The Alchemist Reading Group Discussion Questions

For my own reference, I am pasting the reading group discussion questions for The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of my favorite books and one that I frequently recommend to friends (and which I re-read last week):

1. At the start of his journey, when Santiago asks a gypsy woman to interpret his dream about a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, she asks for one tenth of the treasure in return. When Santiago asks the old man to show him the path to the treasure, the old man requests one tenth of his flock as "payment." Both payments represent a different price we have to pay to fulfill a dream; however, only one will yield a true result. Which payment represents false hope? Can you think of examples from your own life when you had to give up something to meet a goal and found the price too high?
2. Paulo Coelho once said that alchemy is all about pursuing our spiritual quest in the physical world as it was given to us. It is the art of transmuting the reality into something sacred, of mixing the sacred and the profane. With this in mind, can you define your Personal Legend? At what time in your life were you first able to act on it? What was your "beginner's luck"? Did anything prevent you from following it to conclusion? Having read The Alchemist do you know what inner resources you need to continue the journey?
3. One of the first major diversions from Santiago's journey was the theft of his money in Tangiers, which forced him into taking a menial job with the crystal merchant. There, Santiago learned many lessons on everything from the art of business to the art of patience. Of all these, which lessons were the most crucial to the pursuit of his Personal Legend?
4. When he talked about the pilgrimage to Mecca, the crystal merchant argued that having a dream is more important than fulfilling it, which is what Santiago was trying to do. Do you agree with Santiago's rationale or crystal merchant's?
5. The Englishman, whom Santiago meets when he joins the caravan to the Egyptian pyramids, is searching for "a universal language, understood by everybody." What is that language? According to the Englishman, what are the parallels between reading and alchemy? How does the Englishman's search for the alchemist compares to Santiago's search for a treasure? How did the Englishman and Santiago feel about each other?
6. The alchemist tells Santiago "you don't have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation." With this in mind, why do you think the alchemist chose to befriend Santiago, though he knew that the Englishman was the one looking for him? What is the meaning of two dead hawks and the falcon in the oasis? At one point the alchemist explains to Santiago the secret of successfully turning metal into gold. How does this process compare to finding a Personal Legend?
7. Why did Santiago have to go through the dangers of tribal wars on the outskirts of the oasis in order to reach the pyramids? At the very end of the journey, why did the alchemist leave Santiago alone to complete it?
8. Earlier in the story, the alchemist told Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." At the end of the story, how did this simple lesson save Santiago's life? How did it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

Also, here is the plot summary in the Reading Group Guide found in my copy:

Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, has a dream about finding a treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. A gypsy woman and an old man claiming to be a mysterious king advise him to pursue it. "To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation," the old man tells him. "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

With the courage of an adventurer, Santiago sells his sheep and travels to Tangiers in Africa. After a thief steals his money, Santiago takes a job with a crystal merchant who unwittingly teaches Santiago important lessons for his long journey ahead. After working at the crystal shop for a year, Santiago earns enough money to cover his losses and return home. But then something unexpected happens. On a desert caravan, Santiago meets an intriguing Englishman. The Englishman's passion for knowledge and his relentless quest to uncover the secrets of alchemy inspire Santiago to pursue his own dream of finding the treasure. As the Englishman searches for the two hundred year old alchemist who resides in the desert oasis, Santiago falls in love with a young woman, Fatima. Exposed to the greatest and eternal alchemy of all - love - Santiago thinks he has found the treasure. But the greatest test of all is yet to come. With the help of the alchemist, Santiago completes the last leg of his journey - dangerous and infused with discoveries of the most profound kind - to find that the treasure he was looking for was waiting for him in the place where he least expected.

This story, timeless and entertaining, exotic yet simple, breaks down the journey we all take to find the most meaningfultreasures in our lives into steps that are at once natural and magical. It is about the faith, power, and courage we all have within us to pursue the intricate path of a Personal Legend, a path charted by the mysterious magnet of destiny but obscured by distractions. Santiago shows how along the way we learn to trust our hearts, read the seemingly inconspicuous signs, and understand that as we look to fulfill a dream, it looks to find us just the same, if we let it.

Enjoy!

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Last week I re-read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of my all-time favorite books.

If you haven't read this beautiful inspirational novel, first published in the early 1990s in Portuguese, you are missing out.

It is a simple book that reminds us to listen to our hearts.

If you loved Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, you will love this book too.

Interestingly, before coming across an old copy of The Alchemist and re-reading it, I started reading Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World; both remind me of the importance of being in tune with yourself, something I need to be reminded of about once a year.

Which is why I like to re-read The Alchemist and Ishmael at least once every two years. I think I last read the former in 2002 and the latter in 2004 so it's been some time now. I will have to make time to re-read Ishmael in 2009.

Each time I read my favorite books, I also feel like they teach me different things. The quote that stood out to me from this re-reading is this (supposedly a proverb): "Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."


Click here to read an excerpt.

