Mary’s Comments (group member since Aug 11, 2016)

Mary’s comments from the Foggy Pine Books group.

The book club meeting is coming up this Saturday at 7:30pm! Join us at the bookstore for coffee & snacks & a wonderful discussion about The Alchemist. Check out the links above for more information about the story, the characters & places in it. See the following link for information specifically regarding the book and it's author: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guid...

Can't wait to see you this weekend! RSVP on the event page here or on Facebook.

Hi Lisa, nice to meet you! That's really cool that your book club is also doing The Alchemist for it's September meeting. I bet your art museum book club is really fun!

"The Last Painting of Sara de Vos" is a book that I've picked up a few times but never read. It seems like an interesting book and makes me think of "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt a little, with the art history connection.

I'll start :)

I'm Mary, the owner of Foggy Pine Books. I'm 28 and I have a 9yo son, Liam. We live with my boyfriend, Patrick, and our 2 dogs, Anya and Athena. I graduated from ASU in 2011 with my Bachelor's in English Literature (basically, a degree in reading) and have been working around the area since then. I am very excited to own/operate Foggy Pine Books in Boone. Books have been a passion of mine from a very young age. I love to read and to share books with others.

My favorite book of all-time is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. View my profile to see what I'm reading now and friend me, if you want!

Since we are going to be reading together, I think we should get to know one another. I have found that the best way to get great book recommendations is to simply ask someone what their favorite book is. I also think it's a great way to get to know someone else.

So, please introduce yourself and tell us what your favorite book is!

Hello everyone! Most of you know by now that the book selection for our first book club meeting is The Alchemist. I was surprised at how many people haven't read this book, despite it's being on the NYT bestseller list for over 400 weeks. I read this book in high school and was blown away by its simple message: follow your dreams, and how easy and real Coelho makes that seem. Though I often cite this novel as one of my all-time favorites, it took me some time to take that message to heart. Once I did, well--I started doing the thing that I loved & dreamed of: selling books in my own bookstore. So, when I was picking books for the book club, I decided that the first selection could only be The Alchemist.

One of the things that I think is important if you want to be an active reader it to engage with the text in a way that goes beyond just sitting and reading. Obviously, book clubs are a great step toward a more active reading life. They provoke conversation, thought, and provide a great opportunity to learn more. For this novel, I would like to share some articles about Andalusia (where our main character is from), the Romani people & culture, and alchemy. I will add some links to this post today and will continue to share more information under this topic.

Please feel free to share any articles, videos, or interviews that you think will be helpful or interesting in regards to The Alchemist. Let's get an informative discussion going!

Andalusia's travel/tourism page for the modern area. Seville is located in the Andalusian region. http://www.spain.info/en_US/que-quier...

About the history of Andalusia: http://www.andalucia.com/history/home...

Amnesty International gives a brief explanation of the Roma people & a short history: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/cam...

On the history of alchemy across cultures: http://www.alchemylab.com/history_of_...

ENJOY!