The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel rides the train each day into London to her non existent job.  She lost it long ago but admits that fact to no one.  She watches out the window of the train as it passes her old neighborhood and the home she once shared with her ex-husband.  He still lives there with his new wife and new baby daughter.  Rachel pines for the life she once had with Tom while she tries to peer behind the blinds in the instant the train passes each day.

When a woman from the neighborhood goes missing, Rachel's vivid imagination kicks in.  I need to mention that Rachel is an alcoholic.  Her life revolves around a careful manipulation of events she can't recall.  She has a habit of doing her best thinking while drinking a wine on the train.

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  But beware, the story is intense from start to finish.  The reader never gets a chance to even take a breath, relax, gather some thoughts.  The tension makes for a really good, fast paced novel, but I was exhausted half way though.  I couldn't stop.

Every twist and turn lead to a new and unexpected surprise.  I had no idea what was coming in the end.  The Girl on the Train is exactly the kind of emotional train ride I love to take.  

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

I read several glowing reviews of Sweetbitter and its portrayal of the inner workings of a restaurant in New York City.  I thought why not?  Something new, young and fresh about a topic I'd like to know more about.

Here's the spoiler.  I never made it past the 20% mark.  I gave up, which for those who know me, is an extremely rare event. The characters were all limp and lifeless.  Probably because all they did was drink, do drugs and have sex before running themselves ragged serving fine food and wine to some very snooty and particular customers.  I had no sense of the setting either other than food was served there.  I didn't smell the cooking of fine cuisine, or hear the clatter of dishes in the kitchen. Flat as a pancake is the best description I can whip up.

To summarize, Sweetbitter is dull and uninteresting and I didn't care what happened to any of the people in it.  In other words, Sweetbitter was as listless as wet bar towel forgotten on the floor overnight.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am a writer and I write for the pure joy of it.  But I fear of it.  I'm not good enough, or other people won't like it or I'm simply not talented enough.  You've helped me to say phooey to all those things I'm afraid of and you've shown me that as a writer, I'm not alone.  I saw myself in every chapter of Big Magic.

I wasn't a huge fan of Eat, Pray, Love when I read it. But I loved it more when a story I wrote about my puppy named Ginger who flunked obedience school, was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Dog's Life,  as "Treat, Pray, Love".  I loved the chapter about how ideas float around the universe searching for a place to land.  My first novel, One Clown Short is story about a woman who lands a job at a circus supply company.  It's a satirical look at the workplace complete with yahzoos and clown costumes.  While I made about $100 in royalties and occasionally I'm paid thirty five cents for a copy of the digital version,  The Office appeared to great success on television.  They worked at a paper company.  Hmm.  I understand completely that ideas belong to different people in varying degrees.

Big Magic is in me, I know it.  I have to let it flow and let go of my fear of not being good enough.  I am already good enough and my creative life will take me to great and wonderful heights, if I just let it.  I write for me!  It's not my baby, I'm its baby.

Thank you for sharing your insight through this book.  I needed it!  I still have my day job, but I am living a creative life and big magic is headed my way!

Sincerely,

Linda C Wright
Creator of Big Linda Magic

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

It's spring!  That means it's time for a fresh start and spring cleaning!

I happen to be a pretty neat person.  My clothes are hung up the minute I take them off, I throw out all the junk mail as soon as it comes,and I take out the trash on a regular basis.  But I still often feel like I have too much stuff.  Frankly, too much stuff can be overwhelming.

Are there too many clothes in my closet?  Yes, but my real issue is books.  Books have their own chapter in this book so I know I'm not alone.  Ms. Kondo requires that I take all my books off the shelf and put them in a pile.  This will make it easier for me to decide if the book sparks joy in my heart.  If I bought the book and then never read it, most likely it gave me some kind of joy when I bought it, but quickly lost it's spark.  It needs to go.  This same theory can apply to clothing, mementos and even all that stuff I didn't know I had under the bathroom sink.

Ms. Kondo loves being tidy and she discovered her passion for it at a very early age.  What she conveys so well in this book is that tidying up is not only about our clothing, books, and papers, it's about how we live our lives.  We must ask ourselves, do the things we have spark joy?  If they don't, do we really need to keep them?

