Hopscotch & Handbags: The Truth about Being a Girl

by Lucy Mangan

Just what does it mean to be a girl? Why is it not like being a boy? And why is that a good thing? Guardian columnist Lucy Mangan lifts the lid on the truth about being female. From your place within the family ('It's a girl! What a pity!') through the intricacies of what not to wear and who not to talk to, everything you need to know about losing your virginity, how to get along with your mother and get ahead in the workplace, this is a full and frank account of how it really is different for girls. Full of bittersweet memories and the sharpest observations, HOPSCOTCH & HANDBAGS may not be better than sex or shoes, but it is less messy and goes with everything.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Humor, Chick Lit

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 23, 2007

About the author

Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for The Guardian. Her writing style is both feminist and humorous.

Mangan grew up in Catford, south east London, but both her parents were originally from Lancashire. She studied English at Cambridge University and trained to be a solicitor. After qualifying as a solicitor, she began to work instead in a bookshop and then, in 2003, found a work experience placement at The Guardian.

She continues to work at The Guardian writing a regular column and TV reviews plus occasional features. Her book My Family and other Disasters (2009) is a collection of her newspaper columns. She has also written books about her childhood and her wedding.

Mangan also has a regular column for Stylist magazine and has been a judge for the Booktrust Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

Reviews

[Mwanabibi Sikamo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious account of what its like to be a girl. This book had me laughing out loud. It captures life as a girl from primary school through to adulthood brilliantly. I would recommend it to any girl who has had an obbsession with her pencil case and its contents and then gone on to have excrutiatingly annoying conversations with men about the importance of sorting the washing into darks, medium and whites (somehow we women just know which pile to put the grey clothes in.....its obvious isnt it?)

[Aishwarya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Lucy Mangan's journalism, and this book is in much the same style. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work. There are plenty of moments where the sense of a shared past growing up female is funny and comforting - and yet. I hesitate to complain about how shallow this felt because it was clearly not supposed to be anything else. (Likewise with the gender essentialism). But there just wasn't *enough* to keep me reading.

[Paul Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes sense

Long, tortuous sentences that you have to unpick slowly but it is worth it to discover the forensic logic of what it was to grow up as a girl in the 80s. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know because I identify as one of those primitive and pugilistic boys captured so well in this book.

[Keris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Lucy Mangan's columns for The Guardian newspaper, so I was keen to read her first book, Hopscotch & Handbags: The Essential Guide to Being a Girl and it was just as good as I expected.

In her typical hilariously dry style, Mangan looks at all aspects of what it means to be female. From early days at preschool, via senior school's obsessive collecting of stickers, keyrings and erasers (called "rubbers" when we were at school, but not any more), to living with a man (and explaining to him - at exhaustive length - why

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[Lyndsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not as funny as I'd hoped. Lucy Mangan usually has me in stiches in the Guardian but doesn't seem to be able to do it in book form (although I did laugh out loud at the description of putting on make up when you're over 30).

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a funny book, every girl/woman should read this. I loved every word!

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny, very accurate, if you grew up in the UK in the 80s.
Lots of laugh-out-loud lines and some scary truths.

[Lisa]

Not quite as funny as I had hoped, but parts of it were worthwhile. I did skip through the last few chapters though...

[Tracey Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lightweight, but often very funny.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, not as good as the other one by Lucy, but still funny. Last few chapters bore me a little, make up isn't my area.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really funny.

[Maria Rosanna Ioannou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!