Men had suddenly become a scarce commodity, if not quite as sought after as rice.

It is one thing to recognise certain potentially useful affinities, and another to act on them.

Along the wide curving moat surrounding the palace, rows of cherry trees announced the end of their seasonal beauty. Some of the trees were weeping: blossoms in white and palest pink, ponderous with decreptitude, eddying on the brown water, stirred by the paddling of ducks.

Certain experiences you never forget, no matter how old you become.

There's no backward and no forward, no day other than this. You fill your cart as you go, and that's that.

Men had suddenly become a scarce commodity, if not quite as sought after as rice.

Anyone who loved Tuesdays with Morrie should delight in reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Mitch Albom has populated his larger-than-life tale with memorable characters and filled it with the abundant warmth and wisdom that we've come to expect from this gifted storyteller.