I'm not quite ready to empty all my drawers, shelves and closets, looking for joy, but I did take a load of items that no longer delighted me to Goodwill today.  I'm looking for joy and when I don't feel it, I can more easily let it go.  I've been given a great tool to use in all aspects of living.  What a better world we would live in if we could take the time to feel a spark of joy. I highly recommend this life changing magic even though the title may be frightening.  It will change your life.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

I first learned of Jonathan Evison on my new favorite television show about books, Well Read.  The subject of his latest book, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance didn't really appeal to me, but his conversation about writing intrigued me enough to see what else he'd written.  Since my latest project is about aging, I thought The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving might be good research.

Benjamin Benjamin enrolls himself in a class on caregiving.  He has hit rock bottom and figures it's as good a place as any to start rebuilding his life, even if it only pays $9 an hour. Ben's first assignment is to care for Trev, a young man with a rare form of muscular dystrophy.  Trev comes with an overprotective mother and a clumsy father who she kicked out of the house long ago.  Trev is angry about life in general.  That is until Ben becomes his caregiver and his friend.

When I sat down to write this review, a book club discussion came to mind.  When you dislike the protagonist, is it a good book or not?  Ben is not a likable guy.  His marriage and his family have collapsed, he's broke, has a drinking problem, refuses to sign the divorce papers his wife keeps trying to serve him, and the list goes on.  Here's the spoiler alert.  I might have been more sympathetic to Ben, if I had been told why his life was in such a state of disarray sometime before I had read 75% of the book.

Mr. Evison is the master of creating tension.  There were so many great scenes in the book that could keep a reader on the edge of her seat.  But I just couldn't warm up to a guy for no reason at all.  The author kept me on the hook for far too long until Ben's disagreeable personality became ingrained in my mind and I couldn't change it.  It turned out Ben had a pretty good reason for being the way he was, but for me, I remain stuck in between good and not so good.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I felt it was time for me to do a little self reflection.  Recovering from a hip replacement forced me to face the fact that I'm getting older.  My ability to write a decent story seemed to have dissipated into thin air, and then both of the granddaughters dropped out of high school.  I needed some words of wisdom to get me back on track.

The author starts by reminding us that we have chosen to believe what we are programmed to believe. We are a product of of our environment and to shift our core beliefs is extremely difficult. He lays out The Four Agreements as the steps we need to take to effect real peace in our lives.

The Four Agreements are simple. Be impeccable with your words.  Say only what you mean and speak with integrity.  Our lives today are busy and hectic.  Gossip and negativity can roll easily off our tongues, spreading evil instead of the goodness we crave.

Don't take anything personally.  Others project their own version of reality and you don't need to be their victim.

Don't make assumptions.  I still remember Felix Unger on The Odd Couple when in a courtroom, he delivered his famous speech, "When you assume, you make an ass of you and me."  So true, so don't do it.

Be the best that you can be.  Everyday I now wake up each morning and say these four agreements out loud.  It's my own little pep talk that gets me ready to start the new day, fresh and with peace in my heart.  All those things that tried to derail me, are no longer worth all the negative energy I wanted to give them.  The wisdom of The Four Agreements will open your mind to a better life and a more peaceful world.  Share it with those you love.

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

I've read other novels by Joshilyn Jackson.  They are always smart, sassy and southern.  Someone Else's Love Story is no different.

Shandi Pierce is madly in love.  In love with her 3 year old son, Natty, whose birth she insists is a miracle.  Shandi believes she's a virgin and hangs on to that belief until the day she and Natty are held hostage at gunpoint in a Circle K.  The actions of another hostage, the hunky William, set her down a path of discovery.  Although she may never want to share Natty, Shandi now wants to find his father and stand up for her rights as a mother.

Right there is where the story got weird for me.  A virgin birth?  I completely understand the dynamics of a college fraternity party fraught with drugs and alcohol.  And that Shandi can't remember what happened that night is totally believable.  I can even accept that she doesn't know who Natty's father is, but the virgin part...  That belongs in the Bible and Shandi was no saint.

So right there I was turned off about the story.  That doesn't mean it wasn't a fun read with a lot of laugh out loud moments.  Ms. Jackson certainly doesn't disappoint with her snappy style of writing. I just simply couldn't get my head the whole premise of the story.  This book was not only, Someone Else's Love Story, for me, it was someone else's story to love.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Every now and then a book comes along that touches me like no other.  Something about The Light Between Oceans made me feel as if I'd lived it before, in the far reaches of Australia, on an isolated island, tending a lighthouse. Everything about this story seemed familiar to me.

I understood these characters. Tom Sherbourne is a war hero, driven to always do what's right and his wife, Isabel, who is young, energetic and believes love will carry her through what is a secluded and lonely way of life.  Tom is content tending the light, while Isabel longs for the children that will fill the void.

When the cries of baby pierce the usual quiet of the island, Janus, the Sherbournes come running.  In a small boat that's washed ashore they find a dead man and a screaming baby.  Having recently buried a stillborn, Isabel is determined to keep the baby as her own.  Tom wants to follow the rules but in a moment of weakness, eventually gives in to his wife's wishes.

The Light Between Oceans is a beautifully crafted story.  The words glide easily over the page as if rolling over the waves of the ocean. The joy, the pain, the heartbreak are vivid and real. And I lived my emotions all over again on these pages.  

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

I picked up this book at the annual library sale, all the books you can stuff in a bag for $5.  I read The Space Between Us years ago and loved it, so another novel by Ms. Umrigar caught my eye.

Reading the first page, I thought what did I get myself into.  It's written in halting English, the speech of Lakshmi, an Indian immigrant now living in New York.  At first I found it very difficult to read and couldn't quite wrap my head around what was happening to her.  In the next chapter, the voice switches to Maggie, the psychologist who has been called on to treat Lakshmi.  Their two very different worlds collide and suddenly the story becomes magic.

Both of these women are carrying deep and dark secrets.  Maggie struggles to maintain a professional relationship with Lakshmi but Lakshmi, in her simple ways gets into Maggie's heart.  In return Maggie helps Lakshmi become the independent woman she always longed to be.  But no good deed goes unpunished.

The Story Hour is beautifully written.  It shows the reader the differences in cultures and the battle that still exists for women regardless of where they have come from.  I wanted this story to go on, but Ms. Umrigar's use of her craft left me wanting more.  She is a wonderful writer and I hope I find some more of her works at the next library sale.  Maybe I won't be able to wait that long.  My Kindle is waiting.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

We meet Lucy Barton as she lies in a hospital bed in New York City.  She will remain there for nine long weeks, though the cause of her illness remains a mystery.   While she's in the hospital, her mother comes to visit for five days.  She never leaves Lucy's side and never sleeps.  They discuss people they knew over the years and this is how we learn who Lucy Barton really is.

Lucy grew up dirt poor, her family living on the fringes of their rural Illinois community.  Her husband had sent her mother the airplane ticket.  She had never been on an airplane before and Lucy hadn't seen her in many years. They talk about the past and look out at the Chrysler Building. Every now and then the doctor checks on her and periodically some nurses who she's given nicknames to, come to take her temperature.

The story is peppered with some talk of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's, the decade in which we first meet Lucy Barton.  First we go back to her childhood when her father locks her in his truck with a brown snake of which she's terrified.  Her brother grows into a man yet is still reading Little House on the Prairie books. The reader is never given any explanation for why theses event are important.  We see snippets of Lucy's marriage and her children.  Then we skip to her quest to become a writer after her illness. And when her mother goes home, her life moves on.

I loved Olive Kitterridge but I just couldn't wrap my head around Lucy Barton.  I got more out of the advice she received from another writer, than I got from reading her story.  I just couldn't find much about Lucy to like, I found her kind of blah.  With that being said, Olive Kitteridge wasn't a likable character either but she was tough, funny and feisty.  And it's not to say, My Name is Lucy Barton is not a well written novel, but Lucy couldn't grab my attention.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I don't think I've read an Agatha Christie novel since high school and that was a very long time ago.  So I have to say thank you to Lori, the librarian for selecting this for book club.  It's fun to get nostalgic while trying to solve a murder on a train.

