Moranthology [Hardcover]

First the good news. Caitlin Moran's journalism has for some time been largely hidden from view unless you buy The Times. Now here are many of her articles available to us all - really, a lot of them - it's a good-sized book. And if you like her writing, you'll like this. She is genuinely funny and seldom dull.

I bought How To Be a Woman, but I didn't buy this. I borrowed it from the library. For two reasons.

1. She is, theoretically at least, passionately pro-libraries so I imagine she should be all in favour of that.
2. I read a quote from her that every time she sees someone with a copy of her book, she says "Kerching" under her breath. And that's not very nice, is it?

So this brings me to the bad news. Underneath all the brilliance and the determination to entertain, I sense something rather like contempt for her readership, who after all provide her with a huge income. When I saw her speak last year she was hung over. All those people had paid to see her and she couldn't stay sober the night before. There's also something uncomfortable for me about the way she writes about her children - about her attitude to her husband - about her massive self-belief (please don't write about world economics again, Caitlin. You have no understanding of economics. It makes you look stupid as well as arrogant and I'm sure you don't want that).

Also, the later articles are not as well-written as the earlier ones. Churning out all those words every week seems to be taking its toll and it's clear she's ready to move on from journalism.

Therefore, three stars. Read the book fast, revel in her facility with language, enjoy her interviews with the cream of the entertainment world. Just don't look too deep beneath the surface, because you might not like what you find.

Oh, Ms Moran. I am sad and disappointed by this book. I had waited for it like a child waits for Christmas, and read it the first day it downloaded itself onto my Kindle.

If I hadn't read "How to be a Woman" this would have been a very, very funny book. But because it's a collection of articles, it is somehow...not very satisfying in book format. One can, at times, almost sense the desperation of the author, up against her deadline, typing away furiously in order to fill up that 600 word count with Sherlock fangirl love before the editor explodes. If this had been advertised properly as a selection of the Times columns, it would have been a very good book indeed. However, it was publicised as "all the stuff that didn't fit into "How to be a Woman"". And it's not, really. There is a great deal of churnalism. We've heard about the going clubbing with Lady Gaga. We know your views on burqas and the test for sexism (is it polite? Are the men doing it?) We remember you talking about being horrifically late to interview the PM.

Don't misunderstand. This is not a bad book. I would be being very, very unfair indeed if I were to suggest that this isn't enjoyable. There are some lovely purple patches about Downton Abbey, the beauty of Wales and the disconcerting resemblance of David Cameron to a gammon (yup, that hits the nail on the head. Or the clove into the gammon). The elogy on Ghostbusters and the versatility of its one liners was classic Moran: "Back off, man - I'm a scientist" is the one I find myself using the most often; most recently when the logic in opening a bottle of warm rose at 3am was brought into question". The piece on libraries is one of the most beautiful things written in the English language, and made me cry, a little bit. Ditto the pieces on the Olympics, which are so very well observed: "Even if Sebastian [Coe] does completely balls it up, there's no getting away from the fact that, for a month, the Canadian Men's Swimming Team are going to be on the Central Line, a little bit lost and a whole lot buff, letting me stare at them for free. Bring the honey to the MILFs, IOC". That one had me laughing so hard on my morning commute that I think my Tube carriage wanted me sectioned - or better still, shot at point blank - at the next station. But there aren't enough of those moments to make a book. The purple patches fade to lilac as they're stretched out with column-filling tumbleweedy stuff about the hotness of Benedict Cumberbatch, and the attempt to weave in the "in bed with Pete" conversations doth not a structure make.

This suffers from second book syndrome, in my view. Her first adult book was so great, so glorious, that I have made a present of it to EVERYONE I know, man, woman and awkward teenage girl alike. (I haven't given "How to be a Woman" to teenage boys. They have to figure that stuff out first, else they'll be way too successful in life.) I can't do that with Moranthology. It was funny in places, sad in others, wry in many - but it didn't have that awesome newness of perspective and turns of phrase that you will end up quoting from memory even whilst wrecked in a bar on a Saturday night.

After her tremendously successful book How To Be a Woman, Caitlin Moran is back with a collection of columns she's written for The Times Magazine in her appropriately named anthology Moranthology.
Wading through a mishmash of different topics, mostly in the realms of popular culture, she also broaches more serious topics, such as living on benefits, or, my personal favorites, allows up-close-and-personal insights into her life, including how she got her trademark grey hair strand. Topics may vary, some columns being more poignant than others, ranging from grave to funny, and always with a tendency of bordering on the vulgar, Moran's witty and eloquent writing style is definitely the red thread in this book.
Little did I know this is a collection of older work and the only new additions are the short introductions to each column. Of course this presented the perfect opportunity to simply get to know her work better. Unfortunately though this book shares the fate of many anthologies - the likelihood that you will end up loving a handful of articles while the rest is just average padding between the covers, a padding that, in my case, consisted of an abundance of pieces about British TV series.
Seeing how my expectations were high after her previous book, this collection was admittedly a bit of a let-down for me. However, this is simply a matter of personal preferences and should not discourage anyone giving this book a try.
In short: A mildly entertaining anthology in typical Moran-style!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Random House. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.