Mitch Albom's 1997 best seller, the elegiac Tuesdays with Morrie, should have come with its own box of Kleenex, but it's likely too old to crack the past five years' Top 10.

His equally sentimental 2004 book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, is another matter, however.

The tale of the lessons an old man learns in the afterlife, with the aid of the titular quintet, clocks in at just 198 pages —

an easy dose of schmaltziness just the right size for a single long-haul trip.

Just don't let the flight attendants see you cry.

 

《你在天堂里遇见的五个人》让每一个读完这本书的人都成了锁链中的一环，分享着同一个秘密：天堂里，会有五个人，为了五段不同的记忆，等候你长大，相爱、衰老、死亡，等待着解答你最后的疑问。

因为，我们每一个人都会影响到另一个人，世界上各式各样的故事，说到底都是同一个。当它是本闲书，可以消遣，可欣赏作者的细致与独到，当它是课本，可跟着走上一段，直到自己成为智者。

那五次相遇，如同五声寒山钟声。

就当它是一次清夜扪心，一次大汗后的冲淋。 —— 著名作家陈村鼎力推荐并为本书作序