book
pick
Penpniıec’s k
Paulo Coelho’s
“personal legend”
An author’s spiritual journey
FRANCE FREEMAN
By Tim Talevich
Pennie Clark Ianniciello
Costco Book Buyer
COSTCO warehouses and
costco.com are proud to
feature a leather-bound,
illustrated edition of
The Alchemist by Paulo
Coelho. Members who
purchase the book will
receive a unique treasure:
a letter from the author.
“On the mysterious
path that joins a book to
its reader, the presence
of enthusiasts is fundamental, for they carry the
writer’s word onward,”
Coelho writes. “So I want
to thank Costco and its
customers for making
it possible for Santiago,
the shepherd of The
Alchemist, to continue
along the road through
the beautiful landscapes
of America.”
Ever the storyteller,
Coelho includes a short
tale on “questions that
have no answers” in the
letter. As with all of his
works, you’ll undoubtedly
be touched. C
IT’S LITTLE SURPRISE that Paulo Coelho’s life I have to do or stop dreaming about it.”
story unravels like one of his books, particularly The After the trip, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage, an
Alchemist, his most popular tale. account of his experiences on the road to Santiago. It
It’s a saga of sudden journeys, chance encoun- was modestly successful, enough so that he tried a
ters and fellow travelers arriving at timely moments, second work, a novel: The Alchemist. It sold only 900
a story in which the asking of ques- copies, but he was successful in finding
tions is more essential than the an- a bigger publishing house to pick up
swers, for the answers are different for the book. It has been read by some 100
each of us. Its major turning point came million people in 56 languages.
20 years ago, when Coelho embarked The unimagined popularity of the
on a most unusual trip. At the time, he fable, about a shepherd boy who leaves
was a successful lyricist and director at home to find treasure, leaves even the
a record company in Brazil, his native author searching for explanations.“First,
country. He was a wealthy man, but, you have to understand that when I
deep within, empty. wrote The Alchemist I didn’t even have
So at age 39, Coelho took to the a publishing house,” Coelho begins.
road. In Germany he had a vision of “So I was not trying to please people. I
encountering a stranger—then actu- Paulo Coelho was trying to understand myself.”
ally met the man in a café in Amster- The second surprise, he continues,
dam. They exchanged views about life, and the man is that the book touches different cultures, from Israel
recommended that Coelho make a pilgrimage along to Iran, for example.
the Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrim’s route “Why? Good question. Probably because we have
between France and Spain, to find answers. the same questions, not the same answers,” mulls
The trip, Coelho says now, was the turning point Coelho. “But the shepherd boy is me, myself, trying to
of his life. It marked the moment when he stopped find a meaning for his life, as I tried to find my mean-
dreaming of writing—and actually started writing. ing, taking some time and stopping in places that he
From that journey came The Alchemist, and a career should not, but at the same time never forgetting that
that has made Coelho one of the world’s most cher- he has a goal to fulfill.”
ished authors. Today, Coelho splits his time between the “mid-
“The road to Santiago was a moment that was dle of nowhere” in the Pyrenees, where he spends
really a turning point, because before [the journey] four months each year regenerating his spirit by
I had all these dreams, then I realized that they walking, gardening, practicing archery and writing,
were possible, but at the same time I was a little bit and Brazil. “And airports,” he interjects. He keeps
scared to follow them,” Coelho politely explains by up a busy speaking schedule around the world, sign-
phone from his home in the French Pyrenees. “But ing books and appearing before enthusiastic fans.
when I did this pilgrimage 20 years ago, exactly At 58, Coelho is still writing his life story.
in ’86, I said it was time to either start doing what “My idea was to be a writer, and to be a
writer is to continue writing,” he says. “Some
people can be paralyzed by failure, but some
people can also be paralyzed by success. So you
always feel compelled to repeat the same suc-
cess of this book or that book, which you prob-
ably cannot do. But still you have a mission to
fulfill, something to strive for. In my case, it was
to be a writer. So I have to sit and write the
next, and then the next, not because I need to
financially, but because it is my dream.” C
GREG PLACHTA
Signed book
No purchase is nec-
giveaway essary. Entries must be
received or postmarked
by midnight, June 1,
COSTCO HAS 10 autographed 2006. Void where prohib-
copies of Paulo Coelho The ited. Employees of
Alchemist to give away. Costco and their families
To enter, print your name, are not eligible. Winners
membership number, address and will be notified by mail.
daytime phone number on a post- One entryper household.
card or letter and send it to: The
Alchemist, The Costco Connection,
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-
1088; or fax it to (425) 313-6718.
Send your feedback
on this month’s book to:
discussionquestions@costco.com
News about the publishing industry,
scheduled book signings at Costco
and a book giveaway can be found in “Book Look,”
only in the May Online Edition at costco.com under
“Costco magazine.”
