There are times I get excited about a book announcement. I’ll write down the title in my running notes app file and one day I’ll be at a book store or a few dollars short of free shipping for an order and think, “Aha! Now’s the time.” Rarely though, a book rises even higher on the scale and leads to the kind of quick action that leaves you wondering if you were even in control of what just happened, or if something in your brain hijacked control of your life and your credit card. Allie Brosh’s “Solutions and Other Problems” was the latter.

I’m not sure who shared the tweet about Brosh publishing a book after years away from the spotlight, but I remember it being a genuine surprise. The best kind. I first learned about her work, located at a site called Hyperbole and a Half, from a friend of mine who if I recall correctly gave me one those, “You just have to look at what it is. I can’t explain it!” I have evidence we talked about it in 2011 (in the same conversation I introduced them to Google Reader, RIP) and shortly after that Brosh walked away for a series of heartbreaking reasons she explains in her new book.

I wish I could post photo after photo of the hilariousness she mixes with genuine, deeply connecting stories, but since her work is so very visual it would not be fair to do so. Fortunately, she has posted the first chapter on her website for you to enjoy.

At one point I was reading this book while my wife napped on the couch next to me. It was a chapter about the kind of messed up lessons we lift up from The Ugly Duckling and shows a hilarious-faced Hans Christian Anderson explaining his process of coming up with the plot.

Basically, if you like what you see in the link above, I promise there are 20 more chapters in that vein. My favorite is probably the one about her cat and its toy mouse. She personifies the cat so so so so so well and I nearly lost the ability to breathe on a public bench while reading.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to run away from some dandelions.