If you like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom...

Thanks for requesting a Book Match from the Central Rappahannock
Regional Library. You asked for a match to The Five People You Meet in
Heaven, by Mitch Albom. You mentioned you liked the style, story flow,
language, and topic. How about trying:

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
This inspirational fable...has been a runaway bestseller....The charming
tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is
compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many
lessons Santiago learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to
Morocco in search of worldly success, and eventually to Egypt, where a
fateful encounter with an alchemist brings him at last to
self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. The story has the comic
charm, dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but
it's full of specific wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered,
overcoming depression, and believing in dreams. The cumulative effect is
like hearing a wonderful bedtime story from an inspirational
psychiatrist. (from Publishers Weekly)

Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, by Fannie Flagg
Octogenarian Elner Shimfissle falls off a ladder after accidentally
disturbing a hornets' nest while picking figs. After she dies at the
hospital, the novel's bite-size chapters alternate between funny and
touching vignettes showing how Elner's death and life has affected
dozens of people in town, interspersed with scenes of Elner's
laugh-out-loud assent into the hereafter. From there, the plot offers
readers a series of delightful surprises...Flagg is an expert at
balancing pathos with plenty of Southern sass, and this could very well
be the feel-good read of the summer. (Publishers Weekly)

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old businessman, is
visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley.
Marley's ghost has come to warn Scrooge of his impending damnation if he
does not reform his bitter nature. Marley also warns Scrooge that three
other ghosts will be visiting him that night. The ghosts of Christmas
Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future appear to Scrooge during
the night. (What Do I Read Next?)

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter
to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the
son of an Iowa preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young
man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to
Kansas to fight for abolition...This is also the tale of another
remarkable vision - not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life
as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in
Ames's soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through
generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten. (Book
jacket) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

God: Stories, edited by C. Michael Curtis
[O]ffers insight and pleasure not only to the faithful but also to
spiritual seekers -- and to those who simply love fine stories. Gathered
by an esteemed editor of The Atlantic Monthly, these twenty-five
dazzling short stories by eminent writers of varying persuasion,
including Tobias Wolff, Louise Erdrich, Philip Roth, James Joyce,
Flannery O'Connor, and John Updike. deal with the question of faith --
both its presence and its absence.The stories range from the comic to
the passionate, from the skeptical to the mystical. (Book jacket)

Walking Across Egypt, by Clyde Edgerton
Mattie Rigsbee is a 78-year-old widow determined to live independently
and rather impatiently waiting for her children to marry and provide her
with grandchildren. Although she is active in her Baptist church and
small-town community life, she is lonely and in need of someone to take
care of. A stray dog fills the bill for awhile. Then along comes Wesley
Benfield, juvenile delinquent and orphan, who needs Mattie as much as
she needs him. Despite the disapproval of her neighbors, friends,
family, and the local sherriff's office, Mattie sets her mind on being
the grandmother Wesley has never had. (What Do I Read Next?)
+++++
You may also like books by:

Nicholas Evans
Richard Paul Evans
Nicholas Sparks
Robert James Waller

I hope you find something you like in these suggestions. If not, or if
we can help you with anything else, let us know!

Michele R. Brown
Reference Librarian