I can't believe how disappointed I am in this book. I love Patton Oswalt. He is one of my favorite comedians and I usually find him witty, insightful and just plain hilarious. Usually when he goes off on a tangent, he pulls it right back to his original point in a clever and humorous manner. I don't know what went wrong with this book. I think he tried to cram too many styles into a slim volume. Did he want to write a straight-up memoir? Did he want to write a few "comedic riffs"? OK, either of

First, the bad: it's *incredibly* short; some of the bits, while perhaps conceptually interesting - for example, an epic poem about his favorite D&D character - don't really work; it's not all that funny.Now, the good: It's not all that funny, but it's not necessarily *supposed* to be all that funny. Look, if you're a huge fan of Patton Oswalt's stand-up comedy and you see that he's writing a book called "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland", you would expect that it's going to be hilarious. If you were

I've had numerous friends recommend this book to me, and apparently they know me pretty well, because I loved it and thought it was hilarious from beginning to end.If I might digress for a brief rant, however (and this is nothing against Patton Oswalt or this book), I just want to lodge a complaint to no one in particular about the sheer amount of energy writers of my generation spend analyzing the pop culture of our youth. About 70% of this book is about legos, Dungeons & Dragons, movie tropes

I apologize ahead of time for not even trying to aim at Point B, or even starting from Point A. Comedy and terror and autobiography and comics and literature—they’re all the same thing.To me.I hereby officially nominate Patton Oswalt as the spokesperson for the Generation X nerd. And would like to perhaps hire him as my personal ambassador to the world. He’s a couple of years older than I am, but we definitely share similar formative experiences and outlooks. Except he’s funnier, more articulate...

Needing a little break from all the "serious" books I've been reading lately, I picked up Patton Oswalt's "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland". If you've ever seen an episode of King of Queens, watched Comedy Central, or have seen the films "Ratatouille", "Failure to Launch" or "Young Adult", then you know who Patton Oswalt is. A very funny comedian and, apparently, a pretty decent writer. I was expecting one of those pointless comedy books that, apparently, all stand-up comedians are required by law to...

"I can re-remember things to suit my regret." - Patton OswaltWhat a fantastic antidote to the bad taste that "Dad is Fat" left in my literary mouth. This is exactly what I was looking for from Patton Oswalt. This is another comedian who I'm a huge fan of, I've seen all his specials, all his movies and TV appearances...and this book was something entirely new and original. It wasn't just a retread of stand-up he's done before. Rather, it was a personal, touching, hilarious and heart-breaking jour...

I'm a fan, and have been ever since first hearing Patton Oswalt's intelligent comedy in a late nineties HBO comedy special. Now I'm a bigger fan.Zombie Spaceship Wasteland was enjoyable start to finish, but I particularly enjoyed "Punch Up Notes," "Wines by the Glass" and "Mary C. Runfola Explains Her Gifts." Oswalt displays such a wide range of literary gifts, it's possible to imagine him among the National Lampoon writers of the 1970s, sitting at the Algonquin Round Table or even included in s...

I finished this at the gym while lamenting that I was riding the stationary bike instead of running.Patton Oswalt's first book differs from most comedian books. For the most part, I've stopped buying comedian books because they are inevitably disappointing. If I like a comedian enough to follow their work to the point that I want to purchase their book, I am usually pretty familiar with their material. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that comedian books, especially initial comedian books,...

On the back of this book, there is a blurb from Dave Eggers. He says that this is the book that finally proves Patton Oswalt is a writer as well as a comedian. This will go down in history as one of the many, many things that Dave Eggers is wrong about.I am a lightweight comedy nerd, and I have nothing but respect for Patton Oswalt. He's definitely one of the best established comics working today. But stand-up comedy is a way, way different art form then writing. The idea behind this book was ap...

