By Allie Brosh
I received the Hyperbole and a Half book for Christmas and it was awesome! I tried to portion it out so it would last longer, but was only able to stretch it out over four days. A lot of her fans say this, but author Allie Brosh seems to live, at least part of the time, inside my head.
If you’ve never heard of Allie Brosh or Hyperbole and a Half, the book is a selection of stories, both new and from her blog by the same name, which you have to go visit right now. You should read my two favorite stories, which are also in the book, “The Simple Dog” and “The Party.” And read Wolves, too, because that one is also really funny. Oh, and Sneaky Hate Spriral is great. Basically, just start at the top and read until you hit the end. And buy the book, especially to read “Motivation,” one of the new stories, because I’ve been quoting it all week: “I don’t want to do anything more than I don’t want to hate myself.”
It was actually a perfect gift for me because although I’m a big fan of hers, I’d mostly stopped reading her blog for the last year, for a reason that shames me a little. She stopped posting for several months, during which I checked back regularly, but when she came back, she discussed how she was recovering from a serious bout of depression, and I couldn’t bring myself to read about that, and I got too anxious to check back in afterwards. So, basically, I’m pretty much as unsupportive as can be, and was seriously ashamed of myself, but luckily her book actually addressed her own coming-to-terms with her selfishness and egotism, so once again, I felt very like she was talking from my own head.
—Anna
Biblio-therapy 
Cara and I had a whole conversation about she almost got you that for Christmas, but it was so perfectly you that she figured someone else would have already bought it for you!
I bought it for my mom, and my favorite story was the one where the goose got into their kitchen.
Haha! That is awesome, and so true – it really is a perfect gift for me! That goose story was really, really funny; I probably have to read it again.
Does the book have Menace in it? Because while Motivation is definitely describing me, I think Menace is probably my favorite of all time, even better than the starfish dog. 😀
Oh, man, “Menace” is really good! It is not in the book, and in fact, because it is highest on her blog, I think it is newer than the book. I love the power trance in her eyes!
I preordered Hyperbole and a Half (one of the few books I ever have) and love it to bits.
I will say that Allie’s depression posts are hard to read (guess you skipped over those in the book, then?) but incredibly insightful. From my end, it was interesting to read as someone who has struggled with depression, but not to the point where I ever felt suicidal.
But yes, The Simple Dog is one of my favorites. And for some reason, the line “She [Allie’s mom} was dressed like a woodsman” in “Lost in the Woods” cracked me up. Something about the line paired with the mother’s expression in the illustration. I couldn’t stop snickering.
I started to get into this in the post, but it started to bog it down, so I removed it, but one of the reasons this was such a great gift for me was that I was able to finally read the depression posts in book-form, when I couldn’t do it online. I think it was because I could read just a couple of pages and then set it down and pick it up later, and that is trickier to do online.
Her description is very similar to what I struggled with in college and for a few years afterwards. I was really glad that I was finally able to read it because she does such a better job of describing the experience than I ever could, but I don’t love to revisit it, either.
And, oh man, “Lost in the Woods” made me feel so, so bad for that mom! Especially when little-girl Allie starts talking about the horror movie! Have you seen the reddit list of terrifying things kids have said to their parents? It is hysterical!