The Washington Post
 
 
Reading, contrary to previous reports, is not dead. In fact, it’s very far from it.
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho has legions of readers. His best-known book, “The Alchemist,” the story of a young Andalusian shepherd on a personal quest, spent almost eight years — two presidential election cycles — on the bestseller lists. It was translated into 81 languages.
But “The Alchemist” is only one of Coelho’s more than 30 works. “The Spy” came out in November. All told, the writer has sold an estimated 350 million books. MORE