Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Die
Reading Paulo Coelho makes me feel like I am studying Kabalah or some other new age, quasi - religous philosophical system. I read Veronika Decides to Die very early in my 1001 book journey. I found it a joyous book, a little predictable, but still worthy of reading.
Recently I picked up The Alchemist
. It's about a wildly different topic but you can tell it's from the same author. Both books are light in terms of weight and ease of reading. They carry important messages, entire philosophical systems in fact, but Coelho has such delicate, airy prose you can whip through these books in a matter of hours. The main character in The Alchemist - a shepherd who sets off to seek a treasure against all odds - is a lot less believable that Veronika, a suicidal woman who comes to realize the value of life. Yet you get the impression that you are not really supposed to believe in this shepherds actual existence. He is a parable for your life and how you should never abandon you dreams.
I'd give both books an 8 out of 10.
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