Book-review post!
Little bit of feminism, plus some fairytale retellings while we’re at it.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett & Holly Baxter – The Vagenda: A Zero Tolerance Guide to the Media
Focuses on women’s magazines and the screwed-up messages within. There is nothing wildly illuminating in here – women’s magazines are, y’know, evil – but the analysis is good and the history of particular publications is interesting. Instead of dismissing women’s magazines, it dissects them and explores the tensions within, the yay-women! combined with headwrecking stuff about how women should/do behave or look or think. It also explores why women – even those who identify as feminists – read these magazines, and has some nice bits of snark about some of the typical advice from these publications. Not the most groundbreaking feminist work ever, but then again, it’s not trying to be.
Mara Altman – Bearded Lady
Extended essay on ladies and body hair, part personal memoir and part social history. Interesting read but ends a little too suddenly.
Tim Manley – Alice in Tumblr-land and Other Fairy Tales for a New Generation
These ‘fairytales for 20somethings’ collected in book form are delightful – short and illustrated little fables for the digital age, with references to Tumblr and Instagram and Facebook aplenty, and lots on dating and body image and gender and identity. A quick but enjoyable read.
Caitlin Moran – How To Build A Girl
Like many modern young women I have the requisite amount of adoration for Caitlin Moran, whose first grown-up novel doesn’t have nearly as much masturbation and sex as some reviews would have you believe. You have been duly warned. It is similar in tone and theme to How To Be A Woman, but still very much a novel, a cohesive whole about a teenage girl from a welfare background who becomes a music journalist. There are some painfully relatable bits about sex and relationships (and also some very funny parts), but the real strength of this is in the depiction of being dependent on benefits and how difficult it is to do anything or get anywhere from that (Johanna, the heroine, is trying to familiarise herself with modern music but can only borrow a certain number of albums from the local library; travelling places requires careful consideration because of the cost, etc). It’s funny and sharp and I want to read more.
