Review: Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

Pop culture has never been a strong suit for me so perhaps it isn't surprising that I hadn't heard of British columnist Caitlin Moran aside from as the author of the successful How to Be a Woman.  I haven't read her first, much-lauded collection but was still interested in reading this second collection of her previously published columns covering a wide variety of topics from pop culture to current events to politics.  Tying each of the columns together, Moran has added brief introductory blurbs before each of them ranging from personal tidbits about herself and her relationship with her husband to reactions to the pieces to why she's chosen and arranged the pieces the way she has.

Moran is opinionated, funny, and snarky and her views are on full display in these pieces.  There are interviews with famous musicians, her take on current television shows, her obsession with certain stars and her disinterest in others, columns on her own childhood growing up poor and on her own children, social ills, and so much more.  While even I, under my pop culture free rock, recognize some of what she writes about, there are at least an equal number of topics with which I am unfamiliar and that certainly made the reading about Moran's take on those topics less interesting than I imagine it is when you are au fait with the topics.  The writing itself is generally good even though the essays themselves are a tad patchy in terms of depth, humor, and interest.  UK pop culture fans will probably delight in the entire collection and others can appreciate the occasional earned laughs.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book for review.