These extracts from Moran's columns were hilarious in places, especially at the start of the book. However, others I lacked interest in and skipped mainly because I didn't care about the topic or know the person. This made the read a bit of a mixed bag because I really liked some of it, and other parts was very meh.

I do wish that Moran had collated this together in a more continuous fashion rather than just publishing random pieces from her columns as I would definitely be interested in reading a more thought-through novel from Moran.

I would recommend reading Moran's work as she's an interesting lady, but I'd also say, don't be afraid to skip the parts you're not interested in.

Review to come.

Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold

A collection of short stories that are retellings of British folklore and mythology selected and introduced by Professor Carolyne Larrington. The folktales take you across the country from Suffolk and green children, to boggarts in Yorkshire, Panthers in Stafford, selkies in Orkney and more.

These stories in most instances were brought into much more modern day scenarios, and many took on elements of magical realism to tell their stories, whilst others remained grounded in more everyday scenarios. I found the retellings both poignant and compelling as they held a much stronger contemporary critique. They touched on themes of domestic abuse, motherhood, sexuality, miscarriages, homophobia, mental health, love, trickery and deception.

They are all very singular stories with the common theme being they are based on folklore retellings so I found this easier to read in parts as the stories are so distinct in styles and topics. Rather than some short story collections which flow more closely.

This also meant that I found a real variation in how much I enjoyed some of these stories, I think in part driven by the variety of writers and styles in the collection. Particular favourites were Sour Hall by Naomi Booth, Rosheen by Irenosen Okojie, The Panther's Tale by Mahsuda Snaith and The Holloway by Imogen Hermes Gowar.

I also liked that at the end of the collection there were the original stories which had inspired these retellings. Although some of the colloquial language does require you to be vaguely familiar with how the locals speak in order to understand it. However, you certainly don't need to read them all to appreciate the retellings.

Overall an enjoyable collection that offers a much needed blend of modernity and feminist critique to some classic folktales. This short story collection is definitely a great read for a dark autumn nights.

BOOK REVIEW - ⭐⭐⭐


Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology's Fiercest Females by Kate Hodges

This book is a guide to mythical women and female creatures across history and across the globe. It's clearly a very feminist interpretation of these women's stories and for that reason I really liked it. Kate Hodges has several sections to the book that split the mythical female creatures into different categories: warriors, witches, bringers of misfortune, elemental spirits and munificent spirits. 

Kate Hodges made these women much more relevant and accessible to the modern day as she discussed how these women stories came about, how their image changed due to patriarchal pressure. Hodges attempts to almost rehabilitate these mythical creatures to show how there were positive aspects to their stories. She also unpicks as to how some of them have been vilified because they've been the victim i.e. Medusa and Futakuchi-Onna. 

I really liked that Hodges included mystical beings from more than just Greek and Norse mythology which I feel like is generally the focus of these kinds of books. She had a gender-fluid Aboriginal god/goddess, Vietnamese goddess, Mesopotamian goddesses, Japanese beasts, African goddess, and Mexican spirits to name a few. Lots of these mythical beings I'd never even heard of.

There were 50 different mythical beings in the book and each one had 3-4 pages about them. Hodges included references to where their stories originated, how their stories changed over time and how that related to modern women. I think the major disappointment for me was that some of these names are in different languages or uncommon to me and just a reference to how to pronounce them would have been really helpful. 

I also think that Hodges attempts to bridge her stories to modern day were a little stretched at times. When she wrote about the Japanese being Futakuchi-Onna it felt very generic as to how women are expected to be silent, not expected to eat. However, this "beast" originated in Japan and I feel like Hodges didn't focus enough for me in many instances on why these mythical beings got distorted in these specific cultures. So whilst it was really good she included lots of different beings from across the globe, I still wanted more. 

Overall, this was enjoyable but I wasn't quite as immersed as I'd hoped. There was a little something missing from this book.

eArc provided by NetGalley.

This is Going to Hurt was a book that I got told to read by a friend, and when I actually looked into found myself really keen to read the book because I have a bunch of friends in the medical professional. I wanted to get to know more about how much strain medical professionals face and how it affects their lives, which I think all the TV dramas and documentaries don't always show.

Adam Kay is one of many doctors and I don't want to proclaim him as a prime example of all doctors, but I think he managed to write and produce a book that was both funny, sad, and poignant. It recognised how great the NHS is and all that is achieves, but it also pointed out the pitfalls and the strain on the everyday people running the NHS.

The book itself is split up into the different roles that he took on from junior doctor to senior registrar, and within each section he has a small introduction before we are treated to snippets and excerpts from his diary throughout those years. Although none of the entries follow on from the other and there are large gaps of time between some, they all weave together to create an interesting story about his life as a doctor. There are heart-warming examples about the birth of babies and the successes of families struggling with infertility; there are funny cases about people not knowing how to put a condom on. There was also sad stories about death and loss, and struggling to manage family and friend relationships (on a personal level for Adam). These all helped to build a picture of Adam Kay's life both professionally and personally and demonstrated the kind of commitment that many medical professionals give to their job (because I am certainly aware not all individuals are alike).

There are quite a few medical terms in the book, but Kay does his best to explain and document in footnotes what those mean to the audience. I would say some knowledge of the human body/medicine in very general terms might help you understand it a little bit quicker.

Overall I though this book was very unique, interesting and a worthwhile read for a non-medical individual, who is interested in health and the NHS. I would suggest to anyone that is interested in medical memoirs, life stories and health in general.

THE GIRL AND THE GODDESS by Nikita Gill

The Girl and the Goddess is a mixture of poetry, prose and beautiful illustrations which follow the growth and story of young Paro from childhood to womanhood. It's a coming-of-age tale that encourages women to raise up each other, to love themselves, to love one and other and to love their daughters. It's filled with encouraging self-worth and life lessons and gave me a great deal of comfort reading it.

However it's not just about feminism and love, it's also about history, religion and culture. When Paro is faced by the patriarchy, sometimes she fights back, other times she is confused and wishes to be another person, to be a man, to be somewhere else. In these moments Paro is visited by the Hindu Gods and Goddesses who tell her their stories and the tales of legend, such as the great Sanskirt epics The Mahābhārata and The Ramayana. Paro through these stories is encouraged to accept, to believe, to forgive and to love herself and those around her. She finds strength and understanding from the lessons of the Gods and Goddessss as well as her mother and nani.

The book also touches on the history of Kashmir and Partition and the legacy this has on Paro's family. It's handled in a way that doesn't unpick all the trauma so as not to weigh too heavily on the reader. Whilet still highlighting the pain and conflict felt, the damage inflicted by the British colonial powers.

This is a beautiful book of self-love and self-worth. The exploration of identity, sexuality and the conflicts that exist within ourselves is really well done. Paro's teenage conflict was something I really related to as she struggled to come to terms with her identity and bisexuality. Made even more difficult by the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals in India and the way Paro's struggled to accept her.

Throughout the novel family relationships and friendships are central elements of the narrative. The focus on mother-daughter bonds and female friendships and the trials that come with these are something I love in novels.

Overall I fell in love with this story which was unexpected as I don't read much poetry. There was definite moments of sadness and trauma highlighted but it balanced out surprisingly well with the strong feminist themes and self-love promotion. I entirely recommend as this is definitely a 2021 favourite ✨

WOW.

I wasn't sure what to expect when picking up She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy. I heard about the book on The High Low Podcast (a podcast run by two British journalists) and I decided to follow their recommendation. I have actually never heard of Jill Soloway or their productions Transparent or the TV production of I Love Dick.

Jill Soloway's autobiography travels through their journey from straight, white, cis-gendered mother of two, to identifying as non-binary and a lesbian. Jill tells the story of their family as their dad came out as transgender and how that impacted on their worldview ans family dynamic. I found it very eye-opening and interesting as Jill examined how such events and changes to one's world view can impact on how you examine things. They talked about the creation of their TV show Transparent based on their own family history, the breakdown of their own marriage and then then eventually the emergence of the MeToo movement and the impact that had on their life. There are so many key moments that affect Jill Soloway's life and they draw in so thoughtfully to the novel.

The whole autobiography was very thoughtful, self-aware, introspective and raised so many questions. It really made me question my own preconceptions about gender and identity.

I really enjoyed the whole book and thought it was very well written. I would recommend it to everyone.

I really enjoyed this book.
I have only recently stumbled across Juno Dawson as an author as I heard on a podcast about her new book Meat Market which is a book I intend to read.
However, I knew nothing about Juno at this point and only when stumbling across this book (as I was very intrigued by the title), did I find out that Juno was a trans woman.
I think she offers lots of interesting observations, arguments and particularly on the points of gender, childhood and the way as a society we engage with gender did she make some really important points.
I don't agree with her views on women's magazines offering good things as I think they are still far too focused on celeb culture, stereotypes, diets, image etc. However, overall I think everything Juno writes about is really important.
The book worked really well as both a memoir/feminist text on gender and sexuality.
I learnt a lot about trans women and the LGBTQ+ community and it made me realize I don't really read/listen/watch many things related to the LGBTQ+ community and has made me interested to find more cultural things.
Would recommend to everyone interested in gender, feminism and personal memoirs.