Finished: Veronika Decides to Die (Coelho). A really good book, especially the ending. :-) The story of 24-year old Veronika, a young woman living in Slovenia, who has decided that she's done everything she can with her never-progressing life, so she decides to commit suicide. Unfortunately (for her), she doesn't take enough pills and wakes up in the local sanitarium, Villete, still alive. The head of Villete, Dr. Igor, informs her that she was touch and go for a week, but that she definitely survived her attempt. The bad news?....Veronika irrevocably damaged her heart and will not live more than a week. Veronika feels cheated at first, but then decides to accept the fact that at least she'll still die, it will just take a little longer. In the meantime, she comes into contact with a few of the other hospital's patients, Mari, Zedka, and Eduardo, in particular, and along with rediscovering her piano talents, discovers that she'd also like to live....live like she never did before. Mari, Zedka and Eduardo all have different influences on her decision. Eduardo is a diagnosed schizophrenic who likes to stand there in his own little world and just listen to the beautiful piano music. In reality, and as Veronika comes to see, he is really a young man who didn't want to follow in his diplomat father's footsteps, and instead wanted to become a painter of "scenes of paradise". When his parents refused to accept that, he withdrew from his life and his parents had him committed. Needless to say, when Veronika is getting weaker and weaker and has only about 24 hours to live, Veronika and Eduardo realize they love each other. They decide to leave the hospital and spend the next day doing whatever they want in the city. They do all kinds of sightseeing and drink too much wine. That night, as they look at the moon, Veronika feels as if she's dying happy in Eduardo's arms. When Eduardo wakes the next morning, Veronika is laying there so still, he assumes that she's died.....but no, she stirs! A miracle, they think, another day to enjoy together! Meanwhile, back at the hospital, when the nurses report to Dr. Igor that Veronika and Eduardo are missing, he outwardly shows all the appropriate outrage, but when he closes the door and sits down to himself, we hear the real truth! In his experiments with trying to get people to get rid of the poisonous "vitriol" within themselves, which he believes is the root of most mental illness, he has actually been giving Veronika a drug to simulate heart problems. Her heart is actually as strong as ever! He knew that the rate of reattempting suicide was so high in the first few weeks after a failed attempt, that he decided to try this unique approach....make Veronika think she was still going to die so she'd spend her last few days living as much as she could...with the hopeful result being that she'd actually find a reason to really stay alive....which she did in the end. :-)

A good book written by the author of  The Alchemist, which is supposed to be very good as well. I may just have to give it a try!