Yesterday I mentioned that I spent a chunk of my vacation rather greedily gobbling up books, and well, I needed to clue you in about one of those books in particular. Thanks to a recommendation from Cate, I snapped up Caitlin Moran’s How To Be A Woman in the Heathrow Airport. We can’t get it easily in the States, but I’d been told it was amazing and contributing to an ongoing discussion of feminism in the media in the UK. (Why don’t we have that Stateside? I want to know!)
So I picked it up, and my mind was blown. Because, you guys, this is one of those rare books that feels like it was written for me in particular. It felt like it was written for you guys in particular. It is a book with our names on it. It is a funny, feminist, honest discussion of what it’s like to be a woman today. It was, rather obviously, the next APW book club pick. I couldn’t help it. It picked itself.
Because here is the thing: I’m a feminist. Obviously. But I’m not a very angry one (unless you get me started on name change and children’s last names on a personal level, and then I’m quite pissed off). I’m more the funny kind of feminist. And there is not anywhere near enough of that going around, if you ask me. So while How To Be A Woman isn’t technically about weddings or marriage (though she touches a bit on both), we’ll be reading it. In fact, I’m going to go so far as to make all of you in the US order it from the UK, because it’s that good.
Specifically, it’s this good:
In case you were wondering how many copies you should buy of a book that you want to give out to everyone (perhaps a sane wedding book by someone you know, coming out at the end of the year?), the answer is five. It would have been more, if I thought I could fit them in our carry-on luggage at Heathrow, but five will do. Because Caitlin Moran says things like this:
However, whilst chipping in your six penn’orth on what it’s actually like—rather than what we pretend it’s like—to be a woman is vital, we still also need a bit of analysis-y, argument-y, ‘this needs to change-y’ stuff. You know. Feminism.
And this:
I don’t know if we can talk about ‘waves’ of feminism any more—by my reckoning, the next wave would be the fifth, and I suspect it’s around the fifth wave that you stop referring to individual waves, and start to refer, simply, to an incoming tide.
But if there is to be a fifth wave of feminism, I would hope that the main thing that distinguishes it from all that came before is that women counter the awkwardness, disconnect and bullshit of being a modern woman not by shouting at it, internalizing it or squabbling about it—but by simply pointing at it, and going ‘HA!’ instead.
And this:
For women, finding a sympathetic, non-judgmental arena is just as important as getting the right to vote. We needed not just the right legislation, but the right atmosphere, too, before we can finally start to found our canons—then, eventually, cities and empires.
And if that’s not what we’re trying to do around these parts, then I don’t know what the hell’s going on around here.
And that’s not even mentioning all the talk about minge, and pants (which I have to endlessly remember means underwear and not trousers), and why you should have babies, and why you shouldn’t have babies, and sexism. And then there is the bit where she posits that, while we can lay the blame for lots of things on the doorstep of men:
Weddings are our fault, ladies. Every aspect of their pantechnicon of awfulness happened on our watch. And you know what? Not only have we let humanity down, but we’ve let ourselves down, too.
And that is why I consider the work of reclaiming weddings that we’re working at here at APW to be fundamentally feminist work. That, and getting drunk worldwide while discussing How To Be A Woman. Feminist life is hard, y’all. You’re welcome in advance.
So pick your date to meetup ladies. There will be plenty to discuss. (For those of you new to this: we pick a date, then in a week or two we’ll use Facebook to plan our worldwide boozy meetups. More about those over here.)
Pictures: By me. Caitlin in a sunset in Greece! Caitlin in a big pile in San Francisco!
Yay, I am so excited. Just got the book a week and a half ago or so because some other APW girls were recommending it around. Can’t wait to start the discussion. Actually Meg, for a long I thought we should discuss “The second sex” by Simone de Beauvouir . I loved how she does the complete historic analyses of women’s roles through time and space. But it is not necessarily an easy read.
September 21, 2011 4:58 am
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The Second Sex is HEAVY, man. I read it several times…. once at 14, once a couple years ago. My take: Her conclusions really, really, really does not apply to my experience, though it definitely applied to women of my mother’s generation and probably to women in other cultures — or who simply weren’t/aren’t as privileged as I am/was.
The historical analysis piece was awesome, though. Really makes me appreciative of what I’ve got.
