Sometimes books find us…

“The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho. It’s a brilliant, magical, life-changing book that continues to blow my mind with its lessons. I’ve never, ever encountered a book that would so consistently have me read a passage and be so moved and changed that I would just set the book down and think about what I just learned. It’s a remarkable tome. I’m also kind of awed by how it came into my life. I often feel like books find us for reasons, and we read them when we need them the most. Does that make sense? It’s a decidedly odd thing for me to say, given that I’m a magician and skeptic and can find rational reason for almost anything. But one day, at the Century City mall in Los Angeles, I walked into a bookstore, had no idea what I was even looking for, went to the “new fiction” section, held up my arm and just pointed to a book. Just to see what would happen. That book was “The Alchemist.” I’d never heard of it before. Bought it, read it without stopping (except for moments of stunned contemplation), and it was exactly what I needed to read. – Neil Patrick Harris (New York Times)