Play Book Tag discussion

If there is anyone left besides KateNZ and myself who has not read this -- especially if you are playing BWF -- join us. It's tagged and matches Letter C!

Let's finally get this off the TBR and out of the ebook library!

I actually started this last night, reading just the forward, but don't expect to continue before the weekend.

My copy is the 25th Anniversary edition - from 2015 I think. The forward was written specifically by the author for this edition, and it is facinating, talking about his reasons for writing it but mostly about the publication journey it has had, and how important word of mouth was for it's ultimately being published here. And also once it was translated and published in the US, a couple of social media posts of celebrities having it in hand just turned it into a sensation and led to its still being in print with a 25th anniversary edition.

But mostly, it's a book reflecting the author's soul.

I’ve got that edition too. I haven’t got further than the author’s note yet but it was a fascinating insight into the publication industry

I read half of it last night and may finish tonight but definitely tomorrow. It's actually a nice calm gentle read, a great contrast to the mostly YA reading I have this week. I like the pen and ink drawings. And an actual alchemist has entered the story.

I finished. Will review tomorrow.

It was no more than a nice little folktale about finding one's destiny - nothing original really except perhaps the setting. I was generous in giving it 3 stars because it was a nice diversion from the reading I've had this last month, it had nice little pen/ink illustrations and moved along without being too preachy. It still felt too much like one of those spiritual 'read an affirmation a day' type books which always seem too religious preachy for me (I'm the Catholic who received Ds in religion class in Catholic Elementary School as I questioned and challenged too much).

What saves this IMHO is the folktale or fable style. I enjoyed Santiago and his adventures and those he met along his journey.

My Review

But it does have 177 Coming of Age tags and is a very short quick read.

Oh, and if anyone needs a book turned into a musical for Popsugar 2024, well this was made into a musical - in Singapore in 2006. Thank you Google and Wikipedia.

I’ve started it. It is quite charming.

Finished. What Theresa said. I ended up being quite meh about it but I did like the storytelling style.