How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran

There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain…

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby?

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be A Woman – following her from her terrible 13th birthday (‘I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me’) through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, TopShop, motherhood and beyond.

I started reading this book thinking I was going to hate it and that I actually wouldn't even be able to finish it, so I was very surprised when into the second chapter I couldn't stop myself from laughing out aloud on public transport!

I hadn't heard of Caitlin Moran before and I generally HATE British literature and movies, but I was so glad I bought this book.

From the very beginning you can tell she is an extremely humorous and sarcastic woman and as I previously mentioned her anecdotes had me trying to hide my giggles on public transport on the trip home from work.

But aside from her humour, she is actually very astute when it comes to modern society and how this affects women today. She has definitely made me rethink my idea on what a feminist is, and I am ashamed to say that before reading this book I was one of the uneducated people who thought this meant I had to burn my bra and hate men (something she thankfully explains isn't necessary these days.)

I think that any book that makes you look at a topic from a different perspective is well worth reading, and so on that basis I happily recommend this book. You may not become a feminist activist at the end, but you will get a good chuckle along the way.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

“Why didn't I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.” 

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

This book was so full of different emotions it was hard for me to keep track at times what I was supposed to be feeling.

Sometimes it made me feel confused and sometimes it took me a few sentences to realise who the letter I was reading was from, or to understand the Grandparents relationship. Sometimes it made me laugh when I read some of the crazy thoughts that came in to Oskar's mind and his interesting view of the world and how things (should) work. Sometimes it made me really sad to read some of the parts about 9/11, and then in the next sentence it would be back to quirky when telling me about some of the characters that Oskar was meeting in New York on his mission to find the lock that fit the key.

It isn't going to be a book that appeals to everyone as the writing style, although very clever, witty and engaging, could sometimes get a little confusing when trying to follow the thought process of Oskar and the Grandma, but once you get used to it you are taken on an almost magical (but realistic) journey that you can't help but want to tag along on. I can't wait to see the movie.

The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the Attic is a tour de force of economy and precision, a novel that tells the story of a group of young women brought over from Japan to San Francisco as ‘picture brides’ nearly a century ago.

In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces their extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war.

In language that has the force and the fury of poetry, Julie Otsuka has written a singularly spellbinding novel about the American dream.

This was a really good book. It was set out in a unique way using multiple voices at one to demonstrates how different each of their lives were back then.  

Although it was a quick read (I read it in 3 days on the commute to and from work) it gave an in-depth look about a time I didn't really know about.

Definitely worth a read.

Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time. 

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms. 

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

After reading all the mixed reviews, I couldn't resist reading this book to see which side of the fence I fell on - from what I've read you will either love or hate this book, with not many in between.

I have a very varied taste when it comes to book I like to read, and I have read a few 'romance' novels before. How does this one stack up against the others?

I didn't hate it, but I also don't think it is quite deserving of the cult-like following it seems to have developed. My feeling is that like with the Twilight series, there are women out there who may have a relationship that is lacking something, so look to books like this to escape to...?

Overall the story itself was quite well written and set out in a way that made me want to keep reading to find out what happened (and the first book left on such a crucial turning point that I am now struggling with the decision if I will pick up the second one to find out what happens!) The author does well to create pity in the main male character, when at first he seems like a very unlikeable person. There were times when he was so controlling and unrealistic with his expectations of Anastasia that it made me feel quite mad at both him AND her. For God's sake, what self respecting woman would want to be with a man that got 'palm-twitchingly' angry and threatened violence against you when you said you wanted to go visit your Mum for a few days, or go out to dinner with one of your friends! That's not a turn on, its called physical and emotional abuse. Yet on the other hand when the story develops further I was surprised when I actually started to feel some sympathy for him - I am assuming this will go into it in more detail in the next book... 

I did find parts of the  book a little far-fetched, but then again, isn't that part of reading, to escape reality for a little while where anything is possible? All I will say though, it that I don't think there are many people out there who lose their virginity in the way that Anastasia does...

The sex scenes weren't really as controversial as some people led me to believe - I don't partake in that kind of activity though so as to their accuracy I can't comment.

Overall not as bad a read as some people made it out to be, and I will probably pick up the next in the series after a short break with something else.