If you are a good reader, you must have heard about Paulo Coelho. He is a Brazilian lyricist and Novelist and is regarded as one of the best writers of the past century. He had a very difficult teenage as his parents committed him to a mental institution because they believed that his rebellious attitude was a sign of madness. He later stated that my parents never wanted to harm me. They didn’t know what to do with me. Later, he enrolled in a law school but dropped out soon to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a writer, which turned out to be the best decision for him. His writings are now translated into more than eighty different languages and published in 170 countries.

Here, we are going to talk about his best 7 books that have created dreams within those who do not dream and inspired many people. Have a look!

The Alchemist

A personal favourite and most influential novel, the best Paulo Coelho book till now. It is highly recommended by millions. It is a story of Santiago, a Spanish shepherd who creates his legend through his Andalusian travels in Egypt. It works on the philosophy that if you master the art of listening, then only you can discover yourself. 

Print Length: 172 pages

Year of Publication: 2005

Veronika Decides to Die

Veronica, who seems to have a perfect life but a few pages later, she tries to kill herself by taking sleeping pills. This story follows Veronica through an intense week of self-discovery. The idea of madness is the centre of this novel. 

It emphasises the questions like- Are the patients of mental hospitals truly mad? Or it is just the perception of the outer world. This book is based on the true events of Coelho’s life.

Print Length: 208 pages

Year of Publication: 2005

Eleven Minutes

It is a story of a young girl, Maria from a Brazilian village who works as a clerk in a fabric store. She gets heartbroken in love and gets convinced that she will never find true love. When she got a chance to restart her life as a dancer on Copacabana beach but ended up in prostitution. In this story of self-discovery, Maria has to select a path between darkness and sexual pleasure or risk everything to find her inner light and hope of love.

Print Length: 320 pages

Year of Publication: 2005

The Archer

It is a story of a man ‘Tetsuya’ famous for his prodigious gift with a bow and an arrow and a boy comes searching for him. This boy has a lot of questions and to answer them Tetsuya exemplifies the way of the bow and the principles of a meaningful life. It emphasizes that living without a connection between action and soul is not fulfilling.

A life constructed by fear of rejection or failure is not a life worth living. We must take risks and build the courage to achieve something unexpected from this journey of life.

Print Length: 160 pages

Year of Publication: 2017

The Pilgrimage

This novel is one of the earliest works of Coelho. This book is based on the adventures of his life in Spain from one end to another. It is a tribute to self-discovery on his journey. 

This begins when Coelho fails the toning group which he has been dreaming of since his childhood. To join the ranks, he is sent on a journey to find a sword which is a symbol of his acceptance. This is to be done to gain insight into the simplicity of life. During the journey, he was introduced to meditation and other down to earth elements of life. It is one of the best books by Paulo Coelho

Print Length: 240 pages

Year of Publication: 1987

Brida

A young girl, Brida has always been interested in magic and searching for knowledge. She meets people with great wisdom who enable her to discover the spiritual world. Coelho tells the story with fantasy like the world but with real-life problems and answers.

This book touches on psychological crises and the idea of soul mates is extremely widespread. This comes with the idea that every human being is born to have another person as his or her soul mate. Coelho believes that a person has more than one soulmate.

Print Length: 304 pages

Year of Publication: 1990

By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept

A couple, Pilar and her companion, have known each other since childhood but then ran into each other after 11 years.

It is a heart-wrenching novel of a depressed scholar Pilar who is bored from her monotonous life. Until she met an old friend who is now a well known spiritual leader. She came to know that

she has always been in love with this person.

It is a warm novel about the strength of love and how love lasts through all of life’s problems.

Print Length: 224 pages

Year of Publication: 1994

These are some of the best books from Paulo Coelho. We hope you will find this blog informative and will help you to get the overview of the best works by Paulo Coelho. His 26 books have sold more than 65 million copies. One of the special things about Coelho is that he only starts writing another book when he has found a white feather in the January of an odd year. Strange but still working for him.