I agree on a couple of points.
The Alchemist, for me, was incredibly mesmerizing, especially on account of the back story being so intriguing.
Your suggestion for reading Kafka’s Metamorphosis is probably sound.
Now. Anything by Gladwell is only mildly appealing, and I may have a bias because I attended school with him and probably know far more about him than the average reader. His research is thorough, but his arguments and conclusions I find only minutely interesting .