 'Flower Net' by Lisa See. This is the first book in the Red Princess Mystery series about police detective Liu Hulan. In 'Flower Net', a US ambassador's son is found dead in Beijing and the corpse of the Red Prince is found off the coast of California. The Chinese and American governments team up to to see if there is a connection between these deaths and the lead investigators end up having an intense attraction to each other. In my mind I'm thinking of the description as 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' meets Asian mystery/fiction. I hope it's good.

Book 31: Unaccustomed Earth

I am starting 'Unaccustomed Earth' by Jhumpa Lahiri. This is a book of short stories about love and family in different parts of the world (as a short summary). I have heard very good reviews about this book. I am hoping to give this book the first 5 star rating out of the quarterly Asian theme.

Book 30: The Commoner

'The Commoner' by John Burnham Schwartz is the book club selection for March. After recently enjoying historical fiction about Henry VII, I hope to learn some history about the Japanese royal family.

This is my 30th book in the 50 book challenge, which means I am almost 60% complete in 6 months. I am really enjoying this challenge so far. Even though I haven't loved all the books I have read, I am making myself complete books that I might normally give up on. I think this is a great reward to me as a reader.