I have just finished reading ” Wild” by Cheryl Strayed.
“Wild” by Cheryl Strayed (via Goodreads)
I bought this book because I had heard a bit about it when the film version came out, and I thought it sounded interesting.
The blurb reads:
“At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.”
I’m really glad I bought it because it is such a good read. Cheryl’s marriage breaks down and her mother dies, and so she’s at a crossroads in her life, and trying to work out her path into the future. She learns the hard way how big a challenge she set for herself in doing the Pacific Crest Trail: she has never hiked long distance and it sounds really painful wearing the wrong size boots and carrying a massive backpack which she affectionately christens “Monster”. She surprises her loved ones and everyone she meets by hiking the Trail alone as a woman. Along the way, she makes friends with the hikers she meets and keeps up a good banter with them. She also works through her personal issues as she hikes alone: coming to terms with the breakdown of her marriage and the disintegration of her family when her mother died. We get flashbacks of important moments which led to her doing the Trail, which are fascinating, although there are quite a few sad moments.
I loved this novel because it’s a memoir, so it is real and the issues explored are things which anyone could go through. I give it a big 9/10!
I have just finished reading “One Summer In France” by Bev Spicer, a memoir. This is the prequel to “Bunny On A Bike”, and follows Bev and her friend Carol as they embark on three months in France during their summer holiday from university.
“One Summer In France” by Bev Spicer
Bev and Carol are a force to be reckoned with, with maybe a quite romantic notion of what their summer will be like. They have all sorts of adventures, such as crossing the border to Spain and coming home with massive bottles of port, food poisoning from eating food from dodgy vans, and reading a wide range of books.
The summer romances and almost-romances are great to read about, especially as there are misunderstandings about men who are actually married, and then trying to decide whether men are being genuinely friendly or just pervy because they are confronted with two bikini-clad girls!
I love how Bev and Carol have some genuinely deep and loving moments, and then start mouthing off at each other, which really keeps the story going and brings about some truly amusing moments!
I give it 8/10 because it’s just such a fun, summery read, and it made me giggle! It also made me want to go travelling and have my own adventures. Worth reading, especially if you’ve already read “Bunny On A Bike”!
I’ve just finished reading “How to be a Woman” by Caitlin Moran. This is going against the usual type of book i read because it’s “part memoir, part rant” as it says on the back cover, not something i usually go for. However, i saw Caitlin Moran being interviewed at the London Book Fair and was inspired to go and read her book.
How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran (via Amazon)
The blurb on the back cover reads:
“It’s a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain… Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby?”
Women (in the Western world at least) can hardly complain about equality so much these days, so is there still a need for feminism? Yes, there is, but there is a new kind of feminism now, and that is what Moran is talking about. She ponders the things women all go through as they hit puberty and beyond, from the more intimate and physical changes we go through, to the universal questions every woman has.
We discover how she herself coped through puberty and discovering who she is, and wondering what things mean to her and to others. As she grows older, new problems arise and we see how she coped with them, from first loves to marriage to babies. She rants about all the things which affect women, especially our appearances and the ongoing maintenance needed, while annoyed that men don’t have to worry about it.
Obviously one of the biggest things about being a woman is the baby question: When are you going to have a baby? Moran points out that once you hit a certain age, people start asking you this, and she discusses the pros and cons of having children. She tells us about her experiences of pregnancy and childbirth and how very different they both were for her. It’s refreshing to hear the truth about what really goes through your head while experiencing these things!
Moran is very frank about the things she thinks and feels, and while sometimes it might be a bit too much information, you can’t deny that you yourself have had these thoughts from time to time but won’t admit it to others. I found the section on abortion a little difficult to read, being against abortion myself, but i’m glad that she had the guts to tell the world what it is like, after all it is quite a taboo subject.
I give this book 8/10 because it is funny and honest, and you can totally relate to her experiences and thoughts as a woman, because she is basically describing everything you are thinking and you realise that we are all the same underneath, no matter how much we pretend to the world! I really recommend this book to every woman to read, and i’m sure men should read it too if they want to understand women a bit more! I really enjoyed this book!
A few great quotes from the book:
[On periods] – “At this juncture, it seems there is absolutely nothing to recommend being a woman. Sex hormones are a b**** that have turned me from a blithe child into a bleeding, weeping, fainting washerwoman.”
[On Feminism] – “It is really important that you say these words out loud. ‘I AM A FEMINIST.’ If you feel you cannot say it – not even standing on the ground – i would be alarmed. It’s probably one of the most important things a woman will ever say: the equal of ‘I love you’, ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ or ‘No! I’ve changed my mind! Do NOT cut me a fringe!'”
[On strip clubs] – “Are we really saying that strip clubs are just wonderful charities that allow women – well, the pretty, thin ones, anyway: presumably the fatter, plainer ones have to do whatever it is all the male students are doing – to get degrees? I can’t believe women supposedly in further education are that stupid.”
[On motherhood] – “Women are so frequently scared about their biological clocks – ‘YOU’VE ONLY GOT TWO YEARS LEFT TO HAVE A BABY!’ – that they never get the chance to consider if they actually care or not if the damn thing grinds to a halt…. there’s a risk of women panicking and having a baby, ‘just in case’.”
[On celebrity women] – “A ‘sign of weakness’ for a woman…. can be a single, unflattering picture.”
A World of Randomness 