The Witch of Portobello, a Novel by Paulo Coelho

Last week, during my visit to Chennai, I bought this book. I am an ardent admirer of Paulo Coelho and have read almost all his books. I started reading the book on the train itself and completed in five days, in spite of pressing engagements. From the beginning, it completely captured me. It is a typical Coelho book with a mixture of mysticism, spiritual exercises, meditation and supernatural experiences and it is totally absorbing. As usual, I read this book also with a pen in hand to underline/highlight passages which appealed to me. A few of these, which read like Quotable Quotes, I am furnishing below:

* Pity those who seek for shepherds, instead of longing for freedom!
* An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone, but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others.
* Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moments.
* We cook and complain that it is a waste of time, when we should be pouring our love into making that food.
* We can see the Divine in each speck of dust, but that does not stop us wiping it away with a wet sponge.
* ..things are never absolute; they depend on each individual's perceptions.
* When fate is very generous with us, there is always a well into which all our dreams can tumble.
* We had it all, apart from the one thing we wanted most - a child. And so we had nothing.
* ....love is still the strongest force, one that can transform us forever.
* Christ surrounded himself with beggars, prostitutes, tax-collectors and fishermen, I think what he meant by this was that the divine spark is in every soul and is never extinguished.
* .... each of us contains our ancestors and all the generations to come. When we free ourselves, we are freeing all humanity.
* Each of us contains something within us which is unknown, when it surfaces, is capable of producing miracles.
* .... love does not bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it is a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it is sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we are doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.
* A kind of blanket lies between the physical and the spiritual world, a blanket that changes in colour, intensity and light, it is what mystics call 'aura'.
* ..... all the advances we have made have been in the field of science. Human beings are still asking the same questions as their ancestors. In short, they have not evolved at all.
* .... when we dare to see things differently, life opens up to our eyes.
* We have a duty to love and to allow love to manifest itself in the way it thinks best.............It is a sin to prevent love from showing itself.
* ...... trust in love and miracles will happen.

I have only highlighted a few passages which interested me most and have not said anything about the story. Only reading the full novel will give a real idea about the enjoyable story. So if you want to really enjoy the novel, you will have to read it in full.