Hyperbole and a Half

Title: Hyperbole and a Half
Author: Allie Brosh
Pages: 369 (paperback)
Published: October 29th 2013
Published by: Touchstone

In a four-color, illustrated collection of stories and essays, Allie Brosh’s debut Hyperbole and a Half chronicles the many “learning experiences” Brosh has endured as a result of her own character flaws, and the horrible experiences that other people have had to endure because she was such a terrible child. Possibly the worst child. For example, one time she ate an entire cake just to spite her mother.

Brosh’s website receives millions of unique visitors a month and hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. This amalgamation of new material and reader favorites from Brosh's blog includes stories about her rambunctious childhood; the highs and mostly lows of owning a smart, neurotic dog and a mentally challenged one; and moving, honest, and darkly comic essays tackling her struggles with depression and anxiety, among other anecdotes from Brosh's life. Artful, poignant, and uproarious, Brosh’s self-reflections have already captured the hearts of countless readers and her book is one that fans and newcomers alike will treasure.

So just take a moment to scroll down this page a little bit. On the left, you'll find a list of blogs I read. Most of them belong to authors I love, but there is one that stands out as truly different. It's called Hyperbole and a Half and it is truly and honestly the most hilarious blog I have ever read. And quite possibly on the entire internet in general. Go and have a look at it. There are a plethora of posts to read. Spaghatta Nadle and its follow-ups are particular favourites of mine. Why? I have no idea. They just are.

This is the book of the blog, by the rib-achingly funny Allie Brosh, chronicling some of the many mis-adventures of her life, a tutorial for dogs and an amusing/heartbreaking account of her experience with depression. This full title is in fact Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, which sums up everything it contains pretty well.

Some of the stories in this book are new, and some have been taken from the blog. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and look forward to many re-reads in the future. Even the one's I read before often had me laughing out load. Actually laughing out loud. Not like when you're like 'lol' and it maybe made you smirk a little bit.

Read this book. And the blog. Because they're amazing, and pretty much speak for themselves on this front. Seriously, what are you still doing here? Go!

Disenchanted

Title: Disenchanted
Author: Robert Kroese
Pages: 220 (ebook)
Published: November 6th 2012
Published by: 47North

Being assassinated doesn't have many upsides, so when King Boric is felled by a traitor, the king comforts himself with the knowledge that, like all great warriors, he will spend eternity carousing in the Hall of Avandoor. There's just one problem: to claim his heavenly reward, Boric must release the enchanted sword of Brakslaagt.

Now, to avoid being cursed to walk the land of Dis forever as an undead wraith, he must hunt down the mysterious Lord Brand who gave him the sword twenty years ago. So begins Boric's extraordinary journey across the Six Kingdoms of Dis, a walking corpse who wants nothing more than to be disenchanted and left in peace. Along the way he's advised by the Witch of Twyllic, mocked by the threfelings of New Threfelton, burned, shot at, and nearly blown to bits. But nothing can prepare him for coming face-to-face with Lord Brand. For in that moment, Boric discovers that nothing—in life, in death, or in between—is exactly what it seems.

Boric, King of Ytrisk, pretty much dies at the start of this story. I saw pretty much, because it turns out his enchanted sword won't let him die so easily. He finds himself - very unwillingly - as a wraith, spirit intact but his body rotting and falling to pieces around him. And it is in this very fragile body that he has to try and defeat the evil mastermind who gave him the cursed sword to start off with. On his way he meets a whole host of often more than slightly ridiculous characters.

This was a very easy story to read, more so in the later chapters where there were fewer punchlines hitting you around the head. This book started out as a 'comedy', though for me it was trying far too hard and it seemed like that was a joke or punchline every couple of sentences. Though reminiscent of Terry Pratchett in terms of style the result was a bit of a mess really, in my mind at least. As we got further into the book (serialised, originally released in six fortnightly episodes) the humour was brought to heel a little, and the story itself was allowed to come through more.

