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How to Build a Girl
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
What do you do in your teenage years when you realize what your parents taught you wasn't enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroesand build yourself.It's 1990. Johanna Morrigan, fourteen, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there's no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wildefast-talking, hard-drinking gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer. She will save her poverty-stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writerlike Jo in Little Women, or the Brontsbut without the dying-young bit.By sixteen, she's smoking cigarettes, getting drunk, and working for a music paper. She's writing pornographic letters to rock stars, havingallthe kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.But what happens when Johanna realizes she's built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters, and a head full of paperbacks enough to build a girl after all?Imagine The Bell Jarwritten by Rizzo from Grease. How to Build a Girl is a funny, poignant, and heartbreakingly evocative story of self-discovery and invention, as only Caitlin Moran could tell it.
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review
jdiehr
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

The story of a teenage girl discovering who she wants to be.

There were moments when I was clutching my pearls at some of the sexual stuff, but those moments were outweighed by the times I was truly touched by Johanna/Dollie and her desire to become a writer.

Librarybelle Gorgeous photo! 2mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo
35 likes2 comments
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GidgetsTreasures75
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

12-2-22: My 120th finished book of 2022! Johanna Morrigan has decided she needs to be someone else. She is over being herself. Out comes Dolly Wilde, a black wearing, eye liner painting, top hat donning music critic for a publication called D&ME out of London. And all at 17. Coming from a poor family, her goal‘s to help them out while being a Lady Sex Adventurer. There is a lot of sex talk some of it off putting since she is a teen. Overall ok.

GidgetsTreasures75 ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ 2y
14 likes1 comment
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GidgetsTreasures75
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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11-5-22: The main library in downtown Orlando was having a book sale today! Here is my haul-yippee!!🎊🙌🏼📖

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OriginalCyn620
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Found a #pantone2022 match for my latest kindle read!

Clwojick Great match! 3y
39 likes1 comment
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OriginalCyn620
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Panpan

This was not for me. It‘s well written but I just didn‘t care enough about the MC, Johanna, and I never really got invested in her story. I did enjoy the 90s setting and music references, though! I would‘ve bailed but I was using this for #pop22 for a book with a misleading title, as this is indeed not a how-to manual about building a human female from scratch. 😂

#bookspinbingo

TheAromaofBooks At least you got a prompt checked off with it! 😂 3y
35 likes1 stack add1 comment
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bekakins
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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So true 😆

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Annie1215
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Today‘s two prompts are somewhat similar, so forgive any overlap on my part. In ‘How to Build a Girl‘ follows Johanna as she quite literally reinvents herself. She develops a new identity to pursue her dreams and soon begins not to recognize herself or the good she once saw in the new her. #tarottakeover

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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Finally got around to finishing this one. Caitlin created one of my favorite characters I‘ve ever had the pleasure of going on a journey with. I absolutely adore Johanna/Dolly, she is an absolute treasure. The only fault I have is that it was a pretty slow start.

#review #booked2020 #bookworm #readinggoals #readingresolutions

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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Yesterday was my friend/coworkers birthday so Saturday night I decorated the office so she would see it Sunday when she started her shift. I came in for my shift and found this note 🔆 brightened my day! Hope everyone else is having a good Monday 🌞🌻

#keeplitsypositive #mondaymusings

BarbaraTheBibliophage How lovely! 🥳🥳 5y
6 likes1 comment
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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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After this past week, these are words I needed to read 🌻🌞

#keepinglitsypositive #booked2020 #bookworm

Bklover Love this! 5y
magyklyXdelish @Bklover I thought this was a perfect one to share during these uncertain times 😊 glad you loved it like I did! 5y
6 likes2 comments
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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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🔆 current read is tagged - How To Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran plus I‘m still struggling with a kindle read “The Good Girl” because I struggle with ebooks
🔆These Women - Ivy Pochoda
🔆fave book I read this month is In The Dreamhouse - Carmen Maria Machado

#weekendreads
@rachelsbrittain

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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Man this part hit a little close to home. Hoo boy 😰😳

#currentlyreading #relatable #bookworm #booked2020

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magyklyXdelish
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Starting this one now. Brody is keeping me company this morning. I‘m up way too early considering I work 4-12 tonight. Hope everyone‘s having a good Wednesday 🌻🌞

#currentlyreading #readingbuddy #catsoflitsy #booked2020 #bookworm

review
MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

You can get drunk on Caitlin Moran's words. I fell in love with the teenage Dolly, watched her mistakes through my fingers and cheered her on from the sidelines. Timetravelling back to a time when I was a teenager and when Britain was, through either my youthful naivety or reality, a seemingly more hopeful place.