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

Just heard that Hugh Laurie -- of the FOX tv show House MD -- published a comic spy novel in 1996: The Gun Seller. It's supposed to be a spoof of the spy novel genre, inspired by authors like Robert Ludlum.

I did enjoy actor-writer Ethan Hawke's Ash Wednesday and Steve Martin's Shopgirl: a Novella (one of my all-time favorite books) so I'm willing to consider reading Laurie's The Gun Seller -- and not just write it off as another actor's attempt at being a writer.

Click here to read an excerpt and click here to read Christopher Buckley's New York Times book review published June 8, 1997 titled "Bertie Wooster Meets James Bond."

Hopefully my library carries it!

About - Updated!

I've just updated the About page of my blog, which had just two or three short paragraphs before, to include a bit more information about my life as a reader and my intentions in writing this blog.

Books I’ve Read - Updated!

I like to keep track of what I’ve read and when I’ve read it.

I'm a huge dork, I know.

I enjoy being organized and I find that keeping a list of books I've read helps me to remember what I’ve read.

I posted the books I read in 2007 and 2008 earlier this month, but I've cleaned them up now (organized the books by month within each page) and I've updated the list to include the books I read in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

And of course you can always click the Favorite Books tab to read what books I LOVE!

If you like a lot of the books I've read, I'd love to hear your recommendations!

And if you have questions about any of the books I've read, let me know!

I'm always happy to chat about reading.

Favorite Books

I've added a page of some of my favorite books.

I'll keep that static updated so you'll always know what my current favorites are, but here's what's on it as of today:

Children's Books
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Novellas
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
Shopgirl: a Novella by Steve Martin

Historical Fiction
Forever: A Novel by Pete Hamill
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Time and Again by Jack Finney

Short Stories
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury

Other Fiction
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Memoirs
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Papillon by Henri Charriere

Business
The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert H. Frank
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
Small Giants: Companies that Choose to be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham
The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford

Communication/Negotiation
Crucial Confrontations by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan & Al Switzler
Thank you for Arguing : What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs
You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen

History
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Science
Awakenings by Oliver Sacks
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph Ffom the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge
How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science by Russ Parsons

Spirituality/Religion
Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander
The Best Buddhist Writing 2005 by Melvin McLeod
God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism by Jonathan Kirsch
The Monk & the Philosopher: Father & Son Discuss the Meaning of Life by Jean-Francois Revel & Matthieu Ricard

Women's Studies
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image by Leonard Shlain
Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules--a Social History of Living Single by Betsy Israel

What are some of your favorites?

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

I finished Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I started on Sunday evening.

Wow, I was practically sobbing as I read the last few chapters; this book is that good.

First, See's writing is fantastic! Secondly, Chinese still take filial piety (孝順, xiàoshùn in pīnyīn) very seriously (so seriously that we even learned about it in Mandarin Chinese language class) and See's depictions of it hit home. And any woman can relate to the theme of female friendship and the great damage that simple misunderstandings can cause. And lastly, one of the characters in Snow Flower shares my Chinese name - Plum Blossom (婷梅)!

For those of you who haven't read it yet, the story takes place in 19th-century rural Yongming County (永明縣, Yǒngmíng xiàn in pīnyīn) in Hunan province (湖南省, Húnán shěng in pīnyīn) in China (中國, Zhōngguó in pīnyīn). The narrator, Lily (Lady Lu) at age 80 writes her memoirs in nu shu (女書, nǚshū in pīnyīn) -- women's secret writing -- to be burned at her funeral (along with money and other items to accompany her in the afterlife) so that her friends and ancestors will welcome her.

Society was ruled by rigid codes of conduct; women had to have their feet bound preferably to 7cm or less if she wanted to improve or keep her social standing, marry men through arranged marriages (matchmaking was done as early as age 6), and reside in upstairs women’s chambers. Women often died in childbirth and their children often did not live past the age of 4. To secure her status in her new household, a woman was expected to produce sons to continue the family line. Daughters were considered "dead branches" and were taught "When a girl, obey your father; when a wife, obey your husband; when a widow, obey your son."

Lily was born to a lower-middle class family but still her family had enough resources to bind their daughter's feet. When Lily's mother took Lily to the local diviner, he saw in Lily and her feet something special and brought her to the attention of Madame Wang, the matchmaker (紅娘, hóngniáng in pīnyīn) in the prosperous neighboring village. If Lily’s foot binding created the perfect "golden lilies" (Madame Wang believed they could be the most beautiful feet in the county), Lily could marry into a wealthy family and her natal family could become more prosperous through the bride-price (gifts given by the groom's family to the bride's family). But this would bring long working hours for Baba (爸爸, bàbà in pīnyīn) and the other men in the family to raise money for gifts in the dowry and making extravagant gifts for Lily's wealthy future husband and his family.

