Red:Books March/April 2010

If you love and appreciate either books, coffee, or good conversation - or ideally a combination of all three - then you really should come along to Red:Books next chance you get. We meet monthly - we select a book, read it, and talk about it. It's that simple. But a lot of fun. Two important dates for your diary...

Date: Tuesday 16 March 2010 @7pm
Venue: Eat Etc, Belmont Rd, Belfast
Book: ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian’ by Marina Lewycka

Date: Tuesday 13 April 2010 @7pm
Venue: Cafe Renoir, 95 Botanic Avenue, Belfast
Book: ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho

Here’s a little bit about ‘The Alchemist’, to whet your appetite…

Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalucian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he’s off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.

Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman’s books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists—men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the “Soul of the World.” Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy’s misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself,” the alchemist replies. “And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

For any more info on Red:Books, drop me an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You can also join Red:Books on Facebook for updates, sharing of books, lifts, etc!

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