On How To Be A Woman

I picked up Caitlin's book without the faintest idea of what it was about.  Sure the title is quite descriptive, I mean How To Be A Woman should be fairly self explanatory.  I think I was expecting some sort of autobiography from a Comedienne.  I wasn't really certain who Caitlin Moran was.  Did I see her once on the Jonathan Ross show?  I noted his comments printed on the cover, as well as Nigella's of course (anyone who has been reading my blog on cook books will appreciate why Nigella's commendation would be enough for me to consider a book worthwhile reading).

You know a book is popular when you borrow it from the library and there are two copies sitting side by side on the shelf.  I suppose i should say "You know a book was popular..." because in truth if the book was still popular it would be like when I'm checking the availability of Jilly Cooper's Riders (currently unavailable and not due back until April 14th... 2015!!).  Published in 2011, Moran's book was shortlisted for the Galaxy National Book Awards... and it won.

Caitlin Moran is very funny.  I didn't really know who she was before I started reading (and if David hadn't googled her I wouldn't know much about her at all), but I certainly wasn't aware of how funny she could be as I read her prologue.  Yes, the references to the dog licking it's vagina were humorous, but, you know, it's not really classy and it doesn't make me laugh out loud.  I'm not against crass humour per se, but I was worried I was going to be subjected to 300+ pages of it and I was kind of hoping for a bit more.  Chapter 1 (I Start Bleeding) had me giggling constantly, so I knew that this was just Caitlin warming up, and I figure that as I read further (and now I actually want to read further) I will be laughing out loud by the time I'm halfway through.

I start to read Chapter 2 (I Become Furry) and this time I'm completely thrown back to my own childhood.  I remember when my mother declared to the family, after undressing hurriedly after a family workday where we ended up covered in dust and taking my turn in the shower, that I was growing a "puscheligen schwanz" (a furry tail).  The way my father and mother snickered indicated to me that they were not referring to the hair growing over my bottom.  I remember being somewhat mortified by all this, but aware somehow that to show this would be the wrong thing to do.  Like Caitlin I went for the nonchalant approach, and failed terribly, of course.  

And now I'm hooked.

The blurb on the back describes this book as a rewrite of The Female Eunuch... from a  bar stool.  I think I'm getting this.  This is feminism... this is also humour.  I like Caitlin's style combining the two.  I like that fact that Caitlin is brave enough to show the world that the two can be combined.  I have for a long time given up on being a sour faced Gay Rights Activist - I refuse to stop being a happy homosexual just to make the establishment feel better about itself.  I'm very happy to be reading Caitlin's work and very very happy indeed that it is popular.

Days Left:    361

Books Left:  100