The Orient Express is suddenly stopped by snow on the tracks shortly after midnight.  The following morning a man is found dead in his compartment, stabbed multiple times.  M. Hercule Poirot is on board and is asked to put his skills to work to solve the case.  The train is unusually full for the time of year so he has a lot of ground to cover.  The possible suspects are many and none are exempt from scrutiny.

Murder on the Orient Express is charming. The story flows smoothly and effortlessly page after page. The cast of characters represent the class structure of the times, and are rich with personality and suspicion.  And what's not to love about M. Poirot with his calculating mind and his direct, yet subtle line of questioning.

I loved this book. What a refreshing change of pace!  A good old fashioned murder mystery was the perfect distraction to a modern life.  Agatha Christie is a master.

A Wedding on the Banks by Cathie Pelletier

A Wedding on the Banks by Cathie Pelletier

Amy Joy Lawler is getting married and Mattagash, Maine is abuzz.  Her fiance, Jean Claude Cloutier, speaks French, lives in Frogtown and is Catholic.  Horrors!  Gossip races through the backwoods town, while Amy Joy's mother, Sicily, is dreaming up yet another imaginary illness so she can take to her bed. Once the invitations are mailed, the big city relatives arrive bringing more than what's packed in their suitcases, while the no good local Gifford brothers plot to crash the reception and steal the wedding gifts. The wedding day is set for May 1st. Can a spring snowfall bring the festivities to a screeching halt and are Sicily's wishes finally granted?

I'm a big fan of Cathie Pelletier and the antics in Mattagash.  The Funeral Makers, the first book in this series, is one of my favorites. It introduced me to the residents of Mattagash earlier in their lives. Their antics made me laugh out loud.  Even though they've grown up, their penchant for the absurd hasn't changed.

A Wedding on the Banks has lots of funny and laughable moments but the story just didn't come together for me.  The backstory overwhelmed the present.  Many times I felt like I was reading The Funeral Makers all over again. I understand that as a writer of a series, each book still needs to stand on its own.  In this case, the new story sprinkled itself over the backstory.  A good writer knows it should be the other way around.

Ms. Pelletier's works are funny, lighthearted and border on the ridiculous.  A Wedding on the Banks is sure to take your mind off whatever is ailing you.  The laughs are many.  But some of her other works are more entertaining and worth taking the time to read.  Just remember, this is Maine without the lobster, the way life should be.  Or not.

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

Vanessa Michael Munroe is a hired gun of sorts, who's handsomely paid to gather information for corporations doing business in developing countries.  She's an expert in analyzing the political and cultural practices in far corners of the world where few dare to tread.  How she came to this line of work is buried in a past that's filled with both physical and emotional scars. Sometimes she uses all of Vanessa's charms to lure her subjects, other times the makeup and heels come off and Michael takes over.

This novel is set in Africa and the author did a fabulous job of research to set the scene for the reader. The jungle, the non stop rain mixed with heat, the government corruption all got under my skin. Other things got to me also.  The writing was only okay. I found a lot of repetition and cliches.  For me, it ruined some of the enjoyment of the story.  Plus I found it difficult to read the words "Equatorial Guinea" over and over again in my head.

The Informationist is a book club selection.  What I love about book club is that I have to read books I've never heard of and wouldn't normally be attracted to.  It's rare that I would pick up any kind of suspense or thriller.  But I like being pushed outside my comfort zone. The Informationist is full of twists, turns and heart stopping surprises.  I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, but then again, I don't read many mysteries or thrillers.  I'm also not a serial reader so it's unlikely I will read more of Vanessa / Michael's adventures.  But if suspense is what you like, I think you will find The Informationist a compelling and fulfilling story.

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

I'm a big fan of classic contemporary literature.  I love Steinbeck, Hemingway, and a family favorite, Thomas Wolfe.  And since I'm not typically a fan of British authors, I surprised myself by picking up this title. I remember loving the movie when I saw it many years ago, but couldn't remember much about the story other than its set in a Welsh coal mining village.  That's what happens with age.

