I feel as if I should open this post with a caveat, as a
sort of health warning for anyone who may feel an inexplicable urge to treat my
opinion as something worth paying attention to.
If you remember, in July 2010, The
Times, Caitlin Moran’s employer, decided to erect a paywall to prevent
non-subscribers (such as me) from accessing its online coverage. I was outraged and swore an oath of utmost
fearsomeness that I would never, ever be prepared to pay to read a newspaper
online and that henceforth The Times would
be a stranger to me (unless I found a copy on the Tube or in the loo at work).
Well, that lasted all of a fortnight or so before I
grumbling input my debit card details and signed up for an online
subscription. It wasn’t for the news;
after all I can get that anywhere. No,
it was for the columnists and the features and, if I’m being totally honest,
for Simon Barnes and Caitlin Moran. Put
simply, I valued the enjoyment I get from reading their pieces enough to plonk
down cash on a regular basis.
And so, it will come as no surprise that I thoroughly
enjoyed Moranthology which, as its
name suggests is a collection of some of her Times columns. In fact, I
enjoyed it more than I expected as I would have already read most of the pieces
when they first appeared in the paper.
The collection is a positive cornucopia of Moran’s thoughts
on subjects as diverse as Sherlock, Dr Who, Downton Abbey, Gay Moon Landings, austerity,
libraries, Aberystwyth, Paul McCartney, Boris Johnson, trolling, the Eurozone
crisis, drug abuse, the Royal Wedding and Pollock.
My favourite Moran columns tend to be those that deal with
popular culture where she takes a subject and then riffs on it in a deceptively
effortless and hilarious fashion. I’m
also a big fan of her imagined late night conversations with her long-suffering
husband, rock critic Peter Paphides (himself a highly talented journalist).
Indeed, if that was her limit, that would be sufficient but,
in addition she is an excellent interviewer as shown in this collection in
pieces about Keith Richards and a manically wonderful trip to a sex club with
Lady Gaga. These pieces are almost worth
the price of the book on their own.
And there’s yet more.
Over the years, Ms Moran has become more confident and vocal about
speaking out on social issues, often linking them back to her own childhood in
the West Midlands. In this book, there
are serious pieces on benefits cuts, the closure of libraries and the nature of
poverty. I can’t say that I always agree
with her views but they are expressed here clearly, cogently and persuasively.
I believe that good humorous writing comes across as apparently
effortless but needs huge skill from the author and I’d hold Ms Moran’s serious
pieces up as evidence of her talent. As
well as the columns I’ve mentioned above, her obituaries of Elizabeth Taylor
and Amy Winehouse are poignant and deeply moving and demonstrate real quality.
Although I’m not entirely sure that Caitlin Moran would approve
of me, I’m a huge fan as you may have guessed by now. In summary, she’s funny, bright and a deceptively
serious social critic and I can do no better than to urge you to go out and buy
this book (or borrow it from the library!).
You really won’t regret it.
1 comment:
I haven't read this one yet, but I'm super excited about her forthcoming book, How To Build a Girl, that I just got in the mail today. Looking forward now to both books.
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