One of the online communities I visit frequent has a book club forum or two. I haven’t participated in a book discussion yet because I’m not always proactive about finding the book. This time I found the book and requested it from the library hoping it would be in by mid-December in time for the discussion. It came in two weeks ago and I finally picked it up from the library this week. I meant to read a chapter or two a day, in between Christmas knitting. Well, there aren’t defined chapters and it was a quick read. I am planning on reading it again as I have the book until Dec. 9 but so far I’m rather impressed.

The subtitle is A fable about following your dream and is written by Paulo Coelho, translated by Alan R. Clarke. It is a quick read under 200 pages with large print on smallish pages. The illustrations on the copy I borrowed are absolutely wonderful. The entire story is told in a series of overlapping pictures. The meanings of which are a mystery until the book is completed. Without getting into the author’s head as to deeper meanings, we follow a shepherd boy named Santiago as he makes life altering choices. He is in the dark about some choices and has unique guidance for others. Santiago is promised a great treasure if he goes to Egypt, which seems like a far-fetched idea. While he attempts to reach Egypt he learns life lessons that many of us fail to learn until we have a great many more years under our belts. In life, should a person follow a dream, a passion, a heart’s desire even if the obstacles seems insurmountable? Should a person take the first easy path that crosses the difficult one? What about the third easiest path that crosses the increasingly difficult one? Should a person listen to counsel from strangers, friends, family?

In my opinion, I have never written a book report that would cause another person to pick up the book and read it. I hesitate to tell too much and ruin the adventure to the point where I don’t tell enough. Let this little paragraph serve as an invitation to read a book that may not change your life, but will certainly entertain you and possibly steal a piece of your heart.

Tags: alchemist, book review

I have started listening to CraftLit podcast. Crafts are spoken of and stores are read to us. Currently, we are listening to Little women, I still own it, I just don’t know where it is exactly. I only started listening a month ago but felt that I should at least start at the beginning of Little women to see if I liked the reading style or even the book. I am getting into the book, but I was under the impression that the podcast author was reading the story, not so. It is the version posted at Librivox. There are pros and cons about that. The easiest two are free and it’s already in electronic format. The con, it’s free, no one was paid to record it, nor was quality proofed. There are some chapters that are redone as the CraftLit author determines it’s necessary, I think that’s an interesting idea. I am getting a sense for “voice” readings, where each character needs a unique way of reading. I need to listen faster as new episodes are rolling in and I’m still on the older ones.

I also started reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The story is a “fable about following your dreams”.

Tags: alchemist, little women