Happy I Found The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. Just a page or two into the narrative, "lyrical" was the word that came to mind to describe it.

Not exactly surprising, considering Coelho worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist before  he claimed "author" as his full-time job. 

While the book is about pursuing your dream - and the story was lovely - I found the language itself as inspirational as the book's message. This is not a snarky way of saying I thought the book was weak (although quite a few Goodreads reviewers said just that). I'm very glad I read it. 

The Alchemist was on my radar several years ago, but so were dozens (hundreds?) of other titles, so I might never have gotten around to reading it if I hadn't gone grocery shopping downtown.

Happy Pharrell Mentioned It

That's a long unimportant story; the point of it is this: a magazine I picked up along the way had a great article about Pharrell Williams, in which he lauded the book. Currently, Williams is touting his own book, Happy (what else?), and his literacy campaign with FirstBook.

According to the article, Williams told Rhonda Price that before he read The Alchemist, he felt the universe might be conspiring against him. He credits the book for helping him turn around a general and pervasive frustration at the way his life and career was going.

Happiness is an attitude that is accessible to all people. It's a state of mind and it's real. You don't have to doubt it.  

Pharrell Williams said that, but it sounds almost like a page from Coelho's book.

You can read the whole interview with Williams in vol 26 of Extraordinary Health magazine, and see more quotes from The Alchemist on Goodreads.com. And if you're looking for a short, somewhat inspirational book that will make English sound almost as enchanting as a romance language, check out The Alchemist. 

Who Would Give a Queen a Sloth?

Who would give the queen a sloth, and what's up with the Dustin Hoffman cameo? I almost didn't find out.

As you can see, my dog nearly ate The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart.

All right - the truth is that while "my dog ate it" would be a convenient, acceptable, and almost-true excuse for not finishing the novel, I can't blame the dog. I just took for-ev-er to read it.

Pace More Tortoise Than Hare

Why did it take me forever to read?  Well, it isn't exactly a page-turner. The action unfolds with about the same aplomb as a towel unfolds. No flash, no magic, no special effects. Still, I knew I had to finish it - any book that uses the word hirsute in its first fifty pages deserves that much - and Stuart's story is sweet. I suppose the reason I finished it, slowly, is because I couldn't help but like her almost-too-human characters. They're a miserable lot, but each one is charmingly full of quirks.

Quirky, Sad Characters

Shortly after I'd stumbled over hirsute, I found the Rev. Septimus "lost in the silent ecstasy of wearing new socks." I rest my case.

See, while I truly liked The Tower's crew, I could only spend so much time with them in one sitting.  Frankly, I found their company rather depressing. Even the animals.

It's not really my style to describe a book's plot - scads of other reviewers do that - but in case you don't know, the "zoo" in the title refers to the menagerie of animals that the Royal family received as gifts from heads of state and other Very Important People around the world.

Theme of Loss

In the end, I finally got it - the theme of the book, that is - I think.

I think it's about loss, and more specifically, about moving on after loss. Oh, I suppose the fact that main character Hebe Jones worked at the London Underground's Department of Lost Things might have been a clue, and that a whole plotline revolved around the issue of returning a lost urn might have been another, but look, give me a break. I have Stage III FTGO,* after all.

If you get to the end of this book - and I recommend it, really I do - you're going to need a tissue, but don't worry, it'll be a cathartic cry. Oh, and just for fun you'll be rewarded with a bizarre appearance by Dustin Hoffman. (Stuart could go on the lecture circuit just to explain how she came up with that.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy a new chew toy for my dog, and look for a happier cast of characters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~Diane Stresing

*Failure To Grasp the Obvious. I'm sure the DSM will get around to including it one of these days...

Graphic Novels - Good & Bad

I just read The Plain Janes and loved it! But I finished it in 40 minutes! I hate it when that happens.

Which is the good and bad in this revelation, folks. I learned that a good writer (Cecil Castelluci) and a good illustrator (Jim Rugg) can turn out a very good story, even if it looks like a comic book. (Admission: this bookworm never liked comic books. A character flaw, I've been told.) It's just over too quickly!

I've just begun Castelluci's other 2005 release, Boy Proof, and so far, I'm less enamored. I'm only on page 25 and already I've tallied at least a dozen bad words, including several F-words. Realistic dialog, maybe. But still... not a plus in my book. More later. I also already know I'll forgive Castellucci - the story is off to a pretty good start.

Reading Woolf Sets a High Standard

Virginia Woolf's On Being Ill engages, delights, confuses, conspires, and again delights readers in only 24 short pages. Her artful yet very precise use of language could do it singlehandedly; because her writing is also very insightful I think she's rightly been deemed a "masterful" writer.

I enjoyed the essay but wonder what it will do to my perspective as I continue to tackle my reading list.

Maybe I'll be quicker to close a book that's not quite as engaging. Maybe I'll be smarter in my picks in the first place. Or maybe an essay like this is the protein-rich fortification my brain needs; but I'll still reach for the "snacks" on the shelf, and enjoy those too...