Reviews: Moranifesto (7)

This is a book that is easy to dip into as it is a series of essays on a huge variety of topics. Many are entertaining and/or serious but they are worth a look. Caitlin Moran can be controversial (the point really) but I really enjoyed reading these with some laugh-out-loud moments. She covers a lot from feminist issues to other ways to change the world for the better: some are deeply personal, others less so. Worth a look and good for dipping into for a change from fiction reading (my main love).

I remember the first time I read "How to be a woman" and how I started to listen to my own voice for the very first time. Since then, i have grown older, read all of Moran´s books and become, hopefully, wiser. i love when she writes about politics - passionate, yet humble, not ashamed of her background (which makes me listen even more intently) yet perfectly aware she has moved classes since then. Her articles about "fashion", periods, royal family, olympics are hilarious as always. Whether you are a fan or have never picked up her book, this is a good place to start.
The length of the articles makes it ideal commute or "pick up every once in a while" book.

This is an acute, acerbic, intelligent, funny and very diverse collection, covering everything from the serious to the not so serious to the completely bonkers ('Bacon is the dark matter that holds together the universe').
Moran can reign in the humour when necessary though, and tackles very serious issues such as rape and female genital mutilation with an intelligence and compassion which may possibly even open your mind and make you think a little differently about the world.
I loved this book, it's very addictive reading and will have you alternately snorting with laughter or having your thoughts well and truly provoked.

This is inherently a Caitlin Moran book. A collection of her insightful political columns over the last decade, it's a lunatic compilation of wine fueled ranting. But in a good way.
If your favourite revolutionary tactic is sitting outside a coffee shop in the afternoon of a sunny day, putting the world to rights with your best friend - this is the book for you.

This collection is a must if you enjoyed Moran's other bestsellers such as How To Be A Woman and Moranthology. This contains all the best bits from her newspaper column, varying in subject matter from the refugee crisis to the Queen's Jubilee to Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. An absolute joy to read. I absolutely loved How To Be A Woman and this collection certainly holds its own! I laughed my way through the humour articles and thought long and hard after reading more political side of the book. I think it takes a great writer to keep a reader engaged with such a clunky format, skipping from one topic to the next, but Moran does it brilliantly and I look forward to reading whatever she produces next!

I agreed with so much that Caitlin Moran wrote – she can certainly rant with the best of people. Her rants were my rants – but much better formulated. I kept thinking that I want to write like Caitlin Moran when I grow up – but that is not about to happen, since I am already thirteen years her senior.
Like her, I loved “Cucumber” and Russel T Davies, the London Olympics, especially the opening ceremony (“then it started – started with that astonishing, febrile, kinetic, cloud-burst Opening Ceremony, which kind of … reinvented Britain”) and adore David Bowie. David Bowie made his presence felt throughout the book. He symbolised everything positive in the world today, a beacon of hope for all who feel in any way marginalised: “When in doubt, listen to David Bowie. In 1968, Bowie was a gay, ginger, bonk-eyed, snaggle-toothed freak walking around south London in a dress, being shouted at by thugs. Four years later, he was still exactly that – but everyone else wanted to be like him”. I almost burst into tears when one of her reasons “why the future will be better that the past” was “2) David Bowie might play live again”.
Her chapter entitled “All the Lists of my Life” was gold-dust. I particularly liked “Things Cookery Books Never Tell You”, and had to read them out to my husband, who has until recently always believed in the timings given by recipes – despite all evidence to the contrary.
Caitlin Moran seems to deal with every issue that is important to being an intelligent, caring human in today’s world: feminism (“If there’s something which is making life difficult for women, then this is something that is, most assuredly, making it difficult for everyone else in the world, too”); politics (“Educating yourself into being the third most glorious thing on Earth, after ‘mid-September sunshine’ and ‘David Bowie’: an informed and motivated voter”); capitalism, socialism and the welfare state; rules for campaigning for a better world (“All the answers will never come in one person. The future is a communal effort – like a patchwork quilt”); the importance of idealism and dreams (“if we are too afraid to state our dreams – to even begin to sketch out possible futures – then we have begun to disinvent the greatest facility humans have: to invent better”); TV (“I don’t think I can see any more sex-workers being beaten, tortured or murdered. … As a female viewer, it’s doing my head in”) and films; growing old (“I love getting older. You might lose skin elasticity, but you also lose the amount of f***s you give. It’s awesome”); and the incomparable joy of reading (“Being a reader. The unseen, life-changing duet you sing with anyone who’s ever written a book”).
There are so many apposite quotes. I had to send my sister the one on “Frozen”: “Boys may come and boys may go, Frozen told its millions of young, female fans, but your brilliant, idiot, annoying, amazing sister – she’s there for life”.
While you may not agree with everything that Moran writes, you are compelled to at least give her ideas serious consideration. She states “even though I have written a manifesto … what I’ve tried to do here is … start a conversation, instead”. The world will certainly be a better place if people join with her in this conversation. Thank you, Caitlin Moran, for this invitation to communicate.
PS: any *** are down to me.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Such a good book about all the world problems. A critical view with interesting opinions.
You can expect to learn a lot about British culture and history.