Skip to main content

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was recommended to me by a family member.

Unfortunately this was one of those recommendations that made me question if the family member had even met me. The only reason I would have recommended this to me is that there's a pull quote on that back that says "As memorable and meaningful as Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince"--what a crock of bull.

Sure, The Alchemist had quite a few so-called "deep and meaningful" lines if you're new to the repackaged dogma scene. If this is the first time you've ever come across the concept of following your heart or "your Personal Legend" as Coelho deems it, than this book might come across as ground-breaking.

But to me, it was common sense pared down to a simplistic level. Of course, I believe you should follow your heart. And I know it isn't always easy. But frankly, I don't need a tidy little book to tell me that God has a path for me, and if I follow my heart, I'm on it.

I was irritated that it was compared to The Little Prince because that book meant so much more to me. I did read it in high school, so that could be part of it. Or it could be that it was the first book I read in French by myself, or it could be that it's just so much better than The Alchemist. I could be irritated by The Alchemist because the family member that suggested it hasn't always been 100% supportive of my life choices, and it felt like passive agressive preaching while I was reading it. There's a lot of factors that go into the reading of a book. But none of the factors worked in my favor for this read.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Blarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Hello lovelies. I'm feeling super overwhelmed by life since I'm doing Camp Nanowrimo and trying to move and find a place to live 2600 miles away. So that's my excuse for missing last week. But now you get two weeks in a row. So this week's theme (hosted as always by The Broke and the Bookish ) is... Top Ten Favorite Movies   (And I picked Scary Movies) I have a secret. Or I guess I had a secret. And that secret is that I love  scary movies. Like anything that plays on gross special effects or melting walls or sudden appearances--I'm totally down for it. (This has only back fired on me once--when I had a panic attack watching Saw 2--I don't wanna talk about it...) So in no particular order, movies that really impressed me with their scare factors: 1. Thir13een Ghosts -- there's this scene with a glass door that is ingrained in my brain.  2. Haunting in Conneticut -- aw man, this movie is sooo good. I actu

Why Should I Trust You?

Hello Lovelies!! It's my finals week, so I'm going to make this one quick.  This week's Top Ten Tuesday (by the Broke and the Bookish ) allows us to fill in the blank! So I will be bringing you... The Top Ten Books with Characters Who are Unreliable Narrators (AKA BIG OL' LIARS). I love unreliable narrators because you never know if they're actually being unreliable or not. Occasionally they tell the truth, but occasionally they lie. So here we go... 1. Nothing by Janne Teller 2. Liar by Justine Larbalestier 3. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman 4. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta 5. Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout 6. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein 7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 8. The Princess Bride by William Goldman 9. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 10. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson Many of these books feature the unreliable characters as side characters and not main charac

More Diversity in Your Book Diet

Hello Lovelies! As usual Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by the lovely people over at The Broke and the Bookish . Today's topic is Top Ten Books for People Who Like X, and I'm going to go with... Top Ten Books for People Who Like Diversity Thanks to the efforts of groups like We Need Diverse Books, diversity is having a resurgence in young adult and children's books. For the last couple years, I have been trying to read more books with diverse characters or by diverse authors. (Diverse in this respect includes race, sexuality, gender, and disability). I haven't endeavored to challenge myself to only read a certain type of book i.e. only those by women of color or anything that isn't by a white heterosexual male, but I try to be extra aware of the characters and ask myself if they actually are white (sometimes the text doesn't say it, sometimes people just assume it!) and if being white is necessary for the character or not.  But here are my top t