*points to title* Paulo Coelho. This is what we will be talking about here!
His books are amazing. I love the way he writes.
I started out with The Alchemist, as it is his most famous book. Later I have read
Veronica Decides To Die
The Devil and Miss Prym
Eleven Minutes
and currently I'm reading The Pilgrimage.

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i've read the alchemist, veronica decides to die, the pilgrimage, the fifth mountain and the zahir. he has some interesting ideas, but ultimately i always end up disagreeing with him and shouting at the book. he seems to want to accept god without letting go of anything from his previous life, and that just doesn't work. i mean, in the alchemist he tries to equate alchemy with the search for god, but alchemy is about gaining eternal life on earth and wealth (the two things god says we don't need to look for as we have an eternal life in heaven and material wealth is meaningless) so the alchemy and faith are incompatible. i've veered off into talking about religion now, so sorry. but yeah, that's my take on coelho.

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Let me start out by saying I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but I find his writing interesting. I have only read the books I mentioned once, and it has been a while ago for some of them. Sometimes I got the "Huh, are you sure?" when I read his books, but many times he made me stop and think. The Devil and Miss Prym is currently my favorite, it portraits the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness within the human being.

I don't know much about alchemy, but in my understanding alchemists were scientists. They used the natural elements; earth, air, fire and water in search for a deeper understanding of Nature (and possibly of God's Creation).
The way I read it, the boy in The Alchemist searches for his treasure, which he stubbornly believes is of material kind, but gradually discovers is more spiritual - the meaning of his life and the search for god. So he believes that alchemy will be the means to achieve it, but it turns out there are many ways to find one's treasure - but they all go through the heart rather than the mind.
Anyway, I was very inspired of his ideas of following your dreams and let the dreams live to inspire you in life...


[If you want to discuss it further but can't post here, because it will violate the religion rule, feel free to PM me ]

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So...I finished The Pilgrimage - finally!
It is a very personal book dealing with the author's own faith and search for his meaning in life, which is interesting to follow - most of the times. It isn't the best of his books in my opinion, but it helps me to better understand his background and his other novels. Actually, I have just turned the last page half an hour ago, so I still don't know what to think about the book...

Is it really true that we are only two people on this forum who have read Paulo Coelho?

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it would seem so. or maybe no one else wants to admit to it for some reason.

i just had a sudden thought. if you like that sort of inspirational, slightly philosophical stuff, you should try mitch albom. the five people you meet in heaven and tuesdays with morrie are amazing. albom's a very different author to coelho, but i guess they're writing in the same sort of field.

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Thank you for posting again.

I have heard a lot of good about The Five People You Meet In Heaven but I have never heard of the author, I might give it a try.

I started out with The Little Prince a couple of years ago and went on with The Alchemist down the philosophical lane. I was also reading Sophie's World (Jostein Gaarder) at that time, but I've moved since then... I don't necessarily seek the philosophical anymore, at least not unless it also deals with the mundane. I don't want to read philosophy just for the sake of philosophy, the author must relate it to something in the everyday.
Perhaps it's a reaction against all the academic stuff my studies are forcing me through!
And perhaps it is for the same reasons I find myself sort of longing for the spiritual...

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you probably would like mitch albom then - his characters are very real and even though the priniciple character is in heaven for most of five people, there are a lot of flashbacks to his life so it still feels grounded in the real and everyday. i certainly wouldn't say it was philosophy for philosophy's sake.

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