I first encountered Caitlin Moran when her
book How to be a Woman came into the
bookstore at which I was currently working. I find myself amazed time and time
again at that which people are willing to share, and that book was no exception
to open sharing. The book started me on a “must read more of what she wrote”
and “oooh she’s on Twitter must follow” course. I find Caitlin Moran to be a
lot of what the modern feminist should be. I love that she is a feminist who
has chosen marriage and children – after all feminism is all about doing what
you chose to do, not what other chose as the right course/option for you. Not
to forget her wicked sense of humour and general all round niceness.
That niceness and great sense of humour are
all equally evident in Moranthology. If I remember correctly it is the second
essay/column in the collection that discusses her plight in trying to find her
voice as a writer and what/how she should act and write. She discusses how she
started with what she thought would work; emulating the work she enjoyed
reading. Only to find that she really isn’t that nasty, snarky person. Sadly,
she realised it too late to stop herself from writing something so mean that
she now only remembers it with mortification. At which point she then proceeds
to apologise profusely to not only the lead singer of the band she reviewed,
but also to his mum – see she’s a really nice person.
Moranthology is a collection of the
various columns that Moran has written for The
Times, including the Celebrity Watch ones.
It is in those Celebrity Watch pieces
that her sense of humour really shines, along with her fangirl flag. She pushes
for us to campaign for Ghostbusters to
be known as the greatest movie of all time, and not Star Wars. Squees when getting to meet the stars, the writers,
producers, and go on set – the TARDIS, the TARDIS!! – – the lucky, lucky fish -
for not only Dr Who, but also Sherlock. Her palatable excitement at getting to meet
Lady Gaga, Kylie, Paul McCartney, and all the other famous folks she meets,
just further highlights that yes, when a normal person meets someone famous
it’s like you just can’t stop saying stupid things.
At this point you’re probably going “Yes,
yes funny we get that, but is it all just about tv shows and meeting famous
people?” It’s not, don’t worry. She has many pieces on the more serious things
in life, some are done with humour and others are just so well handled that
they without fail strike just the right chords. She openly and matter-of-factly
talks about her family and how they used grants, and what they meant for them.
How taking away that support would change a lot of lives, and most definitely
not for the better. She also talks about a friend of hers who has some psychological
issues, and needs his grant to keep living alone, so that he won’t think that
the voices he hears are coming from those he knows. She addresses library
closures, why they’re a bad idea and what the library meant to her growing up. One
of my favourites of the more serious topics is her discussion on the argument
that pregnancy is a gift, and thus you shouldn’t abort. Moran takes the “it’s a
gift” analogy and tears it apart for the nonsense that it is. She does tackle
the miniskirt and burqas with more humour. I’m paraphrasing, but her take is
that it’s the men who have an issue with it, then they should wear it!
Not only is this book a great holiday read,
it’s just a great all round read. It’s for the person looking for something
light, with just the right dash of heavy in it. I say this because Caitlin
Moran has the gift of doing with nonfiction what great fiction does; get you
talking and interrogating the views you hold.
This review first appeared here.
