The Alchemist

I always knew Paulo Coelho's books dealt with a little bit of spiritualism and hence kept these books at bay but ever since he wrote this blog post encouraging people to pirate his books I was finding an excuse to buy or read one of his books. That time came last week when I borrowed "The Alchemist" from a local library.

The book describes the journey of Santiago, a shepherd from Spain to Egypt in pursuit of his dreams. Paulo Coelho very intelligently interleaves the need for one to pursue his dreams with the story and so it doesn't feel outright preachy. Towards the end, I felt the story drifting away when Santiago turns an alchemist but the last couple of pages were humorous. I am glad to have read "The Alchemist" and hopefully will buy one of his books. Any suggestions?