Holiday books to change your life

Holiday reading is one of the great pleasures of actually getting  away.  The real joy of reading is that you don’t even have to travel – pick up a book and you can be transported literally anywhere in the universe! Here are some of my favourite books with deeper meanings, I’d love to know what yours are.

The House of Spirits –  Isabel Allende.

Set in Chile, the story spans four generations of the same family and centres around Clara, a psychic child who predicts the death of her sister.  She is surrounded  by paranormal knowledge and some say this book has an element of magical realism – that it’s not just a story, but that it reveals great magical truths. A beautiful, complex and satisfying book.

The Alchemist – Paul Coelho.

A young Spanish shepherd boy has a vivid dream about buried treasure in Egypt and against all the odds he decides to follow his intuition and go in search of it.  He discovers spiritual messengers in unexpected people and places. This short but beautiful book is laced with universal truths and a beautiful message.  Perfect for a weekend away, it is sure to uplift you and perhaps give you a clue to where your own dreams lie.

Random Acts of Heroic love – Danny Scheinman.

This is an inspiring but heart breaking story. Leo wakes up in a South American hospital to find out his girlfriend is dead. More than his journey through grief, this book also teaches the power and beauty of love. Leo’s story is woven in with that of Moritz Daniecki, a young soldier caught up in WWI on the Russian Front, and conveys the power that love can give to survive the unsurvivable. I loved this book and was riveted. The  author lost his own girlfriend when a young man and the writing on  grief and healing is stunning and uplifting.

The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown.

I highly recommend this book as it blew  me away. Not only is it a rip roaring fast paced thriller, it managed  to incorporate spiritual and magical truths which, once understood, can transform your life. He uses modern and ancient wisdom and explores science and spirituality in a way that could literally change your life. If I were going to write a straight spiritual book it would incorporate much of what Dan Brown manages to weave into a thriller – genius!