The Five People You Meet in Heaven 

A beautiful story. I read it in one go, could be an excellent book to take on those intercontinental flights or one of those long non-stop journeys. This book is written by Mitch Albom, who is better known for his earlier novel, Tuesdays with Morrey, which has been made into a film. I haven't read Tuesdays with Morrey, but Five People... is definitely a keeper.

It explores a new concept of heaven (or afterlife?), according to which, the protagonist of the novel, Eddie - ordinary of all ordinary mortals, meets five people in the so-called Heaven. More than a place this Heaven is a state of being, state of consciousness and everyone will meet their five chosen people in heaven. The five people Eddie meets in heaven are varied as a group can be, some are total strangers, some are acquaintances and one is his wife.

If there is a book that can make you cry, not in desperate sorrow, but in quiet contemplation, this is it. For all those, like me, who have not yet been 'saved' enough to forget that we are just a mass of organic compounds, bound to decay, insignificant as the withering plant in your balcony which you have forgotten to water, Five People You Meet in Heaven is salvation, atleast during the hours you are reading it.