Another good book find of 2005 that I forgot to include was The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo. I picked this up while browsing the Costco book tables and was not disappointed with the selection.

I read this earlier in the year before we had even selected The Samaurai’s Garden for a book club reading.

On it’s own I thought The Pearl Diver was a great read & I looked forward to my commute time on the El while I was reading it. Then as I read The Samaurai’s Garden I felt like the books were very good compliments for each other. The Pearl Diver is centered around the life of a Japanese pearl diver that is exiled to a lepor colony. The Samaurai’s Garden has an ex-pearl diver in a lepor colony as a key figure in the story of the main character.