Page 128 200601024 Noh Young Sun comparison contrast essay

Two Books that enriched My Soul   Do you have a favorite author whose soul is akin to yours? Finding books that are enchanting and inspiring and speak to you soul can be an exciting journey or better yet an epiphany that could lead you to some kind of enlightenment or open up your mind to a whole different world. l feel really ashamed to tell you that I am not an avid reader. Reading is definitely not on my to-do list whenever I have free time. So when pressed to choose my favorite author, it is quite easy to pick one, since I do not have that many. My all-time favorite author is Paulo Coelho. I have read several books of his and, to be quite frank, not liked all of them, but there are two novels that left me thinking about the meaning of life and the world around me. The Alchemist and Veronica decides to die are probably the two most read books of this best- selling novelist, which are also my all time favorites. The two are quite different stories, but I find them to have the same underlining theme.        Every element of the two stories is quite different. On a side note, my English tutor back in high school gave me the book the Alchemist as a farewell gift during our last session and I bought the letter with my own money when I was a junior in college. The Alchemist is set in Andalusia and the other in Slovenia. The main character of this novel is an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who sets out on a journey in a quest of a treasure hidden in the Pyramids. Whereas Veronika decides to die is a story about a 20something lady who seems to have everything that life could offer, yet fails to find meaning in life and decide to kill herself. The former is though and through about a journey of the boy from his home in Spain to North Africa. In contrast, the latter narrates the experiences and events that Veronika encounters in a mental asylum after her failed suicide attempt.        The two books, although quite different in so many aspects, are both life-affirming novels. The way I see it, the theme of the stories are awareness of life. Throughout the stories, the author tries to teach us a life- lesson that each and every one of us has our own path in life that leads to our true self and should be aware of it every minute of our lives. This is what makes our ordinary, mundane life that is made up primarily of dull, set routine, anxieties and conformity reinforced by society worth a try. Living the life of others and trying to get your hands on something that is not there for you, means that you are dead in spirit, if not in body. The minute we realize that we have the most precious jewel in our own hands, within ourselves, we start to develop a genuine passion for living and discovering who we truly are instead of letting days just flow by, wearing a mask of somebody else that we are not.      It is quite fascinating to discover the common theme buried in the two marvelous books that have quite different stories. On the one hand, I really liked the exotic settings of the Alchemist. On the other hand, I also enjoyed reading the vivid descriptions of the inside of the mental hospital in Veronika decides to die which is what made me enveloped in this novel from cover to cover. As I turned pages of these two amazing, moving and inspiring novels, I found myself slowing transforming into a new person, the one who was waiting within me to shine through me. I welcomed her with a warm smile.