The Washington Post
 
 

Danielle Steel, Stephen King, top right, and Paolo Coelho rank among some of the best-selling authors of all time. (LEFT: Richard Drew/AP; TOP RIGHT: Elise Amendola/AP Photo; BOTTOM RIGHT: Matej Divizna/Getty Images/COMPO IMAGE)
 
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