Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is such a book. With over 27 million copes sold worldwide, The Alchemist has already achieved the status of a modern classic.

This is the story of Santiago, and Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of travelling the world in search of treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the exotic markets of Tangiers and then into the Egyptian desert, where a fateful encounter with the alchemist awaits him.

The Alchemist is a transforming novel about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path and above all following our dreams.

 

 
This is a BBC Big Read book, and sounds like a really good read. The back of the book and synopsis information reminds me a lot of Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, which I loved, so I'm very hopeful about this novel.

 

 
August 1st 2004

This book was a huge disappointment, as I was really looking forward to it...right up to the point when I picked it up and read the author's introduction. It was at that point I realised that instead of a cool mystical fiction about a boy who wants to be an alchemist it was written as semi-autobiographical, but a guy who believes in telepathy between him and his mentor and that you can really turn lead into gold. *Sigh* The introduction sounded so deluded and so preachy that I decided there was no way I was going to be able to read the book, as I have a serious aversion to new-age mysticism, especially when the writers set out to teach me their wisdom. I hate it. And so, this BBC Big Read is going back on my book shelf until I decide one day to try it, or until hell freezes over...whichever happens first. I'll leave it unrated as I can't judge what I haven't read.