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Mitch Albom: ‘Giving is living’ and the healing power of stories
Mitch Albom at events in Glorietta, Makati and (bottom photo) in Tacloban. Photos courtesy of National Book Store
When Mitch Albom was a child, his mother dropped him off at the library every week to borrow books. She was so adamant about him reading any book he wanted that once she even scolded the librarian: “Never tell a child that a book is too difficult for him, and never this child!”
Albom attests that books have gotten him through “pretty lonely times”, citing “The Royal Road to Romance” by the tragic 1930’s travel writer Richard Halliburton as one of the titles that resonated with him when he was younger.
“It was written with such optimism, with such wonder about the world,” he reflected. “It was that sort of book that trips your imagination that makes you think about things that are possible.”
And that is what the bestselling author hopes will also happen for the students who will benefit from the charity effort he is leading in typhoon-devastated Tacloban City.
During his book signing tour here in the country last week, Albom announced that he was coordinating Donated Reading for Youth of the Philippines (DRY PHILIPPINES) through his A Hole In The Roof Foundation, together with The National Book Store Foundation. The project aims to rebuild 10 school libraries and to re-stock them with books.
“I'm most looking forward to going to Tacloban because that was one of the conditions on which I said I would come here,” Albom said. “I didn't want to just come here and just talk about myself—that's fine, it's all good—but I think you should use your notoriety for other things.”
His notoriety seems to be working very well for him considering he has already received pledges of at least 10 personalized books from the likes of J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Suzanne Collins, John Green, Michael Chabon, Nicholas Sparks, Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), Jeff Kinney, and more.
“Authors always appreciate the effort people make to read and cherish their books," he said. "That is so true of readers here in the Philippines, I've seen my own books pulled from the flood damaged homes, moldy, discolored, yet brought to me to sign. It's incredible and heartwarming."
“This is an opportunity, hopefully, for me to call some attention to what's going on there…try to give some of the students a bit of normalcy,” he added. “To give a book to a child and let them lose themselves in a book for a couple of hours a day—that’s probably a good thing right now.”
Immortal teacher
Albom’s career is a testament to the power of a good book. “Tuesdays With Morrie”, an account of the time he spent with his dying professor, touched so many readers that it spent 4 years on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has since become the biggest-selling memoir of all time.
“Something very special happened with that book: people like you read it, and then gave it to somebody, who then gave it to somebody,” he affirmed. “It just goes to show you that if you touch one person like he touched me, you never know, you might end up touching the whole world. Morrie, who isn't even here on earth, still gets to affect so many people because he took the time to be nice to one person.”
“It means a lot to me that ‘Morrie’ is taught here in the schools, and that he gets to continue to teach,” he added.
Tala means 'star'
He has one other significant connection to the Philippines, however. His uncle Eddie was a World War II veteran who was deployed here to help fight against the Japanese. His story inspired Albom’s first novel, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”.
“I used to ask him when I was a kid, did you ever kill anybody? And he said, ‘I don't know, I might have. You fired into the darkness, you didn't know if you hit anybody or not’,” he related. “I began to think, what if my character did actually kill somebody and didn't realize it, how would he carry that guilt around for the rest of his life? And so it played into a very important part of the book.”
One of the Five People that Eddie (the character) meets in heaven is a Filipino girl named Tala, who Albom says is the key to Eddie’s entire life.
“I didn't know what ‘Tala’ meant when I wrote the name,” he admitted. “I know what it means now because after the book came out, I got so many letters saying ‘Tala means star’, and ‘how did you know that, do you speak Filipino?’, and ’come to the Philippines.’ And so ever since then, I've always felt a very close connection with this country.”
Albom attests that books have gotten him through “pretty lonely times”, citing “The Royal Road to Romance” by the tragic 1930’s travel writer Richard Halliburton as one of the titles that resonated with him when he was younger.
“It was written with such optimism, with such wonder about the world,” he reflected. “It was that sort of book that trips your imagination that makes you think about things that are possible.”
And that is what the bestselling author hopes will also happen for the students who will benefit from the charity effort he is leading in typhoon-devastated Tacloban City.
“I'm most looking forward to going to Tacloban because that was one of the conditions on which I said I would come here,” Albom said. “I didn't want to just come here and just talk about myself—that's fine, it's all good—but I think you should use your notoriety for other things.”