And it was a pretty good story, with a twist that I didn't see coming at all. There was a lot of misdirection and misinformation, and whenever you thought you had it sorted it twisted around again. Of course, all this did take place in the last section, and the pacing could have been evened out a little, for the earlier sections - whilst readable - weren't particularly encapturing. In those, we flick between Boric-the-dead, and Boric-the-very-much-alive-and-killing-(sort of)-an-ogre. But in neither of them are any particular leaps forward made. Stuff happens in the former, and history is set up in the latter. Again, it is only in the later sections of the book that everything starts to come together, but I think it may have been a more engrossing read if there had been some more stuff going on for Boric-the-dead in the earlier sections than randomly stumbling from place to place.

When it comes to characters, Boric is the only one that appears with anywhere near enough consistency to really get a feel for. Others pop in and out (I was particularly a fan of Bubbles, the flying bear; in large part because his name was Bubbles), but their appearances tend to be fleeting a best - even in a book of only 200-some pages. But Boric does grow with the story, and there are some nice parts. He is obviously a very intelligent man in his own way: strategy and war rather than academia, but there is a deepening to him in the course of the story which probably would have been heart-warming if I'd cared for him more. Because, for all his snarky humour (which I appreciated), it was quite difficult to develop any depth of feeling for him. I wanted to see how everything worked out, but I didn't particularly care if he got disenchanted and un-wraithed.

An entertaining enough read, but maybe in need of some cleaning up and evening out. A bit more depth to the characters - Boric in particular - would make them more...not likeable, but care-worthy, and would make it a more gripping read.

The Princess Bride - Competition!

Title: The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Pages: 400 (paperback)
Published: October 20th 1999 (first published 1973)
Published by: Bloomsbury

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune she vows never to love another. When she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves survivors - her heart is broken. But her chars draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife and will go to any lengths to have Buttercup. So stars a fairy tale like no other, of fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion and miracles.

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Buttercup is the most beautiful woman in the world, but when the love of her life, Westley, is captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves any survivors - she despairs and vows to never love again. She agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck with the understanding that she doesn't love him and never will. Many crazy things ensue when she is kidnapped by the cleverest person in the world with the aid of his henchmen: the world's most gifted swordsman and the world's strongest man.

I was a little confused going into this book. The full title is The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure; The "Good Parts" Version, Abridged by William Goldman. So I was a little confused. Because obviously the story wasn't real, so why was it pretending to be an abridgement of a historical book that didn't even exist? But I went with it, and ended up very much enjoying it. "Morgenstern's" parts were very funny, particularly at the start of the book, and the little asides that Goldman adds explaining things or giving brief descriptions of the 'excisions' he has made were often very entertaining as well. Plus there's a Zoo of Death. This name amused me greatly, and probably more than it should have done.

The characters are pretty much all wonderful. Buttercup is rather ditzy and a little over-dramatic, but it fits with the whole tone of a book where everything is a little over the top. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a whole lot of depth past loving Westley, enjoying riding horses and being very very pretty. Some of the other characters provided a little more depth and allow you to get to know - and care about them - more. Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo Montoya (Buttercup's kidnappers) are all great characters, and hearing about Fezzik's and Inigo's histories were wonderful. You can't help but feel sorry for them, and how they've ended up where they have. Inigo's story I thought was particularly good, and he's probably my favourite character from the book.

When it comes to the story it is your typical adventure story, though there are a nice couple of twists in there that I for one didn't see coming. Once it gets going and all the set-up introductory stuff is done with, which doesn't take too long thanks to the 'abridgements', the story goes along at a nice rate, and there isn't ever very long where something isn't happening. The whole everything is very creative, and the torture machine that is devised is quite ingenious, though really quite unpleasant when you think about it. Which, I suppose, is the entire point of a torture machine, so job well done there!

