The Zahir - Paulo Coelho

Genre: Fiction

Format: Softcover

Pages: 296

ISBN: 9780060832810

Rating 4/5 Stars

I read Paulo Coelho: A Warrior's Life - The Authorized Biography by Fernando Morais back in January 2010. I won an ARC from Goodreads and I just fell in love with him. I love that an author can be a celebrity. Here in the states, everyone writes a book, from Justin Bieber to Laurena Bobbett so when people read a great piece of work it's just like "ahh, a refreshing book" but no one ever really thinks of the author so much and after reading The Zahir it makes me look at writer's in a whole new light. I have always thought of writers as being celebrities but many writers don't feel that way. I met a few authors and they just act like it's another day in the office but then again how do I expect them to act? I remember meeting a bunch of author's and thinking" Wow, why am I the only one who is excited and nervous?" and when I asked the other people who were with me how they felt about meeting him/her they just shrugged it off. Why go and meet an author if you aren't gonna be completely celebrity-shocked? I never reacted out of the ordinary when meeting anyone famous but I did respect that they do something that I could never do, such as write, act, or even sing.

Anyway, I may be getting a little ahead of myself. I loved The Zahir and I love how it is one man's journey of finding his wife who left him because she loved him so much that she did not want their "usual" relationship to get in the way of their marriage. Usual by means of comfort and losing touch with what is important and what is true and real. People become so used to their way of life that they forget the most important things and take advantage of what is most important. I found myself writing all his quotes in my little book so that I could never forget his words but I know that writing it was a waste because I will always know his words and always understand what he means when he says them. I can totally understand now why he is such a celebrity. His writings and ideologies are fascinating and true that encourages me to read everything he writes. I follow his blog and get his tweets but having his books on my shelves seem to hold more meaning.

To quote form The Zahir "...if a book isn't self-explanatory, then it isn't worth reading."

Paulo Coelho: A Warrior's Life - The Authorized Biography - Fernando Morais

Okay, so I never read any of Paulo Coelho's books but I do own them and I was going to get to them eventually! After reading this book I will push them up on my list. Fernando has a way with words. He truly is a great writer. His other books are not in English but from reading this one book I can tell he is quite good. I loved the beginning of how it is the present and it explains how famous he is. It is pretty awesome to see a writer be as famous as say a regular celebrity or even a president! He is super intelligent and his life was crazy! But I loved how it had built from it and how he never gave up. He truly id...Obsesses (?) with writing. You can tell from beginning to end the Paulo Coelho truly was born to write and it is amazing the things he went through and to where he is today is just astounding. His father is crazy but then again we do live in different cultures. Either way, his family is not normal and neither is Coelho and I think that's what makes him great. I hear so many wonderful things about his writing and I read some samples in the book so I have no doubts that I will not love his writings. I gave it a 4 starer (would have given a 3.75 if I could)

Stay tuned for when I do read the 2 books I own: The Zahir and The Alchemist.