January for me is always the month I read tons of books staying in bed on a Saturday morning till really late indulging myself in relaxing and enjoying the moment forgetting about everything else that may or may not need doing. If she can my Golden Retriever ‘Winnie’ joins me loving the lazy moment of doing nothing the only thing she requires as a greedy retriever is her breakfast!
Anyway, I have for many years been a Paulo Coelho fan and have been aware of his latest books ‘The Witch of Portobello’ and ‘The Zafir’ yet even though I had often seen them in various book stores I had chosen to buy other books. However, after Christmas when I ventured back into the shops I finally purchased both books. The young man that was serving me suggested that I buy ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini (author of ‘the Kite Runner’ – the film is worth watching) ’cause it was on offer, this is another book I had seen many times and thought maybe I’ll read it sometime. So I brought all three and then spent the next month reading them in my spare time I can only highly recommend all of them as huge thought provoking books.
Khaled Hosseini writes about Afghanistan and the effects of all that has transpired there over the past thirty years and particularly regarding the Mujahideen and the Taliban it is like stepping back in time yet it is modern history, everyone should read it, its masterful.
The Witch of Portobello is best summed up by Paulo Coelho’s dedication:
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. Luke 11:33
The Zahir – the book has opened at page 202 so I will share the following:
“There is just one other thing: as those spaces grow, it is important to fill them up quickly, even if only provisionally, so as not to be left with a feeling of emptiness”    “How”   “With different stories, with experiences we never dared to have or didn’t want to have. That is how we change. That is how love grows. And when love grows, we grow with it.”  “Does that mean we might lose things that are important?”     “Never. The important things always stay; what we lose are the things we thought were important but which are in fact, useless, like the false power we use to control the energy of love.”.