Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell by "Bad" Billy Pratt, 178 pages

Repeatedly, in the collection of blog posts that make up Welcome to Hell, author Billy Pratt earnestly declares the mission of the writer to be the arduous distillation of truth from experience.  Given such a seemingly grandiose conception of his vocation, the reader might expect a diatribe against contemporary illusions and delusions.  Whether attracted or repelled by that prospect, what he will find if he dares to open the book is a series of vignettes, some funny, some poignant, some simply depressing, most of them defying cheap moralizing and instead inviting understanding.  What emerges is a portrait of Hell, a realm of aging adolescent consumers searching ever more desperately for validation or just the next dopamine fix, having already pawned their youth and healthy relationships.

An obvious trap for a collection of this kind is for the entries to become numbingly repetitive, but Pratt's descriptive approach avoids this entirely.  At the same time, the strong thematic unity and the unmistakable voice of the author keeps it from feeling disjointed.  The whole reads less like a haphazard bunch of essays than a carefully constructed novel in the tradition of Zola, albeit one holding up a mirror to a very different world.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, by Allie Brosh, 369 pages

Oh my glob- have you ever read a book where once you were finished, you thought "This author GETS it" ? That's kind of how this was for me.  It was hilarious and heartwarming and just a wonderful escape.

This book is a collection of written/illustrated short pieces by Allie Brosh, most of which were featured on her blog . The topics range from her dogs and their idiosyncrasies, to depression, to her inhuman, childhood need for sugar.  This book is hilarious, but not in a cheap joke sort of way- in a way that you have to go along with her for the ride.  The illustrations may be a turn-off at first for some people, but if you stick with it, you'll realize that they are perfect.

Sort of unrelated, but the humor in here reminded me of Maria Bamford's standup, if you're a fan of either.

Deadline

Deadline by Mira Grant, 584 pages

Deadline is the continuing of the series that started with Feed. It follows the blogging life of Shaun Mason and the rest of his crew and their blog "After the End Times". It also delves deeper into what happened to cause the original zombie outbreak and what happened in the first book.
Grant continues her interesting take on both zombies and the government response to an outbreak. There is a part in the book where they explain that the freshness of a zombie has an effect on the abilities that a zombie has. This is quite unique from the zombie books I have read and gives depth to the story.


Having finished this book and other science fiction books this month I am beginning to wonder why zombies get put in the fiction section while aliens or other just as believable themes get placed in science fiction.

Note: While the image seems to be stretched it is actually almost the same shape as the book, which pretty much looked like a stretched paperback.

Feed

Feed by Mira Grant, 599 pages

Another of the forcefully recommended books! This one is another interesting zombie novel. Sometime in the year 2014 the world had cured cancer and the flu. Sounds great until the two super cures merge and create a zombie apocalypse. The news tries to cover up the story but the blogger world tells it as they see it and reveal the truth. And that brings us to where the story begins. 

In this new world the bloggers reign supreme as the source of news and compete for the ratings. The book follows bloggers Shaun and Georgia as they try to get by in the post-apocalyptic world while reporting the news and keeping their ratings up.


The zombies of the book are a blend of the traditional shambles mixed with a couple of the Hollywood features, like thinking. It also has a zombie test kit and a society that does not completely collapse when the zombies appear. 

I am not sure I like the ending but will likely still continue reading the series. 

Hyperbole and a Half

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh, 369 pages

Allie Brosh is not a good artist. She'll likely never win a drawing contest with any of the better-known (or even lesser-known) artists. But once you get used to her blob-with-stick-arms people and her vaguely flat-looking dogs, her artwork is endearing and awesome.

Hyperbole and a Half isn't graphic novel or comic book, though. Nor is it exactly a prose piece. Rather, this book is a highly-illustrated, very funny memoir, created journal-style and generously peppered with Brosh's quirky drawings (much like Brosh's blog of the same name). It's filled with memories like the time the goose attacked her and the time that she ate her grandfather's entire birthday cake, but it's also got some surprisingly soul-searching entries as well. I particularly enjoyed Brosh's realistic, matter-of-fact, but also unexpectedly funny take on depression; this section should be required reading for anyone who is trying to deal with a friend or family member who is depressed.

Actually, strike that. This book should simply be required reading. For everyone. It's that great.