By M&C News May 14, 2007, 10:23 GMT
Every writer longs to be read, and the worst is to feel neglected. Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian writer who lives in Paris, one day asked himself, "One day the shelves in my apartment collapsed, and I saw all my books on the floor, and I thought to myself, why do I have these books, to impress my friends?" the author of The Alchemist said, explaining how he lugs his numerous books around to give them away. "I feel a book must travel."
So what does he do? He leaves them in parks, bus stations, restaurants, all for random readers to find, hoping that book will find a new home and someone to love it. When asked his philosophy on the importance of books, as well as how he chooses to live, he says,
"My life is extremes, I am totally connected and totally disconnected, there are these moments of retreat, and that means to be really disconnected, with nothing, just silence."
His new book, The Witch of Portobello is out May 15 in the United States. He has so far sold around 75 million books in 150 countries and been translated into 63 languages.
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