Polite, Silly, Pointing

Two weeks and one cold ago, I finished reading 'Moranthology' by Caitlin Moran and it's taken me until now to get posting about it.  It turns out sometimes you just have to take paracetamol, go to bed and stay warm to get over mild winter diseases rather than just keep going.  Who knew?!

'Moranthology' by
Caitlin Moran
(Ebury, 2012)

'Moranthology' is a collection of columns and interviews written by everywoman, journalist, author and reviewer Caitlin Moran.  They are as wild, hilarious and eclectic as I imagine the Times columnist to be, saying "boo!" to the Zeitgeist before scampering off with an informative snapshot taken at an interesting angle.  Moran's subjects are wide ranging and varied, including everything from couple's pet names to hair copyright, 'Sherlock' to Aberystwyth, 'Ghostbusters' to Lady Gaga.  But she also uses her unique life experience to offer readers a new perspective on socio-political issues too, such as drugs, poverty, tax evasion, library closures, benefit cuts and mental illness.  We laugh, but we also learn.

Overall, this is a great 'dip into' sort of book, perfect for a short daily commute (on public transport, obviously) or anyone who 'doesn't have time to read'.  I stopped buying newspapers regularly when a) they started costing £1 a day and b) I realised I didn't really have time to read them anyway, so being able to get a book like this collecting some brilliant opinion pieces offered me a middle way.  Publish one once a year and I'm sorted.

My one criticism, I suppose, would be that this book starts on such a high that it was only ever going to go down.  The opening piece is a (possibly imagined) conversation between Moran and her husband about their pet names for each other.  I won't say any more, but Prince Charming also read this piece and laughed as much as I did.  It's almost unfair on the other columns!

'Moranthology' is a cool, funny, interesting, thought-provoking, sassy, proud book and when I reached the end I felt like I'd just finished the most interesting conversation I'd ever had.  So here's everything crossed for a 'Moranthology II'.

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