September 21, 2011 10:29 am
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I read it when I was 23 or something, and to be completely honest, the historical analysis was what stuck the most, what I still remember and why I think it is worth reading. For the rest, I do not remember thinking it did not apply to me, or getting to me on a personal level, since like you say, our generation probably is more privileged than our mom-s for instance. I guess I read it on a ok, what does she have to say perspective and I thought it was really interesting but did not take everything to the letter.
September 21, 2011 11:31 am
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YES.
September 21, 2011 5:02 am
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I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a book club pick yet.
September 21, 2011 5:13 am
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Correct. That’s because it’s hands down THE BEST BOOK CLUB PICK WE’VE EVER HAD.
One line made me think of you in particular. I was was like Caitlin OR MADDIE? This happened several times, with several APW women, FYI.
September 21, 2011 7:21 am
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Haha I’m dying to know what line THAT might be. :)
September 21, 2011 7:51 am
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If you can’t figure it out, I’ll let you know.
September 21, 2011 11:00 am
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Hah! Brilliant. I just finished reading it this morning for the second time. I love it and it is laugh out loud hilarious while being meaningful.
September 21, 2011 5:14 am
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Yeah! I love caitlin, certainly the best thing about The Times. A great recommendation. Thanks
September 21, 2011 5:17 am
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Grah, I’m out of town the first suggested weekend and getting married the second. I’ll have to pick this up and have an imaginary book club meeting.
September 21, 2011 5:21 am
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Well, obviously we’ll have an online discussion as well. I think you should feel free to drink during that.
September 21, 2011 7:21 am
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Darn wedding getting in the way. ;)
Congratulations in advance!
September 21, 2011 1:27 pm
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My wedding got in the way of the 1st meetup. I sympathize!
September 21, 2011 2:00 pm
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very much enjoy the idea of it being a bummer to attend your WEDDING instead of the APW book club.
September 22, 2011 1:58 pm
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Haha, I definitely had the reaction of “Whew. Those are two weeks and a week before my wedding. I can go, yay!”
September 23, 2011 8:49 pm
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Just placed my order! It sounds great! And now I’ll be crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to make it to the discussion. :)
September 21, 2011 5:24 am
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Haha when you go to checkout at the UK site it asks you which address you want to “dispatch” to. In my pre-coffee state this morning, that is hilariously wonderful. Can’t wait to read it!
September 21, 2011 5:25 am
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I love this book. I keep giving it to people. Excellent APW choice.
September 21, 2011 5:37 am
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looks like i’m going to have webster’s next to me when i read it!
September 21, 2011 5:43 am
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Or do you mean the Oxford English Dictionary? ;)
September 21, 2011 8:22 am
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Not available at my local library, but I found it on Kindle!
September 21, 2011 5:56 am
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Any search tips for buying it for a Kindle? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks!
September 21, 2011 7:08 am
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I don’t see it on the US Amazon site, but the Kindle version is an option on the amazon.co.uk link that Meg posted (http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Woman-Caitlin-Moran/dp/0091940737). It might be easier to buy it on your computer and then send it to your Kindle.
September 21, 2011 7:42 am
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You. Are. Awesome.
September 21, 2011 7:52 am
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“This title is available to UK customers only.” :(
September 21, 2011 8:07 am
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Argh. Sorry. I’m an expat living in the UK so I didn’t run into that.
September 21, 2011 8:10 am
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Frustrating! Why aren’t global Amazon accounts offered for us fun international people? Guess this gives me an excuse to just buy the actual book!
September 21, 2011 9:43 am
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Really, you want the actual book anyway, because of the amount of things you’ll want to underline, and the number of pages you’ll want to turn down.
September 21, 2011 11:01 am
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I found the ebook on http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/How-To-Be-a-Woman/book-aiuS_NX0cEu9pD8YJuTPFg/page1.html. Works on Sony ereader, don’t know about Kindle but perhaps worth a try.
September 21, 2011 11:29 pm
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That was frustrating. I tried buying the Kindle through Amazon, and it wouldn’t let me because I’m a US customer, and not a UK. Hmph.
September 21, 2011 8:06 am
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I totally understand the frustration here on this as a reader, but as a person who works for a publishing company that publishes a lot of books brought over from the UK, I have to say–good. We pay a bunch of money for rights to sell a book in the US, sometime only to discover that Amazon has (illegally) been selling it in the US for ages via Kindle, so nobody wants to buy the version we just spent a bunch of money on.
