My Journey with Paulo Coelho

Reason of such a title:

Because it’s always written at the end of his books “Life is a journey… Live it with Paulo Coelho” 

This post is an attempt to take you all on a journey of my experience with Coelho’s books. For those of you who have no idea who he is, my Last Post was a brief introduction of him.

When I started reading Coelho I had no idea who he was or where he was from. But when I read his work I was mesmerized with his writing. His books are very easy to read, understand and relate.  The main theme is always on life lessons, be it a person’s destiny, change or love. You get a variety of all emotions.

Following is a list of his books I have read in chronicle order.

1)      Like the Flowing River: I believe I got on a great start with his work by LTFR being my first one. Because often people I know complain they did not like Alchemist, his first book. Anyway, according to me, Like the Flowing River is one of his best works. This book is made up of his thoughts and short stories of 2-4 pages, all very interesting and fun to read. These stories focus on topics ranging from archery, music, elegance to good and evil. If you like this book, you will like rest of his collection.

2)      Veronika Decides to Die: When I read this book I was still very young to understand the concept of masturbation or how the world takes it. Born and raised in a South Asian culture, these concepts are not highly regarded in our community at least. That is why when I read the book, I felt kind of disgusted by that one particular part where Veronika does it. I thought I would hate Coelho’s work now. But fortunately I didn’t stop reading him.

3)      The Witch of Portobello: I LOVED it. In fact that’s an understatement!! My weakness for blue color, as the cover was blue, made me read it. But I just LOVED reading it. The concept of the book was feminine divinity and finding one’s true self. My favorite part was the ending, Athena’s death.

After reading these three, there started an endless craze. I just had to read all his books.

4)      Brida: Another book I loved. The thing I liked the most about this book was its cover. It was beautiful. I think beside the fact that Coelho is such an amazing writer, his book covers are the BEST. And it’s sad when they release more than one cover of a book. Because then people like me have to buy another copy just for the cover. (Freak, much?! Very much!!) I loved the story, how the wise man knows she is his soul mate but lets her go because he believes that she should fulfill her destiny.

 Another beautiful cover of Brida

5)      By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: This is another of my very favorite books. The theme was Love. It’s about a girl named Pilar who is frustrated with her life and wants something greater than mere university life and the prospect after. She meets her childhood sweetheart and the story unfolds.  My favorite part was the ending. It was surprising, beautiful and had me in tears. Simple love story of feelings and not of materials.

6)      The Zahir: Theme of this book was Marriage, Love and finding your true self. The story revolves around a successful writer in search of his missing wife. This book reminded me of a Hindi movie, Love Aaj Kal, because of similarity of the climax scene.

7)      Eleven Minutes: I did not want to read it at first because it widely revolved around the life of a prostitute and her business, I have a weak heart and all this freaks me out. But later I did, and I liked it. Though to me the ending was kind of not practical, but maybe in some other world it would have been possible.

8)      The Fifth Mountain: a book on religion and love, another favorite. This book was capable of making me feel Love.

9)      The Devil and Miss Prym: It focused on the decisions that we take in our life and how they are manipulated by Good, Evil, Fear and Temptations.

10)   The Valkyries: It actually is an autobiography but narrated by a third person’s perspective. In this book Coelho and his wife go on a journey to find his guardian angel.

11)   Aleph: It was the then latest piece when I went to Borders. I just had to buy it. The cover was beautiful as ever. This was a crazy book and to think that Coelho actually did all that was amazing. Yes, it’s an autobiography too in which Coelho embarks on a Trans-Siberian train journey in search of his true path.

12)   Manual of the Warrior of Light: This was next in my to-read list. I got it in e-book format and downloaded it. This book was more like a real manual that summarized Coelho’s teachings about how a Warrior of Light should be. Short and interesting.

13)   The Winner Stands Alone: I read this recently. It revolves around the media world, fashion, movies, fame, money and no happiness. Coelho’s book always has an ending with positive feeling but this book left me with a negative one. Yet again a great cover.

And finally looking very much forward to Coelho’s new book Manuscript found in Accra which is already available in Borders.  I will be treating myself to it soon!!!

PS. Yes I know there are still some books I haven’t read. It’s not easy to get them here but I have downloaded some in pdf format and will be reading them soon too!