How Green Was My Valley is the story of the Morgan family as told through the eyes of their youngest son, Huw.  Due to an accident with his mother in a blizzard, he is confined to his bed for several years.  He observes the rigors of mining life and also its pleasures while he recuperates.  The family has high hopes that Huw will not go into the pits like his father and his brothers.  Huw is given an education but coal mining is in his blood.

What a beautifully written story!  The coal miner's life is hard, yet the family that waits at home is happy, food is shared and Sunday chapel is a requirement.  But what the mine can give, it can also take away.  The slag waste from the mine creeps across the valley, sending Huw's brother's and sisters away to find greener pastures.  The black coal dust stamps out the light of the life Huw was born into.

How Green Was My Valley was a wonderful book to start the new year.  It's full of characters to love and to hate, scenery that comes alive in the mind's eye, and prose that will carry you away to a nostalgic place in time.

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

Lucy's life is a mess.  She's living in a tiny apartment where her rack of clothes has to double as the curtains.  She's still hanging on to her past relationship with a globe trotting boyfriend who dumped her almost three years ago.  A lie on her resume helped Lucy land her most recent job after she was fired from a much more lucrative one. And then the letters from her life began to arrive.  She refuses to respond to them, but her life is persistent.

When I started reading this book, I thought I'd never make it to the end.  The first ten pages or so seemed to drag on forever with long sentences. I couldn't make heads or tails of where I might be headed.  Then Lucy finally decides to meet with her life and let the fun begin.  They don't exactly hit it off. We could all say we've had some disagreements with our lives at some point in time.  That's all I needed, I was hooked.

The Time of My Life is funny, charming and witty. It's fast, romantic and funny with a unique fantasy twist.  Life refused to go away even when Lucy tried to ignore him. And just as Lucy learns to love her life, you will too.

There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron

There Was An Old Woman by Hallie Ephron


When her alcoholic mother is rushed to the hospital, the neighbor, Mina Yetner, makes the call to let Evie Ferrante and her sister, Ginger, know what's happened.  Evie is a busy historical museum curator with no desire to bail out her mother yet again.  But Ginger insists it's Evie's turn to pitch in this time.  Evie goes back to the home she grew up in, only to find it a disaster.  Among the rotting food, roaches and new big screen television,  she also finds suspicious envelopes of cash and uncashed checks.  These discoveries start Evie on a journey she never imagined when she befriends the aging Mina.

I met Hallie Ephron once at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon.  She is interesting, dynamic and there is no question that she can write.  The characters are brilliantly created and the settings are expertly set.  When Evie is walking through mounds of trash and stink in her childhood home, the reader feels the skin crawling disgust just as Evie does. But this novel is billed as a suspense thriller.  Hardly.  I figured out what was going on less that half way through.

That being said, There Was An Old Woman is an interesting read.  It has a little bit of history, a touch of environmentalism and more about how gracefully or not, we face getting old. The subject matter knows how to play into that little voice of doubt in our heads, that grows louder as we age.  Beware.

Stitches by Anne Lamott

Stitches by Anne Lamott

I recently had my hip replaced and took this book with me to the hospital.  I thought that by the title alone, it would be just the spiritual medicine I would need to get me back on track.  Little did I know however, that I had no physical stitches in my incision.  The surgeon glued me back together.  Modern medicine is quite amazing.  

What I learned from this book is that even though I didn't get stitched back together, many stitches have been made in the quilt that is me from this experience.  We are made up of stitches, each one carefully sewn for every step we take in life.  

There are many passages here that I wanted to highlight and remember forever.  The one however, that stuck with me is, "The American way is to not need help, but to help."  Right now I need help to do a lot of things and I hate asking for it.  I'm using a walker just to get around.  Managing it and me is a full time effort.  I can't even get a drink from the refrigerator with out asking for it.  It is a humbling experience and a lesson I needed to learn.  And a stitch my quilt needed in order to grow.  

I love Anne Lamott.  She's funny and has a unique way of writing about the journey of life.  I have to admit I liked Help, Thanks, Wow a bit better than Stitches.  This book was exactly what I needed during my road to recovery.  It's amazing to me how books have a way of working their way to the top of the reading pile at just the right time.  

Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Virginia ia a working girl, a waitress at a diner.  Aaron is a widower who comes to the diner with his shy, young son, Buddy.  He has his heart set on Virginia and she on him.  Just when their first date is about to become reality, tragedy strikes.  Their budding romance is not to be.

We fast forward 19 years and Virginia owns the diner along with her friend, Fern. She's also now engaged to Lloyd.  Lloyd, however is not the man she thinks he is,when her beloved dog, T-Rex goes missing. Through a series of events, T-Rex leads Virginia and Buddy back into each other's lives and teaches them both what they are worthy of in life.  

Put a dog in a story and I'm hooked, the dog lover that I am.  Worthy stole my heart from the very beginning.  The  characters in this novel have flaws, big ones.  Don't we all?  As the story unfolds, we watch them come to grips with how to live a good and happy life, flaws included.  

Catherine Ryan Hyde gives us a feel good story about how it takes a village.  We are not alone in this world and weren't meant to be.  We need the love and help of others no matter where we are on our path.  Life is meant to be shared and is fulfilled only when we include others.  Strangers are never strange for long if we let them into our hearts.  

I became a fan of Ms. Hyde's work when I read Take Me With You.  She's best known for Pay It Forward which became a movie.  I think that"ll be the next one I'll read.  Movie or no movie, that doesn't mean you should pass over any of her other works. Worthy will lift your spirits and restore your faith whether you're a dog lover or even a cat lover! If you are looking for a book to make you feel good, Worthy is it. 

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

I'm always attracted to books that have won the Pulitzer Prize, and when I saw Jane Smiley on the cover of my Writer's Digest magazine, I figured I should give her writing a try.  Farmers in Iowa are not really my thing, but I like to keep an open mind when it comes to the books I read.

Larry Cook is a successful farmer who over time and the misfortune of others has accumulated a thousand acres of farmland.  He's very proud of that fact, and thrives in the attention it gives to him.  His three daughters however, have a very different view of their father.  When he decides to turn the farm over to them and their husbands, the cracks in the facade begin to grow.

I loved the first few chapters, filled with beautiful prose and lovely descriptions.  I could see in my mind the rows upon rows of corn growing in the Midwestern summer heat.  As the pages turned however, I became more and more confused.  There was so much backstory that popped in, smack dab in the middle of a scene, drawing me away it.  Then again without notice, I got yanked back into the present.  Ginny, who is the narrator of the story,  seemed at first to me like a woman I could relate to.  I understand she found herself in an unexpected and stressful situation, but many of her actions were out of character.

I've read the reviews and people love this novel.  This is simply my opinion, but I wanted something more from A Thousand Acres.  The story had all the components of a rich and wonderful story. For me, they weren't strung together in an smooth or enjoyable way. By the end I couldn't feel sorry of any of the farmers from Iowa.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a huge baseball fan.  The Tampa Bay Rays are my boys!  During the regular season, Fox Sports ran a story about one of my favorite Rays, pitcher Chris Archer.  It's well known that he loves to read and he told how his friend recommended The Alchemist to him.  He asked the friend more than once if it was a good book.  When he got reassurance that it was, he read it and found the story changed his life.  I wanted to get on that bandwagon!

I've read Paulo Coehlo before and love his simple stories about life.  The Alchemist is a fable about a shepherd, Santiago, who is looking for his treasure.  The search takes him from Spain, to Africa and across the desert to the Pyramids.  Along the way he meets all kinds of people, some good, some bad but who all teach him what he is capable of in life.

I'm inspired by this book.  I love the spiritual wisdom found on these pages.  Maintaining a positive outlook can be difficult in a world full of negativity.  The Alchemist is thought provoking and uplifting.  We can all use a little reminding of how fortunate we are in life.  We can overcome any obstacle if we simply try.  I'm going to read this one again and will probably make some notes in the margins the second time around.  It's that good.

There are many lessons in The Alchemist, and the most important one in my view is to keep an open mind.  Look at me, I watched a baseball game which led me to an intelligent book that touched my soul.  When one door closes, another opens.  Follow your dreams, they will lead you to your treasure.  Be patient.  And watch baseball.  You might learn the difference between a fastball and a change up, but you might also find something far more satisfying. The path to your own Personal Legend.