Stop the search parties, I’m still alive! I haven’t blogged in a stupidly long time and I feel really bad about it. University has kept me more than busy, and in the small spaces of time I have to myself I just haven’t been inspired to write. But new year, new starts and all. I’m going to try my best to get into this blogging business. After all, I’m a journalist.

Karen O: Hello Tomorrow

Wilco: California Stars

Tribes: Coming of Age

Before the days of fashion photography, illustrators were integral to the industry; their work often featured in the best magazines. Vogue have an archive of some really beautiful illustrations, all of which can be bought. Even if the prices are a little too steep for you, it’s a great site to be inspired, enjoy art, and of course, start making a wish list for the time £350 becomes small change. 

Last month, I spent some time rooting through a ridiculous amount of boxed up books. Many of them were collecting dust, others were torn and fading. All of them were just 50p. 

I didn’t want to read a cheesy, romance novel, or another predictable murder mystery. I wanted to read something that would broaden my horizons as people often say. I found a few books, the most interesting being one called, ‘Autobiography of a Geisha.’ 

‘Autobiography of a Geisha’ completely engrossed me. It told the true story of former geisha, Sayo Masuda. The book paints a compelling portrait and, as it says on the blurb, ‘explodes the myths’ surrounding their secret world. 

Finishing the novel autobiography today, I came away feeling more educated about the lives geisha’s lead; the assumptions I had made about these women, were proved false. I was shocked at the horrific punishments geisha’s face during ‘training,’ and the way Sayo detailed these.

Something made clear very early on in the book, was how utterly powerless women were when it came to becoming a geisha; parents sold their daughters to geisha houses at stupidly young ages, it was their way of avoiding debt and starvation. So more than anything, this book made me grateful to have the freedom I do. 

This book might not seem like your kind of book, I know it wasn’t mine. But I’m glad I made the conscious effort to read it. For just 50p I’ve learnt about a whole other culture.