I had heard the hype about How To Be A Woman and had read various good things tweeted, I also follow Caitlyn Moran on Twitter and love what she has to say. So I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading the book. But once I spotted it on a friend's bookshelf I had to steal to read.
I think I was I initially a bit scared of the book - I regard myself as a bit of an independent woman and have many feminist ideologies but at the same time am sometimes quite insecure and I love shopping - so surely this book would laugh at me and my silly ideas?
It was so not what I expected - I didn't expect it to be an autobiography (I have no idea why not though!), but straight away I could identify with lots of her childhood experiences, despite having far less humble beginnings myself. There were lots of cultural references which I loved and I found myself remembering reading her column as a teenagers and watching her on TV - without making that connection 15-20 years later she is that same person who I love reading!
There are lots of really parts throughout this book, and yes there are some slightly ranty feminist bits which went over my head slightly, but on the whole I found myself agreeing with most things she had to say, whilst at the same time thinking what lucky lady she is in terms if falling into an amazing career!
3.5/5
So on this basis I decided to read Moranthology straight afterwards. It's a totally different book - this time she's gone for a collection of her columns about TV and celebrities. These are the types of columns I love to read anyway, particularly when they are written by someone witty and intelligent - and as I don't read her column regularly this book was a bit of a treat.
This book proves that Caitlyn Moran doesn't just have strong views on feminism, in fact she has hilarious views about many things, but at the same time writes beautifully about personal experiences, such as holidaying in Wales and growing up on benefits.
The book is quite bitty, but I didn't mind that, in fact I found that I was often checking forward to see if the next section was short enough to read quickly as I was so tired and really really did need to go to sleep! I also like this format as there were the odd columns which didn't really interest me so I could skip through them - sorry Caitlyn I can't read 10 pages about Doctor Who no matter how well it is written!
Overall a cracking read - and I will definitely be making more of an effort to read her columns more regularly.
4/5
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