So that’s why that happens. Nobody is trying to be mean.
September 22, 2011 8:11 am
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Sorry, but that sort of thing is exactly why a lot of people just torrent the darn books.
I just now went to buy the book, but discovered the e-book is £3 more expensive than the paperback.
Found an illegal download within 5 minutes.
Honestly, if the e-book were even the same price as the paperback, I’d have bought it.
September 25, 2011 8:10 am
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Great. So you stole the author’s work, and you think that’s cool to talk about? Please think about how you place value on things. This could not be less in line with the APW ethos. Someone works their ass off for five months to write a deeply excellent book that kickstarts a discussion of feminism, and you can’t be bothered to pay £3 more to by it in your preferred reading method? So, you decide to steal it? That, my friend, is not excellent on any level.
September 25, 2011 5:05 pm
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Argh, not having a credit card means I can’t order books online and of course my local library doesn’t have it. :( Maybe I’ll have to see if a friend can order me a copy.
September 21, 2011 6:12 am
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Do. It. Worth. It.
September 21, 2011 7:22 am
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DEBIT CARD. No credit card debt! All the credit card purchases!
September 21, 2011 10:50 am
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I don’t know if they do debit cards that act as credit cards here in Canada, unfortunately. I had one when I lived in the States, though, and I do miss it.
September 21, 2011 1:05 pm
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I miss that too, here in Canada.
September 21, 2011 6:55 pm
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I want to read this so bad and grad school be damned, I will be at the next book club meeting!
September 21, 2011 6:27 am
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When the price is in pounds, it makes the price of books seem much more reasonable.
This is dangerous. I will now be ordering way too many books from Amazon UK, because they seem less expensive.
September 21, 2011 6:27 am
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Yay, this book is amazing. I’ll have to get my copy back from my Mum. Be warned it will give you laughing hysterics in public places. Caitlin’s on twitter where she is also very funny http://twitter.com/#!/caitlinmoran
September 21, 2011 6:48 am
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i met her at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (my copy is signed!) and she is hilarious and lovely in real life too. i wrote an essay about her when i was 16 because dropping out of school to write for a music magazine then getting a column in the Times age 21 was the most inspirational thing i could think of!
September 21, 2011 8:45 am
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Lorna! You lucky bissom, I’m very jealous by the time I spotted she was going to be at Edinburgh it was all sold out, sigh…
September 21, 2011 3:41 pm
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I’m very excited to see I can order it on Kindle and start reading it in less than a minute, because it looks amazing. Awesomeness!
September 21, 2011 7:08 am
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Anybody know if US Amazon Prime Free Shipping works for Amazon UK?
September 21, 2011 7:12 am
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I have Amazon Prime but it still charged me shipping when I logged in and such. But it’s not too bad. I think the total for the book with shipping was $22 USD.
September 21, 2011 8:32 am
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Done and done! Ordered!
September 21, 2011 7:14 am
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So excited to read this! Toronto ladies, I’m planning on ordering two copies (since I’m gifting one), let me know if you want to piggyback on my order and we can combine shipping-which is still super cheap considering!
I’m a little shocked, their books are cheaper than amazon.ca- even when conversion is worked in. So great.
September 21, 2011 7:39 am
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Oh, sweet, if you want to order a copy for me as well, and I’ll totally pay you back, that would be fantastic!! You are awesome, Chantelle!
September 21, 2011 1:08 pm
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I am so excited- I’ve been hearing so many great things about this book! And, it has dawned on me that I’ll be married by the time the book club next meets!
September 21, 2011 7:43 am
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This sounds great!
I shall be quite wroth if ATL ladies don’t get it together. C’mon, y’all!
September 21, 2011 7:55 am
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Is there an ATL book club? Cause I’m totally ordering this book right now.
September 21, 2011 10:20 am
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I’m game for it!
September 21, 2011 1:15 pm
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Yes! There is! We are small, but we are mighty. :D
September 23, 2011 8:51 pm
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I just now ordered the book.
(I know, but I’m a sub, so money is less than scarce.)
It will most likely arrive after the meetup, but I’ll be there to be with all y’all (or just y’all, if it’s as small as usual). Then I’ll read the book as fast as I can.