His notoriety seems to be working very well for him considering he has already received pledges of at least 10 personalized books from the likes of J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Suzanne Collins, John Green, Michael Chabon, Nicholas Sparks, Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), Jeff Kinney, and more.
“Authors always appreciate the effort people make to read and cherish their books," he said. "That is so true of readers here in the Philippines, I've seen my own books pulled from the flood damaged homes, moldy, discolored, yet brought to me to sign. It's incredible and heartwarming."
TACLOBAN-This broke my heart. Typhoon flooded house, but reader saved this book, brought it to me. We must help them pic.twitter.com/ep0GMIHhvL
— Mitch Albom (@MitchAlbom) February 26, 2014
“This is an opportunity, hopefully, for me to call some attention to what's going on there…try to give some of the students a bit of normalcy,” he added. “To give a book to a child and let them lose themselves in a book for a couple of hours a day—that’s probably a good thing right now.”
Immortal teacher
Albom’s career is a testament to the power of a good book. “Tuesdays With Morrie”, an account of the time he spent with his dying professor, touched so many readers that it spent 4 years on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has since become the biggest-selling memoir of all time.
“Something very special happened with that book: people like you read it, and then gave it to somebody, who then gave it to somebody,” he affirmed. “It just goes to show you that if you touch one person like he touched me, you never know, you might end up touching the whole world. Morrie, who isn't even here on earth, still gets to affect so many people because he took the time to be nice to one person.”
“It means a lot to me that ‘Morrie’ is taught here in the schools, and that he gets to continue to teach,” he added.
Tala means 'star'
He has one other significant connection to the Philippines, however. His uncle Eddie was a World War II veteran who was deployed here to help fight against the Japanese. His story inspired Albom’s first novel, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”.
“I used to ask him when I was a kid, did you ever kill anybody? And he said, ‘I don't know, I might have. You fired into the darkness, you didn't know if you hit anybody or not’,” he related. “I began to think, what if my character did actually kill somebody and didn't realize it, how would he carry that guilt around for the rest of his life? And so it played into a very important part of the book.”
One of the Five People that Eddie (the character) meets in heaven is a Filipino girl named Tala, who Albom says is the key to Eddie’s entire life.
“I didn't know what ‘Tala’ meant when I wrote the name,” he admitted. “I know what it means now because after the book came out, I got so many letters saying ‘Tala means star’, and ‘how did you know that, do you speak Filipino?’, and ’come to the Philippines.’ And so ever since then, I've always felt a very close connection with this country.”
Albom and wife Janine with schoolchildren in Tacloban.
I hear dead people
Albom’s latest novel, “The First Phone Call From Heaven”, also has a very personal origin.
“About three or four years ago, my mother suffered a terrible stroke, which robbed her of the ability to speak. She hasn't spoken since, and I realized how much I missed her voice,” he confided. “I noticed how people saved voices on their answering machine when people died, just to hear their voices again. So I wanted to write a book about how important the voice is in human connection.”
In the book, a handful of people from a small town in America one day receive phone calls from their departed loved ones saying that they are calling from Heaven. The story leaks out, and what follows is a fascinating look at faith, hope, belief, and the frenzy that results from alleged proof of an afterlife.
The film rights for “First Phone Call” has been optioned, and Albom promised his legion of Filipino readers—the biggest group outside of the United States—that should the movie be produced, he will come back here when it premieres.
Meanwhile, he is working on a new novel, and he has committed to return here to open the libraries that he is helping to build. — BM, GMA News
Albom’s latest novel, “The First Phone Call From Heaven”, also has a very personal origin.
“About three or four years ago, my mother suffered a terrible stroke, which robbed her of the ability to speak. She hasn't spoken since, and I realized how much I missed her voice,” he confided. “I noticed how people saved voices on their answering machine when people died, just to hear their voices again. So I wanted to write a book about how important the voice is in human connection.”
In the book, a handful of people from a small town in America one day receive phone calls from their departed loved ones saying that they are calling from Heaven. The story leaks out, and what follows is a fascinating look at faith, hope, belief, and the frenzy that results from alleged proof of an afterlife.
The film rights for “First Phone Call” has been optioned, and Albom promised his legion of Filipino readers—the biggest group outside of the United States—that should the movie be produced, he will come back here when it premieres.
Meanwhile, he is working on a new novel, and he has committed to return here to open the libraries that he is helping to build. — BM, GMA News
