What book do you WANT to like but just can’t?
byu/tinuvi3l inliterature
ProudTacoman
Hear me out here…The Alchemist can be the best book you could possibly read…BUT it’s all about timing. At just the right time in your life, in just the right circumstances, with the wind blowing softly toward the southeast, and Capricorn in Venus or whatever…The Alchemist has the potential to be exactly what you need to read at that moment. No, as a book, it’s not elegant, subtle, wise, or necessarily “well written,” but it is a quick hit of affirmation without requiring much time or any thought. In fact, the less thought you give it, the better it works for this. That’s not a bug. That’s a feature!That magical and rare confluence of circumstances that makes The Alchemist a good book for you is this: You’re thinking about making a major change or decision in your life that you know in your bones is the right one, despite what your research, your smarter friends, the criminal justice system, the people who care about you, and the latest consensus of the scientific community might say. Maybe these folks started talking about pros and cons lists, cost/benefit analysis, and “critical thinking,” but you need none of that. Nine times out of ten, these are the guys to listen to, and you should abandon whatever self-destructive course you’re on, like, yesterday. But you’ve already searched your soul and you’ve decided: You’re going to step out on your marriage. You’re ready to sell all your worldly possessions, give the proceeds to Scientology, and move to Lhasa. You’re going to propose to your ex. You’re gonna burn down a Waffle House. You don’t need the wisdom of the masses. What do you need? You need to talk to the tenth dentist. The one who recommends never flossing and isn’t afraid to call out Big Toothpaste on their “after every meal” conspiracy.
These are the times you call up your old buddy from the shit-kicking days who barely graduated middle school and lives life a quarter ounce at a time. Why him? Because he positively exudes that “hell yeah brother!” pothead wisdom that only holds up for the brief time you’re talking to him, and absolutely crumples under any kind of scrutiny. He doesn’t ask questions. In fact, big questions confuse him and make him kind of aggressive. But he fully and vocally supports anything that doesn’t require him to keep a schedule or figure out the ring inside his toilet bowl. In this tipping-point moment, you need that kind of pseudo-wisdom, just to hear some kind – any kind – of support for your hare-brained scheme. However wound up you are to do what you’re going to do, he’ll wind you up tighter with a bug-eyed rant about putting aside your inhibitions to embrace your destiny. Your personal legend.
Paulo Coelho is your loser buddy, and The Alchemist is his pep talk. Pick up the phone. Burn down that Waffle House. Maktub, bitches.