Book Review: Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul

I think every girl who grew up in the 90s had at least one Chicken Soup for the X Soul book (boys may have read them too, but I specifically remember all the girls in my class having a copy). For those who missed out on the trend, the Chicken Soup books were a collection of feel good stories meant to make you feel better about life. And there was one for everybody. Teenagers, dog lovers, baseball fans, coffee lovers, and too many more to list. Author Mandy Osipenko has taken this concept, and gathered stories from geeks and put them in a collection  titled Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul.

Mandy got the idea for the book from a thread by the same name on the Geek and Sundry forums (Murloc Soup is an item in World of Warcraft). And like the Chicken Soup books I remember from middle school days, Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul is full of stories from real geeks sharing how freaking awesome it is to be a geek.

Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul broken into sections that surround a theme of geekdom. There is an introduction at the beginning of each section from Mandy herself. One section that I particularly enjoyed reading was the first one, “The Con Game.” While I’ve been to several conventions, they aren’t a favorite of mine. I enjoy gaming conventions like Gen Con or the Louisville Arcade Expo where there are hands-on activities, but general fan conventions are really more of Claire’s thing. So I enjoyed reading this section because it gave me more of an insight as to why people love cons.

Overall Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul is a fun little pick-me-up. Some of the sections are very short, including only a piece from Mandy herself. “Being a Geek Girl” and “Not Geeky Enough” are two sections that are just essays from Mandy talking about her experiences. On the other hand some of the sections have several stories. “Transitions into Geekdom” and “Geek Advice” have several stories each. I’m assuming because more people have stories to share in this regard.

I hope that as Murloc Soup for the Geek Soul makes its rounds more people want to tell their stories. I’d love to see a second edition of the book, with more sections and more stories in those sections. There are so many of us out in the geek world with stories that we think are ordinary, but can make someone else realize “they’re not the only one.” As it is, for the $0.99 price point for the eBook it’s a fun, short (72 pages) read.

You can pick up your own copy on Lulu.