October 4, 2011 3:28 pm
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How much did the shipping turn out to be for those who ordered it from the UK?
I might try to scrounge up a Kindle I can borrow to avoid them.
September 21, 2011 8:02 am
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It does not appear to be available for Kindle in the US. I think it’s possible to order from Amazon.co.uk, but there’s some futzing required with your country & address. Has anyone ordered “across county lines” before?
September 21, 2011 8:26 am
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The Kindle version is only available to UK customers.
September 21, 2011 8:26 am
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I think you can get a new amazon.co.uk account to do this, as long as you keep it separate from your US account.
My husband has his old UK amazon accounts and iTunes accounts, which definitely work from the US, so I’m extrapolating from that.
September 21, 2011 9:15 am
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The standard shipping was almost exactly the same as the book itself (to get it to DC). The total came up to just over $21 American.
September 21, 2011 8:32 am
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Ugh. Also? WORTH IT.
September 21, 2011 11:04 am
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I didn’t even blink at it. That’s how sure I am that it’s worth it. =)
September 21, 2011 1:57 pm
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Hmm…”weddings are our fault”…I am not someone who likes to play the blame/fault game…BUT I will read the book anyway, just because you liked it! It looks like discussions about it are going to be interesting.
September 21, 2011 8:11 am
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Well, look, I think they are. I had a long talk with David about it, because I wasn’t sure I agreed. I get up close and personal with the wedding industry, and it’s uglier from the inside than the outside, if that’s possible. And yes, there is something to blame, very clearly. This morass of crazy did not appear in our heads unbidden. But I wasn’t sure. Capitalism gone awry is not something I tend to associate with womankind. But after a long talk, I think I do agree. Almost everyone who works in the wedding industry is female. They (we) are steering the ship, and we are steering it mostly to crazy-land, with some new, rare, and notable exceptions. I think no one else can be blamed, more is the pity.
September 21, 2011 11:07 am
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I will read the book before commenting, or replying, because I feel that taking only a paragraph from any book may give me the wrong idea about it.
What I meant, though, is that I am reluctant to talk about “fault”or “blame”, which I find accusatory and the type of discourse that provokes a reaction rather than a reflection. I prefer to talk about responsibility: this is this way, and we don’t like, it is our responsibility to change it because we are the ones making it as it is (by action or by inaction, but making it as it is). It’s not an observation on the substance of the argument, only on the form.
September 21, 2011 1:04 pm
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Regardless of the date, I’m gonna be crashing a DC meetup or a New York meetup this time around. Woot woot!
September 21, 2011 8:17 am
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Hooray!! If it ends up being DC, we can’t wait to have you!!
September 21, 2011 8:34 am
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I’m gonna point out that there’s a Redskins game on Nov. 6th at FedEx Field . . . just sayin’.
September 21, 2011 12:00 pm
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Ah! Yes! I am supposed to be in DC on Nov 6th and I was kind of bummed about potentially missing a meetup, BUT I SOMEHOW FORGOT THAT THEY WOULD HAVE ONE THERE, TOO!
September 21, 2011 1:22 pm
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Annnnddd ordering!
September 21, 2011 8:21 am
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*~*~*~*~*CLEVELAND*~*~*~*~*
This is a call to all of Cleveland and NE Ohio. Get on your shit. I wanna book group so freaking bad and I know this town is chock full of smart broads, so I’m not driving to Columbus. I have faith in you. It’s time to represent. So… if you’re from Cleveland, and you’re reading this, we need to be friends. If you’re not from Cleveland, but you know smart ladies who are, I need you to pass on the love. I’m not taking no for an answer. Don’t make me call your mothers. Don’t make me call my own mother. She can be a very frightening woman.
Please, please, please, please, please… don’t make me beg. Desperate is not a good look on me. (That’s why I opened with demanding.)
That is all… for now. I’m watching you, Cleveland. I’m watching you.
September 21, 2011 8:22 am
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I think it’d be kick-@ss for Cleveland to have its own meet up (I’m in Cincy and we have a great group here).
But *just in case* it doesn’t work out, maybe we Ohioans could consider another giant Columbus get-together, like we did for the Yay NY party? It wasn’t quite as convenient for some of us, but it was a blast.
