Helen Plum Library

"'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive...

Annie Marlow has been through the worst. Rocked by tragedy, she heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest, the destination of many family vacations when Annie was a teenager. Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to the folks she meets: a local painter, Keaton, whose large frame is equal to his big heart--and who helps Annie fix up her rental cottage by the sea; Mellie, the reclusive,...

People make hundreds of choices every day, yet most individuals feel they have little control over their own lives. Now Gary Zukav, author of the monumental bestseller The Seat of the Soul, joins his spiritual partner, Linda Francis, in a revolutionary look at the power of choice and how to use it wisely. They explain how changing our decision-making can help us avoid self-defeating patterns of thought and action -- and help us take control of our...

Bill Wile is an easygoing, hardworking guy who leads a quiet, ordinary life. One evening, after his usual eight-hour bartending shift, he finds a typewritten note under the windshield wiper of his car. If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice...

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions-both big and small-have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make...

On a hot summer's day John Cole decides to shut his bookshop early-- possibly forever-- and drives out of London to see his brother. When his car breaks down on an isolated road, he goes looking for help and finds a dilapidated house. As he approaches, a laughing woman he has never seen before walks out, addresses him by name and explains she has been waiting for him. Entering the home, John discovers an enigmatic clan of residents all of whom seem...

On the Finfarran Peninsula on Ireland's west coast, at the Lissbeg Library, a group of women gather together for the first book club of the summer where they'll all face difficult choices and hope to get the happy endings they all deserve

"Twenty-four-year-old Bridge is paralyzed by choices: all the other lives she could have lived, the decisions she could have made. And now, who she should be in the wake of her mother's unexpected death. Jo was a maverick neuroscientist fixated on an artifact she called the "dreamworm" that she believed could open the doors to other worlds. It was part of Jo's grand delusion, her sickness, and it cost her everything, including her relationship with...

In a culture of restlessness and indecision, which causes tension in people's lives, a civic advocate, using examples from history, personal stories, and applied psychology, shows how purposeful commitment can be a powerful force