I am here to attempt the unachievable, that is to recommend some books if you are a fan of The Alchemist (and have read it too many times just like me).
As a fantasy fiction fan myself, I know that no book can really be compared to Paulo Coelho’s best-selling, The Alchemist.
But that doesn’t mean there are no other phenomenal books having a similar theme.
In fact, I have enjoyed a number of books that recall the same reading experience as The Alchemist and bring that feeling back to life a little.
Without further ado, let’s jump straight onto the list of books like The Alchemist.
Best Books like The Alchemist
Here is the list of books to read if you like The Alchemist.
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The Road Less Traveled by M Scott Peck
- The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven
- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho
- “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Life of Pi tells the incredible story of Piscine Patel or Pi. A young Indian boy whose father owned a zoo. The story starts with the older Pi recollecting his younger years while growing up in India. He recalls how his family decides to sell the zoo and move to Canada.
The ship on which Pi and his family & various other zoo animals are traveling gets caught in the storm and subsequently sinks.
All this leaves Pi stranded on a boat with a hyena, a zebra with the broken leg, an orangutan and a scary Bengal tiger.
The story of the book gets really interesting in the second half. The desperate situation in which Pi finds himself after the Ship sinks and the different ways in which he adapts to these situations are pretty much worth reading.
2. The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
Next up on the list is one of my favorite books. This is… if someone asks me, what book should I read similar to The Alchemist? I will say go get this one right now.
The Road Less Traveled is about how most of the people go through their life and completely unaware of…
Why they are? What they are? Why other people like they are? Why they behave in that particular way?
And they even don’t explore all these questions. This book is about those people who do decide to explore these questions about themselves.
When I went through the pages of this book further, I noticed M. Scott really clarified all these questions and put them into words which I was already thinking in my head. What makes this book actually great is that most of the readers can relate to it.
The author really surprised me at one point where he talks about the point of having the brain and he actually explained how we use mental processes to survive initially. And when we reach the higher order of consciousness, we actually can use our mind to choose the way we live.
I hope the above explanation already got you excited to grab this one right off from here. But wait, there are a few more books related to The Alchemist on this list.
3. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran is loved by many readers worldwide. Just a quick fact here… Khalil Gibran is the third most sold poet after William Shakespeare.
The Prophet is one of the rare books that he wrote in English. The Prophet is philosophical prose poetry and the thoughts and ideas in the book are extremely intriguing.
The story is about a Prophet who lives in the city of Orphalese for the past 12 years. Before he was about to leave the city, people asked him various questions related to different aspects of life.
His answers are so beautiful that the entire chapters of the book are divided into them. The whole book is an enriching experience. If you are given an option to choose only one book in your entire life, it should be this one. Believe me, it is that good!
4. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
A friend of mine recommended this book to me when I was searching for novels like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. And I can tell you the impression it left on me after reading was so similar that I actually felt as if I have read a book by Paulo Coelho himself.
I am sure the title of the book makes you wonder that it is a Christian religious novel. Let me assure you upfront; it is NOT!
The book is about a character named Eddy who is the head of maintenance at the Ruby Pier Amusement Park.
SPOILER ALERT!
At the beginning of the book, Eddie dies and he makes his way to heaven. He finds heaven as the place where you can make sense of your earthly life.
Everyone who goes to heaven gets to meet 5 people who have some sort of impact on their lives and they help you to learn the lessons which they were supposed to learn during their time on earth.
The point of the story is to show how your one life can affect so many others around you.
Seeing different aspects of Eddie and the way he deals with them makes the readers see this character as more imaginable and relatable. And eventually, you tend to like him a lot.
5. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I found this book on Goodreads when I was searching for Books like Alchemist. The review was so intriguing that I decided to give it a read.
The Storyline of the book turned out to be so good, that it was very hard for me to put it down, and as a result, I read it in one sitting.
The narrator of the story is the author herself, Elizabeth Gilbert. The book is about her journey of travel to three different countries where she spends her time of one year devoting 4 months to each country.
She is a lady who is in her mid-30s, and she has been going through the rough divorce of her marriage of 8 years. She is in complete depression and guilt consciousness, asking herself different sets of questions, how and when things went wrong with her marriage?
But one day, out of exhaustion, she decided to take a break and travel alone after finalizing all the terms of her divorce.
She travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia. Thereby seeking the art of Eat, Pray, and love respectively through these 3 countries.
This book is all about the learnings she grasps while exploring the depths of these countries, and more importantly the understanding of the well-balanced life between Eat, Pray, and Love.
Honestly, I really liked the cover of this book, and it is a must recommendation from me to all of you who are in search for similar stories like The Alchemist.
6. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho
As promised, I come back with an update on more books like the alchemist. And I am very sure that this one really puts in a lot of excitement, as this book is also written by none other than Paulo Coelho himself, its Pilgrimage.
The Pilgrimage is also considered as the companion to the alchemist. It is regarded as a philosophical and mystical fiction book. I really find it a very magnificent story, and it is an illusion for life.
You cannot finish this book in one go. As it requires proper dedicated time to digest all the deep meanings conveyed through the words. It requires a little effort to understand what has been said in the book quite a few times.
The book starts with the Paulo Coelho quest to become the master in a religious order called RAM. And for one to actually become a master in this religious order RAM, one needed to take a pilgrimage.
And on this pilgrimage, an emblem of achievement would be finding your sword. So Paulo Coelho had to go on a pilgrimage to find his sword so that he could become a master.
As a reader, the story is captivating at every point to find out, what exactly is the sword? and whether Paulo Coelho will get successful in becoming a master?
All the people that wanted to be initiated into the sword of RAM (Regnus Agnus Mundi) assigned a guide. Paulo has been assigned a guide by the name Petrus, and he is actually my favorite character in the book. He is such a wise guy and I fell for his wisdom in the book.
Without a doubt, If you are into meditation, this could be your perfect book. Petrus, the guide in this book taught Paulo Coelho how to relax and even further how to face death? which makes it to another level.
When you read this book, especially the Petrus character, you will be reminded about life is a spiritual journey not the mental and physical that we all take it as.
7. “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse
Recently I have read this book, Siddhartha which is based on the journey to the spiritual path. The story sets during the time when Buddha got the enlightenment.
This novel depicts the journey of a Brahman boy follows his intuition and heart to understand the meaning of self realization and enlightenment. I find the story of Siddhartha much intriguing because this boy named Siddhartha, he neither does meditation , not he follows any practice, but still he manages to uncover the hidden truths of life by just blending with the rhythms of the nature.
After I finish the book, I though ti add it to my list of books like the alchemist because this book reflects on the same theme and gives an almost similar idea like the story of the book, the alchemist.
Your Choice – Pick Books you find more related to The Alchemist
I have done my part to give you the best recommendation on the books that I found similar to The Alchemist. But I am not ending it here. I have two more books yet to finish this week which I think are well suited for this list.
So you can drop a comment and I will update you with those two books by the next week.
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Loved it!