3.5Patton Oswald is a unique person. I enjoy his stand up and most of his acting work, he is a funny and gifted person. I jumped on this book as soon as I knew of its existence and for better or worse, the results were slightly mixed. Overall the book is weird and different, but there is patches where I was honestly thinking, no, I'm not reading that. The structure of the book is all over the place and if you know Patton, not physically of course, unless you're one of the super lucky people out

well, i'm done.the parts that were "supposed" to be funny? totally not funny.but the musing parts, the parts where he just rambles and talks about his life? LOVED.

If you are looking for a book with a clear, concise plot and manageable characters, you might want to look elsewhere. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, though an extremely clever, funny book, doesn't seem to have any clear plot line or story. Instead, it is a mishmash of different stories from the narrator's, stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt,life. Intermingled in these memoirs are random little bits of comedy routines that he has performed in the past, which also take on the persona of yet another life...

I relate to comedian Patton Oswalt to an almost scary degree. We’re about the same age, we both grew up as nerdy sci-fi/comic fans in areas where there was absolutely nothing cool going on, and we both seem to share a bleak outlook when it comes to people. I loved his routine Text from his My Weakness Is Strong comedy album so much that my wife got a specially made coffee cup for me with the words I HATE on one side and a cartoon of a giant robot destroying a city on the other.**(I looked for a

I still have a book to read by Tom Lennon and Ben Garant, but after that I may halt my purchases of books by comedians I enjoy. Patton Oswalt seemed like a safer bet compared to most comedians. He seemed so narrative in his stand up that I thought it might be safe to delve into his writing. Unlike Eugene Mirman, whose abstract style was wretched for long-form work, I thought Patton could hold it together.Well, yes and no. This book does indeed contain chapters that form a complete thought. The n...

This book is hilarious. And like the old saying, “It’s funny because it’s true” this is SO funny because it rings true. Patton Oswalt writes about growing up in the eighties, so there’s a connection – but specifically about growing up in the eighties, IN THE SUBURBS and being a “broke ass white kid”. He and his cheap beer guzzling friends listened to The Doors and Zeppelin and then REM and U2, and it’s just funny. This is written as a series of loosely connected vignettes, all funny, some also i...

A kind of yard sale of essays and reminiscences, most of which are entertaining. As opposed to witless drivel published by other comics (looking at you, Chelsea Handler, though it pains me), Oswalt isn't just making gags in this book. (Actually, the gag bits are the worst bits of the book.) Instead, he indulges in a fair bit of autobiography that creates a Portrait of the Stand-Up As a Young Man. He played D&D, was a science-fiction devotee, watched tons of bad movies and worked in suburban movi...

Patton Oswalt is one of my two favorite comedians (right up there with Louis CK) and one of the funniest creations of all time. His book...is not.Half memoir and half comedy skit chapters SOUNDS like a good time. But the comedy chapters feel like bits that couldn't make it into his stand-up act and the memoir parts focus mostly on his younger, pre-comedian D&D days. It's not terrible by any stretch. I just hoped for more behind-the-scenes as a struggling comedian and less disgruntled middle-scho...

Hmm, is it time to write a review of Patton Oswalt's book? I expected to put the book down upon finishing it and eagerly race to Goodreads to pen a five-star hosannah extolling the multifaceted brilliance of Mr. Oswalt's first official literary endeavor, but the reality is that I was slightly disappointed by the totality of the (occasionally masterful, always amusing) text. So this review is a little more muted in its enthusiasm than the one I hoped to write but you'd still be crazy not to read

This was a particularly fun read for me because I got to listen to it with my kidnapping victim! We laughed, we laughed some more, we "awww"ed a few times, and it gave us plenty of good quotes.Oswalt is great at reading his own stuff. His delivery is perfect, his voices are fun, and I could see his facial expressions in my mind because I watch too much of this guy and really need to stop being such a stalker (hahaha! Who am I even trying to kid? I will never stop)This one's light, humorous, snar...

I love Patton Oswalt, but this book is just a mess. Some parts of it are great and others are just borderline incoherent.