Review: Moranthology, Caitlin Moran

Possibly the only drawback about the bestselling How To Be A Woman was that its author, Caitlin Moran, was limited to pretty much one subject: being a woman.

MORANTHOLOGY is proof that Caitlin can actually be ‘quite chatty’ about many other things, including cultural, social and political issues which are usually the province of learned professors, or hot-shot wonks – and not a woman who once, as an experiment, put a wasp in a jar, and got it stoned.

These other subjects include:

Caffeine | Ghostbusters | Being Poor | Twitter | Caravans | Obama | Wales | Marijuana Addiction |Paul McCartney | The Welfare State | Sherlock | David Cameron Looking Like Ham | Amy Winehouse | Elizabeth Taylor’s Eyes | Michael Jackson’s Funeral | ‘The Big Society’ | Big Hair | Nutter-letters | Failed Nicknames | Wolverhampton | Squirrels’ Testicles | Sexy Tax | Binge-drinking | Chivalry | Rihanna’s Cardigan | Boris Johnson – Albino Shag-hound | Party Bags | Hot People| Transsexuals | The Gay Moon Landings | My Own, Untimely Death

Review: A bit of a break from fiction for me here but having loved Caitlin Moran's first book 'How to be a Woman' (I read that in a day) I was eager to get my hands on a copy of her next book. I was delighted to find that this book is written with exactly the same voice as her previous novel, a voice which completely permeates everything around you. So, as before, it felt like she was reading her own words to me and only me. I think that it is one of the reasons I can get through her work so quickly, it feels like listening to someone over a glass of wine or two and discussing what is going on in the world and what to do about it.

Because this book is a collection of columns rather than chapters as such, it had a slightly different feel from the last book, but meant that this is the perfect book to read on a commute or when you don't have much time to read a great big chunk of book at a time. It also means that the reader can pick and choose what they want to read about that day. I admit that there were some things that she wrote about in this book which don't interest me at all. I am guilty of skipping through the sections about Dr Who as I am simply not a fan of that show, but if you are-you will love her witty take on the hit BBC series!

This book had a great balance of her own personal stories, some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments with her husband and her chatting in bed, with her opinions on current issues, as well as some of her interviews and encounters with other celebrities or writers. Because of this beautiful balance, there really is something in there for everyone, male or female. Whilst I think that her first book had a very specifically female target audience, this collection of columns could be picked up and enjoyed by anyone. It really was a welcome break from fiction for a bit, and has all the comedy, thought provoking moments, and heart warming tales as any novel I have read recently. I thoroughly recommend you let this woman's voice into your heads the same way that I did!