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 sausages are not actually a health
food), motherhood and more.
Like sex, hair and beauty, exercise and health, friendship, working, and dealing with your mother.
Sometimes (and you'll probably already be aware of this if you've read her columns) Mangan has a tendency to be excessively verbose (she says with excessive, er, verbosity) and occasionally I found myself scanning a little to get to the point, but when I finished the book I still longed for more. Plus at least twice I literally laughed until I cried (once was in public and it was rather embarrassing).
Hopscotch & Handbags is one of those books you'll read out over the phone to your friends. Buy it for every woman you know (although, on second thoughts, maybe not your mum...).
Rating: 5/5
Like this? Try How to Bring Up Your Parents by Emma Kennedy or My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary by Rae Earl