I didn't have any particular problem with this book that jumps out at me and thoroughly enjoyed it, but there was just that spark of something missing that stopped me from falling in love with it. Still, a book I'd definitely recommend with wonderful characters that will stay with you.

If you would like to win this book (in very good condition) just leave a comment below. I'll leave it open for two weeks and then randomly select a winner!

Dawn of the Bunny Suicides

Title: Dawn of the Bunny Suicides
Series: Books of the Bunny Suicides #3
Author: Andy Riley
Pages: 160 (paperback)
Published: December 3rd 2010
Published by: Hodder & Staughton

From the author of the cult bestsellers THE BOOK OF BUNNY SUICIDES and RETURN OF THE BUNNY SUICIDES comes another unmissable collection of rabbit-related self destruction...

The bunnies are back - and there's only one thing on their minds. In this new collection, follow the continuing adventures of the fluffy little rabbits who just don't want to live any more...

So, I know this isn't a real book really, but the book I was planning on reviewing this week I haven't actually quite finished - The Count of Monte Cristo, 1228 pages down, 36 to go! - so I'm cheating a little bit. Plus, this is a great book in it's own way! It's funny and inventive, and a little sad a times. The bunnies are pretty darn cute, and you can't help feel sorry for them.

While you laugh at some of the ways they think up of killing themselves off, of course.

There are many pop culture references in there too, with Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and James Bond all making appearances as accidental accomplices in the sometimes potentially quite messy deaths.

Even my grandparents found it funny! They were rather confused when I showed it to them, not really understanding why anyone would want a book about rabbits committing suicide, but they too were soon laughing at many of the cartoons.

A nice, quick, incredibly entertaining read collection of cartoons for your perusal!

Feed

Title: Feed
Series: Newsflesh #1
Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 571 (paperback)
Published: May 1st 2010
Published by: Orbit

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Zombies came and there was chaos. Then people got over it and began trying to live their lives again. It was bloggers that spread the word of the original uprising, and this medium has taken over much of the media. Georgia and Shaun Mason are two such bloggers who, along with Georgette "Buffy" Meissonier, win a place on the campaign trail of Peter Ryman. They thinks it's going to be the launching pad their career needed, but there's so much more going on than they know...and there are still all those zombies out there too!

This book is a light, humorous look at America trying to carry on with a normal life 20 years after two miracle cures - for the common cold and cancer - join forces, mutate and cause the Rising: zombies. For obvious reasons, the story and humour both were sometimes a little dark, but it was a nice twist on the normal zombie story.

The story focuses on bloggers - who've taken the place of televised journalists - Georgia and Shaun Mason and Buffy Meissonier as they go on the campaign trail. The characters are likeable and most have their moments of brilliance, though it gets a little annoying that we are constantly reminded that Shaun likes to 'poke dead things with a stick' and that Georgia has retinal KA. In the case of the latter I understand that it is a significant, and annoying, part of her life but it seems like we can't go two pages without being reminded of this fact.

George does make a good narrator, if she does over explain things at times; this may be cleverly done and be based in her journalistic roots, but there is an awful lot of showing rather than telling which makes me think it's more the author coming through than George herself. The little snippets taken from other characters' blogs were good, and each did have their own distinctive voice.

The story as a whole was intriguing and very few clues were given as to what was actually going on, keeping you guessing until the characters themselves find out. This was nice in that I was saved being exasperated at the sheer stupidity of characters not realising what was going on when it has been made clear enough for to the reader to work it out, but a little frustrating in that I didn't think there weren't really enough clues to tell you that something was going on until it was revealed. You think it's just going to be about zombies and stuff, and then it's all like *BOOM* now there's this going on too! I would have liked a bit more of a precursor.

This book was a pretty solid 3 stars for most of it. This is, until we reach the end.

The ending made this book for me. There were a couple of twists in the story prior to this point, but the peak of this story was brilliant for it's emotion rather than for its cleverness or inventiveness. A good story was made better by the sheer emotiveness of the writing and, for that reason, I've had to bump it up to 4 stars.