What book would you recommend?

recently I ran out of Library books, and turned to books given to me by a dear friend, who had in turn been given them by a friend. She didn't have the time or inclination to read them so...I have thirteen books by the same author, so I decided to read them chronologically, from the first one published.It was in Portuguese originally. The author isPaulo Coelho. a Brazilian. I didn't think I'd get into them, being an atheist. The first book was  The Pilgrimage. Not particularly easy to read, and yet, despite the Godspeak, I was drawn to the concepts.  Food for thought.So the next one I've read , so far, is The Alchemist.Impressive. It seems to me that in the Pilgrimage he was trying too hard to encompass what he had to say.The Alchemist, on the other hand, is much more readable, and resonates with its subject of a young Andalusian shepherd who has a dream, twice, which tells him to go the the Pyramids in Egypt, to gain a great treasure. And he does. He follows his dream.A simple tale with incredible insight. It has helped me to understand and incorporate into my thinking, the major religions, and what they signify. Since reading these two books I have , perhaps not coincidentally, encountered these same or similar concepts by chance in my daily life.And I realise that much of my own thoughts and knowledge are part of the great mystery of human life on earth.They have helped me to understand that religions are simply symbols. Religions make it easier for people to grasp the reality of the worlds we inhabit, and the spiritual life that we all have inside ourselves.No one could be more surprised than I.I am about to read the third book, The Valkyries,  and do wonder if this sense of connection and resonance continues.I would certainly recommend reading The PILGRIMAGE, as a trial,   and definitely to read The Alchemist.Whatever your persuasion. i

Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 20^th, 2016 at 6:18pm:


I have heard that story too, but so far there is no mention of it. However, Marco Polo was a teenager on his father's second journey to China, and a number of Europeans had been to China before them. I suspect the recipe for pasta came back with all or some of them. It seems before them, there was no pasta in Italy, and before Columbus, no tomatoes. Thank God they had grapes.

Echo Burning by Lee Child

rhino wrote on Aug 26^th, 2016 at 12:02am:


It sure is. I'm about to find out how Reacher is going to kick arse against a hit squad. Personally, I find Reacher a bit of a dick, and I wish he got his arse kicked this time around.