Lily was so special that Madame Wang even suggested that Lily be matched with a laotong or “old same” (老同, laǒtóng in pīnyīn) even though no woman in Lily's family had such a relationship (though all had their own group of sworn sisters). Old sames were two young women whose lives matched eight qualities exactly, which included the girls’ birth month, day, and year, the date of their foot binding, the number of siblings, and a few other characteristics.

Thus, Lily and Snow Flower -- both born in the year of the horse (馬, mǎ in pīnyīn) and thus destined to be headstrong -- are matched at age 7 as laotongs or “old sames” (老同, laǒtóng in pīnyīn), an emotional match that would last a lifetime through the isolation and hardship of womanhood. They use the secret women’s writing of (女書, nǚshū in pīnyīn) to share their joys and heartaches on a fan that they pass back and forth over the years.

See tells a beautiful well researched story of love, female friendship, rebellion, and pride. If I say anything else about the story, I'd ruin the book for you.

Anyway, since I am reading this for a book club, thought I would share some discussion questions:

• Lily endures excruciating pain in order to have her feet bound. What reasons are given for this dangerous practice?
• Did See's descriptions of footbinding remind you of any Western traditions?
• If some men in 19th-century China (中國, Zhōngguó in pīnyīn) knew about nu shu (女書, nǚshū in pīnyīn) and “old same” (老同, laǒtóng in pīnyīn) friendships, why do you think they allowed these traditions to persist?
• Reflecting on her first few decades, Lily seems to think her friendship with Snow Flower brought her more good than harm. Do you agree?
• Lily's adherence to social customs can seem controversial to us today. Pick a scene where you would have acted differently. Why?
• Lily defies the wishes of her son in order to pair her grandson with Peony. Does she fully justify her behavior?
• Lily sometimes pulls us out of the present moment to reflect -- as an old woman -- on her youthful decisions. What does this device add to the story?
• How would you film these moments of reflection?
• If Lily is writing her story to Snow Flower in the afterworld, what do you think Snow Flower's response would or should be?
• Did you recognize any aspects of your own friendships in the bond between Lily and Snow Flower?
• In your opinion, is Lily, who is the narrator, the heroine or the villain? What are her flaws and her strengths?
• Do you think the concept of "old sames" (老同, laǒtóng in pīnyīn) exists today? Do you have an "old same" (老同, laǒtóng in pīnyīn), or are you part of a sworn sisterhood? In what ways are those relationships similar or different from the ones in nineteenth-century China (中國, Zhōngguó in pīnyīn)?
• Some men in nineteenth-century China (中國, Zhōngguó in pīnyīn) apparently knew about nu shu (女書, nǚshū in pīnyīn), the secret women's writing described in Snow Flower. Why do you think they tolerated such private communication?
• Lily writes her story so that Snow Flower can read it in the afterworld. Do you think she tells her story in a convincing way so that Snow Flower can forgive and understand? Do you think Snow Flower would have told the story differently?
• When Lily and Snow Flower are girls, they have one intimate -- almost erotic -- moment together. Do you think their relationship was sexual or, given the times, were they simply girls who saw this only as an innocent extension of their friendship?
• Having a wife with bound feet was a status symbol for men, and, consequently, having bound feet increased a woman's chances of marriage into a wealthier household. Women took great pride in their feet, which were considered not only beautiful but also their best and most important feature. As a child, would you have fought against having your feet bound, as Third Sister did, knowing you would be consigned to the life of a servant or a "little daughter-in-law"? As a mother, would you have chosen to bind your daughter's feet?
• The Chinese character for "mother love" (疼愛, téngaì in pīnyīn) consists of two parts: one meaning "pain," the other meaning "love." In your own experience, from the perspective of a mother or a daughter, is there an element of truth to this description of mother love?
• The author sees Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as a novel about love and regret, but do you think there's also an element of atonement in it as well?
• In the story, we are told again and again that women are weak and worthless. But were they really? In what ways did Lily and Snow Flower show their strength and value?
• Although the story takes place in the nineteenth century and seems very far removed from our lives -- we don't have our feet bound, we're free and mobile -- do you think we're still bound up in other ways; for instance, by career, family obligations, conventions of feminine beauty, or events beyond our control such as war, the economy, and natural disasters?
• Because of its phonetic nature, nu shu (女書, nǚshū in pīyīn) could easily be taken out of context and be misunderstood. Today, many of us communicate though e-mail or instant-messaging. Have you ever had an experience where one of your messages has been misunderstood because of lack of context, facial or body gestures, and tone of voice? Or have you ever been on the receiving end of a message that you misinterpreted and your feelings were hurt?
• Madame Wang, the matchmaker (紅娘, hóngniáng in pīnyīn), is a foot-bound woman and yet she does business with men. How is she different from the other women in the story? Do you think she is considered a woman of status or is she merely a necessary evil?

I am adding Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to my list of favorites and will have to read See's latest, Peony in Love, to my list of books to read! I wish I had attended Lisa See's Rockville, MD book signing event tonight!

Now, on to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers!