A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven

I recently finished reading, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Heaven… (Or, How
I Made Peace With the Paranormal and Stigmatized Zealots and Cynics in the Process) by
Corey Taylor. Corey Taylor has written one other book titled, Seven Deadly Sins. Both of these
books are mad up of memoirs from Taylor’s past, as well as his opinions and outlooks on life. A
Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Heaven… (Or, How I Made Peace With the Paranormal
and Stigmatized Zealots and Cynics in the Process), is about Taylor’s encounters with the
paranormal throughout his life. Corey Taylor describes his experiences and how he made sense
out of other-worldly activity. I was unable to find a single theme that was constant throughout
this book, since Taylor uses each chapter and each one of his stories to bring across a different
point, but I did find that the themes of all of the chapters were closely relate in that they were all
meant to open the reader’s eyes to the paranormal, and to make sense of ghostly encounters.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Heaven… (Or, How I Made Peace With the
Paranormal and Stigmatized Zealots and Cynics in the Process), takes the reader through the
mind of Corey Taylor, a grammy winning musician, and his thoughts and experiences with
paranormal activity. Corey writes about his adventures, hunting ghosts and sometimes running
into them by mistake, with his childhood friends, band-mates, his wife, and his lifelong
companions. Throughout the book, Taylor explains his reasoning for why he believes in ghosts,
scientifically, and philosophically.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. I would recommend this book because
it is very insightful, and is also mind-opening to the paranormal and unexplained occurrences in
our strange world. I think people who are interested in ghosts would especially enjoy this book,
and so would fans of Corey Taylor’s music. I think everyone should pick up this book and read it
as soon as possible. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading Taylor’s other book.

Book Review by Conor Q.

11/22/63

The novel 11/22/63 by Stephen King is an alternate-history historically fictional piece about the prevention of JFK’s assassination. Jake Epping, the protagonist is an English teacher in the early 2010s who first reads an assignment from his student about how his life was changed when his family was killed by his drunken father. Jake ends up feeling terrible for the student whose memories shared burn in his mind. Jake’s friend Al meets up him at his dinner to discuss what’s recently happened to Al. He tells Jake that his rapid aging is due to his time in the past, late ‘50s and early ‘60s, which he achieved by using his pantry which houses time travel abilities. Jake finds this silly and at first doesn’t believe Al, but after he tries it for himself, he learns the power it holds. After Jake comes back to the present, Al tells him how he must go back and kill Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassinator of President John F. Kennedy.

Jake first wants to do change the life of the student, whose life was destroyed back in 1958, using this as a smaller trial to start off his quest to change the past. He sets off back in time and begins his life-changing and time-changing actions.

There were three key settings in this novel: first being Libson Falls, Maine in the year 2011, where Jake was a teacher and the other two being Jodie, Texas near Dallas and Derry, Maine both of these settings occurred when he was in the past.

This book is the exact book that will pick up and read again and again, it’s that good. I’ve never read a book that I can say is just as compelling to me as one of my favorite movies. This is probably the greatest, or at least second greatest book I’ve ever read in my fifteen years alive. The conflicts, the relationships, the settings all appealed to me as I read the story.

The main character, Jake, is a very well laid out and relatable person, one I don’t usually read of in my free time. His ex-wife was an alcoholic and he hadn’t fond anyone to be with since the divorce. He doesn’t have many friends according to what information we are given about him, but this makes it easier for him to go back in time, he needs a new setting, new people. This makes his events even more enjoyable.

This was one of Stephen King’s more recent works dating 2011 for when it was published. Stephen King is known for the books The Shining, TheDark Half, and The Dark Tower series. He is also one of my more likeable authors.

This book is a must by, even if your not a time travel or assassination preferred reader, the elements of the story won’t have you second guessing.

Book Review by Josef S.