BOOK SHORT
100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife
Review by Stephanie Miller
Our human fascination with “what’s next” now has a definitive—if irreverent — travel guide. Jeopardy! champion and best selling author Ken Jennings’s hilarious new “100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife” is written in the iconic, “everything that happens is part of the happy experience” style of a local guide.
Jennings has done his research and presented fascinating details of different heaven and hell destinations in brief “must see” lists, local customs, ways to avoid the crowds, and tips to get past the gatekeeper. After all, you don’t want to get lost in some horrifying, painful, and eternal hellscape.
If you choose Dante’s Inferno as your destination, Jennings comforts us, “That’s the great thing about hell: nine huge circles, but it still feels like a small town.”
If you are taking the paths espoused by the Ancient Egyptians, Jennings shares a savvy traveler tip: “Of the 189 spells in the Book of the Dead, the very last one protects travelers from a seemingly unlikely misfortune: having to eat and drink their own poop and pee.”
Want to start your afterlife option with a thrilling cliff dive? Jennings knows the only place to die (spoiler: with the Māori people of New Zealand). On the other hand, if “Hell” isn’t really your thing, try Valhalla, the “preferred afterlife of the Viking warriors and one of the rowdy house parties of the gods.” Feeling a bit more industrious? “Mormons head to the grave prepared to keep on working.”
Love frequent flyer miles? Cunning travel promoter Jennings knows just the destination. Follow the Hindu tradition to die in “Vaikuntha, [where] you will have your own celestial airplane” for eternity.
Jennings’ compilation is inspired by everything from Greek philosophy to Harry Potter.
It’s a delightful and fast-paced romp through centuries of mortal imagination to help you plan ahead for that final journey.
Micro-Shorts
‘No Two Persons: A Novel,’ by Erica Bauermeister
The book starts with the story of a young author publishing her first novel. The rest is stories of people who are touched by the book. No two persons have the same experience with it. And in fact, not all of them love the book or even read it. Detective fiction lovers will appreciate the dozens of cross connections between the characters. A delightful and fun novel that will make your reader’s heart sing.
‘The Last Devil to Die,’ by Richard Osman
I’ve recommended Osman’s previous Thursday Murder Club books, and while this latest is not as strong as the first three, it is still a must-read for anyone who is already in love with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim, the beloved septuagenarian detectives of Coopers Chase retirement home. In some ways, this one felt like Osman giving tribute to the well-lived lives and beautiful friendship of his characters. I enjoyed it and read it in just one rainy day. But if you haven’t read the others, hold off until you’ve read the first book in the series.
‘Foxtrot Algorithm,’ by Atticus Prinn (Maine Author)
Written by a seventeen-year-old Maine author as part of the Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors Fellowship, “Foxtrot Algorithm” is narrated by a sensitive, thoughtful, private high school student grappling with all the ordinary challenges of growing up, as well as a few extraordinary ones like finding out that staying with the first person you feel a meaningful connection with could lead you to a life in prison. It’s all there. Star-crossed first love, parental abuse, stupid friends, alcoholism, over zealous campus security officers—and an amazingly compassionate and approachable teacher.
The book’s protagonist, Luke Willoughby, has an authentic voice. His journey will break your heart—as well as give you hope for our next generation of citizens.
Visit www.tellingroom.org for dozens of wonderful books by young authors and to support this terrific program.
