How to be a woman

August's book was How to be a woman by Caitlin Moran. I think it's fair to say that a number of the group had reservations about reading this book, as they didn't consider themselves to be feminists. As the book was my choice I was more than a little nervous about what everyone would make of it!

We met at Belgo in Bromley, where the food was tasty and the service slow, but it suited us fine and we had plenty of time to discuss the book as well as all the other important things going on right now! In fact we were the last to leave, which I think riled the staff slightly.

I'm happy to say that everyone enjoyed reading the book and thought there were some great funny moments. We could all relate to at least some of the incidents she refers to in the book, as we are all of a similar age to Moran, although we come from a range of different backgrounds. Because the book loosely follows her through her life, some of us were left wanting to know more about the whys and wherefores of the various situations she presents, and what became of some of the people involved. But the book isn't really about that, so we are left to wonder!

The great thing about it for me was that it encouraged all of us to see ourselves as feminists, whether or not we had done before we read the book and made it abundantly clear that feminism is not about burning bras or hating men.

I and others felt the book tailed off a bit towards the end, almost as if she had run out of enthusiasm for it and I wasn't the only one to find the section on abortion hard going.

I would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Here is what goodreads has to say about it.