The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Santiago the shepherd boy travels from Spain to Egypt to see the Pyramids, which is his dream. Along the way, he is enlightened by a gypsy, an Englishman, a "king", and an alchemist, each of which teaches him a valuable lesson. Perhaps the greatest lesson comes from Fatima, a girl he falls in love with and longs to return to once he has chased his dreams.

Coelho has written a wonderful book based on simple concepts. It's one I envision Oprah saying "see the simplicity of it," "learn from these lessons,"..and so on. And I did. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.

"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." (p.20)

"...To realize one's Personal Legend is a person's only real obligation. All things are one. And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (p.24)

"...people need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want. We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand." (p.78)

"You should pay more attention to the caravan," the boy said to the Englishman, after the camel driver had left. "We make a lot of detours, but we're always heading for the same destination."

"And you ought to read more about the world," answered the Englishman. "Books are like caravans in that respect." (p.79)

"...he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke - the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert." (p.94)

"Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said. "We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them - the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place..." (p.132)

"What's an alchemist?" he asked, finally.

"It's a man who understands nature and the world. If he wanted to, he could destroy this camp just with the force of the wind." (p.141)

"This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life...That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too." (p.151)

The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond

There are some books in which the details are so vivid and so strong that they allow the reader to form mental images of every scene in the novel. This is definitely one of those books.

Abby Mason is a thirtysomething photographer living in San Francisco, soon to be married to handsome Jake, who has a six-year-old daughter. Abby is thrilled at the idea of becoming a stepmother to young Emma, but on one of their beach outings - a cold summer morning with a thick fog - Emma simply disappears. Abby and Jake's lives change drastically that day, as they set up a search party for Emma. As they distribute hundreds of thousands of posters and pictures with no leads, and Jake pleads with viewers on television shows, Jake and Abby lean on each other off and on. Jake eventually feels the need to move forward, and after giving Emma a memorial service, he tells Abby that she must choose - try to form a new life with him, or continue her search for Emma, alone. She chooses the latter and sets off for Costa Rica, on a small lead about a frog on a rare longboard that she is certain is connected to a surfer couple who was on the beach the day Emma disappeared.

On Abby's quest, we are told the story of her life, including the bizarre childhood with constantly bickering parents, and the bond she shared with her sister, with whom she is still very close. We also hear of Ramon, her first and only love prior to Jake, the one she let go and the one who was killed on his motorcycle not long after their breakup. What I loved most about Abby was her obsession with memory, and of her details about and her genuine love of photography.

Abby searches Costa Rica's beaches, traveling on buses for hours, even days at a time, looking for any clues that may lead to the surfboard bearing a golden frog in the center. She forms some friendships, tells several lies, and hits many a dead-end. As she's ready to admit defeat and pack up to return to California, she spots Emma on a beach. We finally learn that Emma's real mother, who left years earlier and was never really a "mother" in any sense of the word, was behind the scheme, and paid the 2 surfers $10,000 to kidnap her. Emma returns home with her father while Abby finishes the case in Costa Rica.

Happily Ever After? Not hardly, but Abby does try to move forward. She was so focused on finding Emma that once she does, she has no direction in life beyond it. She did forge a friendship with a surfer named Goofy who teaches her to ride a wave. And that's where we leave Abby - on her first ride.

I really enjoyed this book; I highly recommend it. Please visit Susan's blog to see her review!

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

Heads up, this one's a tearjerker. A little background about the author. Randy Pausch is a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University, and he also previously taught at the University of Virginia. He has extensive knowledge in computer programming and is a firm believer in living your childhood dreams. He lives with his wife and 3 kids in Virginia. In 2006 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - which is terminal - and given only months to live.

He was asked to give a "last lecture" - where professors are asked to consider their demise and to spread their story now while they still can. Pausch's last lecture is infamous at this point; I heard his story on Oprah earlier this year, and when my boyfriend - a computer nerd himself - purchased this book, I knew I would read it immediately. His story is heartbreaking - but he is the face of positivity.

These are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

p. 33 - "Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."

p. 79 - "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

p. 145 - "Look for the best in everybody."
"Watch what they do, not what they say... 'When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do."

p. 149 - "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer."

p. 159 - "All you have is what you bring with you."

p. 176 - "Communitarians... 'When we're connected to others, we become better people."

I really loved this book. It was hard to make it through without crying, but it really goes to show that you might be perfectly healthy - and still only have months left. When his 3 young children are old enough to watch the videos he is filming for them, and to read and understand the letters he is writing to them, they will certainly feel the love from their father.

What would you say in your 'last lecture'?

P.S. It should be noted that Jeffrey Zaslow co-authored this book. Please visit The Last Lecture website here and Randy Pausch's personal website/blog here.

Pack Up the Moon - Anna McPartlin

The book opens with this:

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

From Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden

Emma and John are the perfect couple - together since high school, now living together in Dublin, surrounded by their closest friends. But tragedy strikes early in this debut novel when John is the victim of a fatal accident. Emma must face her loss and rebuild, with help from her friends and family.

Emma's grief and rebuilding process is sad, true, poignant and witty all at once. After she is past the initial shock and devastation, Emma's wit and humor carried her through (McPartlin was formerly a stand-up comedian.)

When it appears halfway through the story that Emma and Sean, her deceased boyfriend's best friend, will proclaim their love for each other, it only becomes a matter of time. It took poor Emma far too long to realize her love for Sean, and once she does, everyone cheers and awaits their next move. Before long, Emma is pregnant (which ironically, is something she found out she was NOT on the day that her boyfriend John died) and they are planning a future together. I was so glad to see that Emma was finally getting the happy ending that when she almost died after giving birth I was ready to cry - and throw the book across the room. I didn't - and she lived, of course.

The stories of Emma's friends Clodagh and Tom, Sean, Richard and Anne, as well as her Catholic Priest brother Noel, were integral parts in her recovery, and the whole gang seemed to really move forward together, with the help of each other. I tend to really love stories of treasured friendship and I thought McPartlin did an amazing job with this group.

I loved this book. I highly recommend it to all!

Favorite Reads

I'm currently reading Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, and I will probably finish it in the next couple of days. Until then, I wanted to share some of my favorite books from the past.

Jodi Picoult - She is by far my favorite author, and my all-time fave of hers is My Sister's Keeper, followed closely by Harvesting the Heart, Nineteen Minutes, Salem Falls, Plain Truth, Perfect Match and Mercy. Vanishing Acts, The Pact, and Change of Heart (to be released early March 2008) are all on my TBR pile.

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorites as well. While I loved this book when we were forced to read it in high school, it took a few years for me to really appreciate Lee's work.

I loved Cammie MacGovern's Eye Contact. It was a quick read, a book I surprisingly couldn't put down. I can't even say what exactly hooked me right off the bat, but it's truly a worthy read.

Anna Quindlen's One True Thing - by far one of the best books I've ever read. It's probably not a book I would have picked out to read, but a friend loaned it to me and I loved it. I recently gave a copy to my best friend back home in Michigan, and I'm dying to hear what she has to say about it.

I also love memoirs - some of the favorites that stick out in my mind are Mary Karr's The Liars Club, Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle and Michael J. Fox's Lucky Man. Another one that I loved was Stephanie Klein's Straight Up and Dirty...and while I really recommend this book, I must warn you it is NOT a clean read. But that's partly what makes it so good!

I'm getting back to my book now...happy reading to all!