September 21, 2011 8:58 am
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I’m sure the Columbus group would be down for a big book club meet up!
September 21, 2011 1:26 pm
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I’m in Columbus and I want to have a big book club meet up!
September 21, 2011 2:46 pm
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I’d miss those gosh-darn Cleveland-ers if we didn’t do a big one! But I see your point, Sarah. :)
September 21, 2011 7:38 pm
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I live in London, but my parents are in Cleveland and I might be coming home for November. If I am around, we will get together in Tremont or something.
September 22, 2011 4:28 am
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SO I just looked to see if any library near me had this book, and found the following three results:
1. How to be a woman, published in 1954
2. How to be a woman: instructions for proper female behavior from classroom films of the 1940s-’80s
3. How to be a woman, though male.
Somehow I’m guessing that none of these three is what I’m looking for :-)
September 21, 2011 8:24 am
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The 2nd one sounds interesting, though ;)
September 21, 2011 8:28 am
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I searched my library’s catalog for “How To Be A Woman” and got “How To Be A Wizard.” Make of that what you will.
September 21, 2011 8:44 am
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BAHA
September 21, 2011 9:42 am
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How To Be a Wizard?! Let’s read that instead! ;)
September 21, 2011 10:17 am
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OMG YES. I ordered this book form amazon.co.uk after some Brit friends mentioned it to me some months ago, and it’s one of my faves now. I particularly love her passage on the the Healthy Type of Fat Person:
‘Cause I finally found a way to explain my Healthy Attitude to Fatness to someone!
Also, her twitter (@caitlinmoran) is priceless.
Current Feminist hero #2 (Jessica Valenti is #1 currently, ’cause I just met her last week!)
September 21, 2011 8:30 am
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Hahaha I wasn’t planning to order the book… being a student while planning a wedding is making me sooo cheap… but this excerpt might have just changed my mind. I love this woman already.
September 21, 2011 7:16 pm
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I just ordered it and am sooo excited to start reading!! I’ve been looking for new non-candy reading material for awhile.
Are there any other Montreal ladies around here? I don’t want to take a bus to Ottawa :(.
September 21, 2011 8:55 am
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I’m in Montreal! But my stupid PhD and my awesome kid might prevent me from actually buying and reading the book :(
September 21, 2011 2:38 pm
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Ooo – do try! I will lend you my copy if need be. I am also a grad student (McGill)! However, I do not have a child keeping me from reading. Just a cat.
September 21, 2011 5:03 pm
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I’m at McGill too – that’s neat! I’m investigating if there’s a city library somehow magically hiding a copy around but might see about ordering, and putting the kiddo to bed early for extra reading times ;)
September 22, 2011 7:00 am
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Ooh. Quebec City. Not too far…
September 21, 2011 7:03 pm
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Montreal-er here! Liz, I’ll msg you through your blog!
September 22, 2011 6:09 am
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@ Jenny Cassandra and Anna – Nice! I’m happy to host a Montreal meetup if it’s not just me and a bottle of wine (because that would be sad). You can get in touch with me by email too: larsenault@gmail.com if that makes it easier to arrange things.
My book isn’t due to arrive till October 13th (according to Amazon.co.uk), but I want to read it now!
September 22, 2011 5:15 pm
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YES! I have been waiting for another book club book. And this time I’m free on ALL THE DAYS. No excuses!
September 21, 2011 9:04 am
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Interesting. I’ve been thinking about the concept of just pleasing my own damn self in life without worry of what any random man would think. Let the chips fall where they may – I don’t care to “mold” myself to someone at this point in life.
Sounds like this book.
On a hopeful note, my psychic (yes I have one; why do you ask?) recently said out of the blue that the man I’m supposed to meet and marry won’t be threatened by any signs of my intelligence. He will be more the type to say “lets learn from each other”. Guess how loudly I said “OMG!” “YES!”
He also said I will be more independent business-wise when it happens. Another “YES!”
I should get this book.
September 21, 2011 9:19 am
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1980–I’m “OMG” and “YES-ing” over here with you…eeeeeee!
September 21, 2011 8:52 pm
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Well it would sure be a breath of fresh air. Between my divorce and now, I had a boyfriend who struggled with complimenting me on anything “brains” related. It was as if acknowleging me that way meant he was lesser. And that is just messed up.
