Journal Entry 1 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, March 08, 2010

A colleague was clearing out her shelves and gave this away. Nobody else at work seemed interested, so I took it for bookcrossing.

I've already read another copy - I'll paste in my journal entry below, but you can click this link to follow the journey of that other copy. 

Journal Entry 2 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, March 08, 2010

Here's the journal entry I wrote back in 2007:

Let me say right away that I enjoyed it. But I’m also a little worried by the squibs on the back. A book with a genuine power to ... comfort its readers (The New York Times); a gift to the soul (Amy Tan); Albom has touched the lives of a lot of people he never even knew (Time). The most touching thing *I* found in the book was the dedication, the story of the author’s Uncle Eddie, who woke up one night in the hospital to find the souls of his departed loved ones sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him. I find that, a person’s actual experience, more touching than fiction (speculating about what it might be nice if heaven were like) can be.

As somebody with a very different (although admittedly pretty hazy) assumption about what heaven might be like, I admit that after finishing the book I tried to see what might be wrong with Albom’s idea. What I came up with was the problem of eternity. Sure, for a while Eddie’s heavenly life will involve waiting to share his part of the secret of heaven. But what will he do once all the people whose lives he touched have died and learned their lessons? I know, we can touch the lives of future generations too... but if you only get to meet five people, it’s surely going to be people within just a few generations of yourself, isn’t it? So three generations down the road, is Eddie still going to be happy in his own heaven? Ten generations down the road? Fifty?

A month or so I read an article in Time magazine, which I found surprisingly and profoundly disturbing, arguing that pretty much all the meaning we find in life is just what we have imposed on it ourselves, and that there is no afterlife – although most of us seem to need to believe that there is. I do want to believe in an afterlife, and I do want to believe that life has meaning beyond ourselves. Eddie’s heaven may not be what I believe in, but I can see its appeal.

This book brought back to mind a song that I love. If you liked this book, but also can appreciate a little good-natured black humor, please seek out Lyle Lovett’s “Family Reserve”. :) 

Journal Entry 3 by potok-fan at Kortteliravintola Kerttu in Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, March 08, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (3/8/2010 UTC) at Kortteliravintola Kerttu in Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Taking this to our local BC meeting. If nobody takes it, we'll leave it in the pub. 

Journal Entry 4 by MiuM from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, March 08, 2010

Thank you! This book was on my wishlist. :)
Let's see how I like it then. 

Journal Entry 5 by MiuM from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, April 05, 2010

I liked this book, although like Potok-fan I too found that the waiting solution in the end needed a bit more explanation. I do think that there was more about the Heaven that we were told. So Eddie didn't just wait for a long time for the girl to show up. There isn't time in eternity, so it possible wouldn't seem like a lot of time waiting, and after that he could move to an upper level of Heaven. At least that is the impression I got from the book.

Books that make me cry a bit in the end are usually good. :) Very fine thoughts. 

Journal Entry 6 by MiuM at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Friday, August 06, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (8/6/2010 UTC) at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This goes to the winner of " I've never won a RABCK Sweepstake". Congratulations!
I still haven't ever won a sweepstake, but I can imagine it is so thrilling to get books and books and books... to your mailbox day after day. :)  

Journal Entry 7 by footymadgill at Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom on Monday, August 23, 2010

Journal Entry 8 by footymadgill at Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom on Friday, October 01, 2010

Read this on holiday in the Maldives and couldn't put it down. I'm not a religious person but enjoyed his perception of "Heaven". I cannot leave it here in the Maldives so it will have to fly back home with me.  

Journal Entry 9 by footymadgill at UK Smile Day RABCK sweepstake , -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (10/5/2010 UTC) at UK Smile Day RABCK sweepstake , -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

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Journal Entry 10 by Lizzy-stardust at Salford Quays, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Saturday, October 09, 2010

receieved as a prize in the smile day rabck. Thanks!