Mitch Albom has written some of the most thought-provoking books that I have ever read (and probably will ever read.) He shared his treasured moments with an old and valued friend and mentor in Tuesdays With Morrie. He discussed about the importance of each individual person and how their afterlife is affected in The Five People You Meet In Heaven. He wrote about getting to spend more time with a lost loved one in For One More Day. And then he shared his thoughts on the importance of time and how it all began in The Time Keeper. In this blog post I will talk about each of them, including what I learned from them, quotes that I liked, and which ones were my favorite. If anything comes from writing this blog post, I hope that I can convince at least one of you to read at least one of these books. I promise you won't be disappointed!
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Probably my favorite book out of the four. Yes, even before Tuesdays With Morrie. If you haven't been introduced to a Mitch album book as of now, I would urge you to read this one first. The concept is simple: “There are five people you meet in heaven. Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth. This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.” Kind of like having 5 ghosts of Christmas Past. It is incredible to think of how many people you may have influenced without realizing it. In case you need more convincing, here are a couple more awesome quotes:
“Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.”
“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.”
“The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”
Seriously. Read this book.
Tuesdays With Morrie
This was the first book I ever read...not sure when, probably back in high school. This book is nonfiction, about a relationship between the author and his dying mentor, Morrie. They meet every Tuesday and Morrie talks to Mitch about everything he has learned in his life, advice for him for the future, how it feels to be dying, everything a person would want to hear from a mentor. I wish I had a relationship with one of my teachers the way Mitch had with Morrie. If you read this, so will you.
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."
"Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too-even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."
Read this one, too.
For One More Day
This book is short. If you're looking for a book to read in a day or less, this is your winner. This book shares an idea that everyone hopes will happen to them. That when life gets you down to the point where you don't want to be a part of it anymore, someone that you have loved and lost will come back to you and remind you of what you have to live for. I found this to be harder to believe than The Five People You Meet In Heaven for some reason, even though both have to do with being visited by people from the dead. It still has some good morals.
“One day spent with someone you love can change everything.”
“When you're rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those
you love.”
"...You can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.”
The Time Keeper
This is his most recent book, it came out last year. I was so excited to read a new book by Mitch Albom...but it's my least favorite. It has to do with the man who invented time and he gets punished and then has to help these two people: One who wants to extend his life as long as possible and another who wants to end her too early. I can tell you the moral right now: Appreciate life for what it is and what your life may have to offer the world. Blah blah blah. I will provide you with quotes, in case you're interested in the book, anyway. I'm sure plenty of people disagree with my opinion.
“As mankind grew obsessed with its hours, the sorrow of lost time became a permanent hole in the human heart. People fretted over missed chances, over inefficient days; they worried constantly about how long they would live, because counting life’s moments had led, inevitably, to counting them down. Soon, in every nation and in every language, time became the most precious commodity.”
“The length of your days does not belong to you.”
“It is never too late or too soon, the old man had said. It is when it is supposed to be.”
Moral of this blog post: Explore Mitch Albom. You won't be disappointed!
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