I asked the psychic what on earth possessed him to say such a thing, and he said that it came up in the reading as a concern of mine even though I had never mentioned it.
Although whether I meet someone or not, I’m still going to make myself happy.
September 21, 2011 9:39 pm
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Oh this is going to be the greatest, especially compared to all the dry, “So you’re a photographer that just realized you have to understand money to run a business” books I’ve been reading lately.
September 21, 2011 9:21 am
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Sounds interesting though I haven’t heard of this book before.
Are there other APWers in Connecticut interested in meeting up? I don’t really want to go all the way to NYC or Boston, but do love drinking and talking about books :)
September 21, 2011 9:39 am
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Depending on what weekend it ends up on, I may be in CT!
September 21, 2011 1:25 pm
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We’ve had a few APW meetups in CT for past bookclubs – I’d definitely love to continue!
September 21, 2011 1:54 pm
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yo, philly. i dropped the ball the last few times and as far as i saw, no one picked it up? LET’S GET ON THIS ONE.
September 21, 2011 10:07 am
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There are a few on US Amazon…strangely the new ones cost less than the used ones, but there you go.
September 21, 2011 10:08 am
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Just bought the book and am psyched to make this book club.
September 21, 2011 10:30 am
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Can I make a request regarding the online discussion of the book: Could we please discuss it within a week/ week and a half of the meet ups. In the past we haven’t discussed them until like a month later, and by then I’m reading something else and since my memory is horrible, I can’t remember the points I wanted to discuss online. If this was for class, obviously I’d take detailed notes, but since this is APW and there will be drinking involved, I would appreciate it if I didn’t have to try to take notes.
September 21, 2011 10:54 am
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My dear? We discuss in the week after, and sometimes two weeks after as well. I make people send me pictures and such pronto, so I know.
September 21, 2011 11:12 am
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I really want to participate in this but I’m not very technologically savvy. I am friends with the facebook page, but then how do I know where and when a meetup might be in my area?
September 21, 2011 11:16 am
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We’ll be organizing them in the next few weeks. Stay tuned, all will be explained in detail.
September 21, 2011 12:04 pm
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Yay, my library has it!!
September 21, 2011 11:34 am
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Crazy timing – I (being an elderly nerd trapped in a 26 year old’s body) was listening to New Zealand’s public broadcaster, Radio NZ, on Saturday morning and heard an interview with Caitlin Moran – didn’t catch the whole thing but she sounded both hilarious and awesome. If anyone is interested you can listen here:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday
And I’ll be officially reading for this book club, not just cheating and reading all your awesome discussions after the fact….
September 21, 2011 12:14 pm
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HA! Go radio NZ!
September 22, 2011 3:11 am
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I guess now I’ll have to re-publish my post on the subject. ;)
And more hahahahaha when I saw you bought a whole pile!
September 21, 2011 1:17 pm
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Cate – I just scooched over to your blog and read your brilliant post, and having read particularly the bit about expectations of beauty/sexiness, am feeling pretty enraged – this is my absolute biggest peeve at the moment.
I’ll try save up my ranty feelings for book club, but on a vaguely related note I stumbled across this recently (via Peonies & Polaroids), which other APW ladies might be interested in and may not have seen: http://www.dressaday.com/2006/10/you-dont-have-to-be-pretty.html . It contains the brilliant line “Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked “female” “. I’m saving this one to share with my eleven year old sister in a couple of years’ time, cos I suspect her teenage years will be even more sucky than mine in the early 2000s were on the expectations-of-hotness front.
September 21, 2011 1:52 pm
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Did you read this article? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html
I loved it!
September 21, 2011 11:18 pm
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I had actually – I loved it too! It’s the first thing I read that made me aware of conciously role-modelling for my little (and less-little) sisters and for my goddaughter – not to mention grateful for my mum, stepmum and assorted aunts and friends who conciously or unconsciously had those conversations with younger-me.
Mind you, littlest sister (she’s 11) is already doing pretty well – at her school disco (famous-person-themed) she was the only Cleopatra in a room full of Hannah Montanas and Disney (TM) Princesses. She is awesome… :)
September 22, 2011 12:37 am
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Yay for your little sister!!!
September 22, 2011 8:26 am
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Oh Cate, I’m so glad you’ve brought back those two posts. I know I’m not the only one who has been inspired by your writing on the topic.
