Vote Moran!

I had a lovely surprise recently - I won a competition I'd forgotten I'd entered!  This is how, thanks to Ebury Publishing, I ended up with a signed copy of Caitlin Moran's latest book, 'Moranifesto'.  And because it was something I really wanted to read, I'm afraid I went off list again...

'Moranifesto' by Caitlin Moran
(Ebury Press, 2016)

In 'Moranifesto', Ms Moran eases to the fore the more political aspects of her writing.  This is a woman who manages to cover both 'parties' (Noun: Social gatherings or celebrations, often involving food, music and copious amounts of gin) and 'parties' (Noun: Collections of people with shared political ideologies and aims, usually to get elected and/or bring down the PM/tease Jeremy Corbyn).  As a result, this book covers everything from hipsters, the uncooperative nature of printers, fame, TV, the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee to feminism, tax, social mobility, FGM, the ruling elite, equality, wind turbines and more.  It is indeed as wide, varied and potentially powerful as a manifesto, full of energy and ideas.  If only manifestos were this grounded and readable.

There are three things I want to get out of the way first:

1. This book is too expensive.  I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Moran's previous collections and was thrilled when I found that another was out, but going into the bookshop and seeing a price tag of £20 made me baulk.  If I hadn't been given a copy, this review wouldn't have appeared until after the paperback was published or I'd got a copy from the library.
2. This book is too long.  While I enjoyed so much of this book and respect that there was a delicate balance going on, where the editors were trying to ease fans of the funny, everyday, social observation pieces into the tougher, witty, political and polemical parts, I do feel some sections didn't really work.  And. weirdly, although they only happened four years ago, the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics already feel like ancient history, unlike the contemporary commentary offered by most of the articles.
3. The typos were distracting.  Publishers: If you can't afford proofreaders, there are plenty of people like me out there who would quite happily read your forthcoming books and point out any errors.  And I bet a lot would do it in exchange for free books.  It's the barter economy.  (Honest.  I'm not really just looking for a new way to get free books.)

So, now I've got that off my chest, I can go back to waving a banner in support of Moran.  I really liked 'Moranifesto'.  It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me cheer.  It drew a link between the ordinary and the powerful that needs to be reasserted so that ordinary people can re-engage with politics in a meaningful way.  At its best, this is a book of thoughts and ideas representative of a wider discourse that is happening in homes, pubs, staff rooms, cars, streets all over the UK.  It's echos are even being heard on radio and TV.

The news can often make it seem like we're small and insignificant, swept up on a tsunami of decision making designed to fuel a better future for other people, while drowning out all opportunity and hope for us and the people we love.  It's books like this one that make you realise that you're not alone or imagining it, that other people, with voices in the media, are also going "WTF?"

So, while I would've liked this book to be a bit braver and unembarrassed by being political, I do feel it's another step in a march towards a greater debate.  It's books like 'Moranifesto' which will inspire and motivate the politically alienated and apathetic in a way carefully rehearsed, PR-approved speeches and dense, complicated manifestos never will.  Whether you agree with it or not, it will get you thinking and, hopefully, talking.

Look!  It really is a signed copy!

What would I like Moran to do next?  I'm tempted to say "Deeds not words", but that's easier said than done, isn't it?  It's one thing to stick your head above the parapet and say things aren't right, but quite another to come up with practical ways to change things.  But getting people talking is a start.  And giving me a copy of the book definitely got me talking.  On top of that, I'll share and debate this book with other people too.  I've heard that's how revolutions happen.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Ross Poldark is getting on in revolutionary France?  Time to get back to 'The Black Moon'...

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'Moranthology' by Caitlin Moran - Starts with one of the funniest things I've ever read.
'How to be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran - Common sense feminism for the everyday.

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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Shop 'til you Drop

I'm afraid I've done it again. I borrowed a book from the library to see if it sounded interesting and ended up reading it all the way through instead of something from my list. I'm sorry.

On the plus side, it was a very interesting book.  I've just finished reading 'Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System', the first book by Telegraph journalist Harry Wallop.

Mr Wallop has noticed, like many, that the old definitions of class don't work in the UK any more. The decline of manufacturing and the growth of white collar industries means what we would think of as working class has rapidly shrunk, while the stereotypical layabout lords and ladies have morphed into farm shop managers and tourist attraction owners. Over the past 60 years, disposable income has increased and more and more people have started to consider themselves 'middle class'. Effectively all three labels have been rendered completely meaningless.

Wallop, however, has identified a number of new, more relevant classes.  Whereas the old system was based factors people often have little control over, such as where you went to school, who your family were and how you spoke , Wallop suggests that the biggest identifier of class today is what we buy and where we shop.

In the introduction to 'Consumed', he identifies several new classes; the Portland Privateers, the Wood Burning Stovers, the Hyphen-Leighs, the Sun Skittlers, Middleton Classes and the Asda Mums. Although his list feels incomplete, enough of what he said later in the book rang true to make me think he's actually onto something. And, no, I'm not going to admit which category I fall into, although his analysis was scarily accurate at times!

When someone writes a book on class, it's always a worry that it can become disdainful or judgemental about certain socio-cultural books. Although 'Consumed' did feel a bit so to start off with, possibly because the author comes straight out with his 'upper class' family history, it didn't really last long and by the end the book was at worst tongue in cheek and at best simply fascinating.

In reality, this is a book about marketing and segmentation.  It's a bit chicken and egg - are people slotting into particular consumer groups because of what they're sold or are they sold it because they're in a particular group?  I suppose we'll never know, but it was interesting to read about how shops decide where to open and what ranges to offer. Although I'd noticed that not every supermarket stocks the same lines, I had no idea that some places will never see certain shops because of the socio-cultural groups who live there. I suppose it makes good business sense, but it's still a little scary.

Is class based on shopping better than the old system? On the whole, I think it probably is a step in the right direction. So long as no one starts preventing people from buying items aimed at other 'classes'. But it would be nice to see Wallop's ideas developed further. For example, where does borrowing books from the library fit?

Overall, this is a very interesting, well written book. The author does a great job of balancing readability with raw data, but it does give the book the feel of an extended comment article.  Then again, Wallop is only mooting an idea and doesn't claim to be an anthropologist. I would be very interested to see these ideas picked up and analysed further by academia.  But, in the meantime, I think it's going to be a while before I stop thinking of people in terms of Portland Privateers, Wood Burning Stovers, Hyphen-Leighs, Sun Skittlers, Middleton Classes and Asda Mums!

I look forward to your next book, Mr Wallop. I might even buy that one!

Now, back to Georgette Heyer.