I'm not really into zombie stuff, so it takes a lot to impress me in that vein. I'm really reading it for a book club that I direct at my university. Maybe I'm not far enough into it yet and it just has yet to really grip me. Anyway I'm glad you liked it so much! You're right about the unique appeal of zombies; I think it's interesting to see how engrossed people get in zombie stories. I'm actually attending a lecture soon all about why our culture is so obsessed with them, as well as vampires, and the post-apocalyptic in modern storytelling.
That sounds really interesting! I'd love to go to something like that. I think zombies fall more into the realm of disasters or pandemics and stuff like that. Like, stuff about zombies seems to be more focused on the survivors and how they deal with the collapse of society rather than the ~mindset of the zombie.