Soundbites About How To Be a Woman

Title: How To Be a Woman
Author: Caitlin Moran
Narrator: Caitlin Moran
Rating (Story): ★★★★★
Rating (Narration):★★★★★

For this review I’m mostly going to refer you to my review of the book in which I mostly rave about how much I loved it. It’s funny, it’s relatable, and it makes some points I think are just spot on. It’s so wonderful, I was laughing out loud or nodding my head in agreement almost the entire time I listened. And having the author narrate only enhanced the experience. A lot of the book feels like a friend talking to you, confiding in you, and occasionally ranting. As such, hearing it in the author’s own voice just felt right. I will definitely be looking for more author-narrated books and highly recommending this one to everyone.

Amazon|Goodreads

The Ascent of Woman in the 324’s

Title: The Ascent of Woman
Author: Melanie Phillips
Source: library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: Initially the tone was too dry and the information was repetitive throughout, but the action picked up enough at the end to add some excitement to this thoughtful analysis of the women’s rights movement.

I picked up this somewhat obscure book (only obtained through my school library by special request) for the goodreads group I’ve been most involved with lately, The Perks of Being a Bookworm. Only after I started reading did I realize that it might be hard to find in the US because it’s actually a history of the women’s rights movement in Britain. Just learning what happened in this period of turmoil was interesting (and helped me get some references I completely missed the first time around during an audiobook “re-read” of Caitlan Moran’s How to be a Woman). The book’s real strength, however, was in the focus on issues that divided the women’s rights movement as some are still relevant today.

How To Be a Woman

Title: How To Be a Woman
Author: Caitlin Moran
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: Parts of this book were moving, while other chapters were so funny I nearly collapsed laughing, but the whole thing was thought-provoking and definitely worth a read.

The most important thing to know about this book is that it probably won’t be what you expect. I was surprised by things including: Caitlin Moran’s frank discussions of all aspects of being a woman; how she defined feminism; and how completely and totally hilarious some of this book was. All of her philosophical musings on feminism and being a woman are tied together very nicely by stories she shares of her life. These are both the funniest bits and the thing that imposes chronological order on what would otherwise be a series of distinct essays. For a good idea of the topics and the tone of the book, I’d recommend the goodreads summary.