I bought this book as an ebook after reading your post on it (and “Push Kick”, too, to be filed away for future reference), and then a very dear friend in London just posted me a paperback of How to Be a Woman this week as a belated birthday gift. So I’m picking up where I left off on the electronic version (took an extended pause in reading due to the international move) and am so excited to have it on paper, too!
September 26, 2011 1:46 am
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I love this book more that anything I’ve read in the last few years.
Meg and everyone – If you want to listen to a free recording of her discussing the book at the Edinburgh Book Festival, there’s a link here – http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/media-gallery/item/caitlin-moran
September 21, 2011 1:34 pm
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She’s got some fun videos on her site, too.
September 26, 2011 1:50 am
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I saw this book a while ago and neglected to order it because it wasn’t available in the US but I guess now I’m doing it! I just moved to Hawaii and I need friends! Anyone here on the island of Oahu?
September 21, 2011 1:48 pm
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Bah! I just ordered it on Amazon. The estimated delivery? Is October 19, 2011 – November 1, 2011! ARGH!
September 21, 2011 2:10 pm
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Shoot! I picked dates that were fairly far away for this reason, but this means I’ll lean toward the later weekend. Anyone else having this problem?
September 21, 2011 4:34 pm
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Mine says 9/29-10-4, but we’ll see how accurate that is once they realize APW has bought them out of stock!
September 21, 2011 4:46 pm
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Mine says the same, but I also got a shipment notification 2 hours after I bought it???
September 21, 2011 4:53 pm
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I actually was just laughing about this when I got my email saying my book had been “dispatched.” If I were whatever person at Amazon.uk I’d really be wondering about the large volume of orders to the US on ONE DAY.
September 21, 2011 11:19 pm
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I’m imagining them furiously dispatching to the US, raising eyebrows. Particularly because this book is written in as think British slang as any you’ll find.
September 22, 2011 7:55 am
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Mine had the same delivery estimate, but it arrived today! So fingers crossed yours makes it to your doorstep in the next few days.
October 3, 2011 3:27 pm
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I got all pouty this morning when it wasn’t available to the US on kindle but I’ll just suck it up and order it anyway. :)
September 21, 2011 2:48 pm
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The later, the better. I ordered mine, but, you know, it may take a while to get here across the pond. Aaaand, I’m up to my eyeballs in “Half the Sky” by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDonn. Read it? It’s excellent.
September 21, 2011 2:55 pm
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I’ve missed the last few meetups while we’ve been traveling around the country (it’s hard to plan to meet anywhere if you’re not quite sure where exactly you’ll be on any given date!).
And I’d given myself a no-more-books-until-you-finish-the-ones-you’re-reading rule.
But this? This I’ll find a city near enough and drive there. Ordering now (rules be damned!) and cannot wait to read and discuss.
September 21, 2011 3:10 pm
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For fellow Aussies, use http://www.booko.com.au to find a copy, it searches all the online bookstores to find the cheapest prices, including the cost of shipping to Australia, it’s the best site ever! (I’m not associated with them, I just think it’s a genius idea).
I just ordered my copy from Abe Books, for $15 US so it sounds cheaper than Amazon? No shipping costs either, win!
I don’t suppose there’s any other Team Practical members in Adelaide? I might have to be happy with the online discussion…
September 21, 2011 5:35 pm
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thankyou! never heard of booko and it’s great. Just ordered from AbeBooks.
I’m in Perth and will very happily bookclub with you on Skype!
October 9, 2011 5:08 pm
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Ladies! bookdepository.co.uk. free shipping.
September 21, 2011 7:11 pm
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“Currently unavailable” there :( I think we cleaned them out! It’s also at Powells.com, and ships in 7-10, but is a few dollars more than Amazon.
September 21, 2011 8:19 pm
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WORTH IT.
September 22, 2011 7:56 am
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BTW, there are still plenty of copies available on Amazon.com US — and mine was $12 plus $3 in shipping. They are all from external book sellers, but some of them were used book shops in the United States. Probably faster and cheaper than ordering from Amazon.co.uk.
Anyway, I ordered my copy even though I probably won’t be able to attend the meet up or participate in the online discussion (damn wedding getting in the way!)
September 21, 2011 8:45 pm
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