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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Butterfinger When I stumble while trying to explain something, I hope I remember. I'm glad there is a word that describes this. It is very frustrating and happens to me frequently. 5y
DieAReader It is extremely frustrating for sure @Butterfinger I do this all the time. I often just keep quite for this very reason. 😭😫 5y
Butterfinger @SquidgetsRoom my close friends are used to me saying, "Did I pronounce that correctly?" It is tough, but don't let it hinder you. 5y
DieAReader Thanks 💖💖💖 5y
25 likes4 comments
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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The buildings on the South Bank are pale, like dirty bridesmaids; women in bright dresses, promenading to their next destination. London feels like an infinite toy. Evenings never end - they just without you noticing, turn into tomorrow.

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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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It is always sunny above the clouds. Always. That every day on Earth - every day I have ever had - was, secretly, sunny, after all. However shitty and rainy it is... On days where the clouds feel low, like a lid... If you fly high enough, if you get above the clouds, it's never-ending summer.

PurpleTulipGirl I need to remember this on the many, many gray days we have here on the coast in Oregon. 5y
27 likes1 comment
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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azulaco I loved this book so much. Basically I just love Caitlin Moran. 5y
MinnieTimperley @azulaco Me too. I read her words and wish my brain was a bit more Moranish. 5y
40 likes2 comments
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Suet624 That‘s a riot. And sort of true. 5y
ShyBookOwl I've always said this is how I ended up with a strange name (had a teen mom). I saw the pattern repeated when my niece was born to a teen mom and ended up with a name that rhymes. There is definite truth here! 5y
33 likes2 comments
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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MinnieTimperley
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Curiouser_and_curiouser Drawing too. I've always said, all I need it a book and a pencil 😉 5y
MinnieTimperley @Curiouser_and_curiouser You've given me a little motivation to start drawing some in my journal. 5y
Curiouser_and_curiouser @WatsonReads oh yay! I need to dedicate more time to drawing too. I'm a face painter so it always helps to know how to draw faces, horses, dragons, puppies, kitties, oh so many things 😊 Best of luck! 5y
34 likes3 comments
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ephemeralwaltz
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Yes Dolly! I didn't think I would enjoy this one as much as I did but I just might have to pick up the second book :)
A crazy whirlwind of a story about what what it takes to gain confidence, independence and sexual agency, obviously making some mistakes along the way. This is the real drugs-sex-and-rock-n'-roll read I needed after feeling like Daisy Jones was a bit of a flop 😂

Kalalalatja I heard Moran talk about the book when it was released in Denmark, and she is just so funny. It really made the reading experience better 👌 5y
ephemeralwaltz @Kalalalatja same here! She was in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago and that's why I felt encouraged to finally read this. 👏👏 5y
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ElizaMarie
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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It was super cute at times :)

#bookishbingo #audiobookbingo

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ElizaMarie
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

So I‘m saying this is a pick, but I should have read it instead of listened to it. The story is great. It‘s heartbreaking at time but so so moving. What frustrated me the most listening to it was some of the screeching. It was ear splitting at times!

#WinterBookBingo #WinterBingo #Challenge
@Honeybeegirl

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ElizaMarie
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran

“I am getting incredibly high on a single, astounding fact: that it‘s always sunny above the clouds. Always. That every day on earth—every day I have ever had—was secretly sunny, after all.”

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ShyBookOwl
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

I loved, loved, loved this. Excellent representation of how childhood anxiety can develop and how it can make you go a little off the rails. Also, just a great story about finding your footing in the big, overwhelming world. Excited for the sequel... already put my library's copy on hold.

AutumnRLS Love her nonfiction. 5y
ShyBookOwl @AutumnRLS this one is semi-autobiographical. I hear it's very similar to her memoir. Very raw and honest and funny. 5y
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ElizaMarie
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran

"My biggest secret of all is that I really, truly, in my heart, want to be beautiful. I want to be beautiful so much because it will keep me safe and keep me lucky, and it's too exhausting not to be."

This brought me almost to tears. I remember being a young teen wishing even praying for beauty. I figured life would be perfect if only I was pretty enough.

AkashaVampie Same here sweetie!!! 😣😣😣 5y
10 likes2 comments
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ShyBookOwl
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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"My biggest secret of all is that I really, truly, in my heart, want to be beautiful. I want to be beautiful so much because it will keep me safe and keep me lucky, and it's too exhausting not to be."

?

(Image: Eli Allison online)

ElizaMarie I felt this so deeply when I heard this. I was actually coming on to post this exact quote! 5y
ShyBookOwl @ElizaMarie Right?! It's such a powerful statement. Thos is such a quotable book! So many moments are so real and so well put that they just hit me right in the gut. I felt it too when she talks about recognizing anxiety in ppl later in life as "children raised on cortisol." 5y
54 likes1 stack add2 comments
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ElizaMarie
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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So based on @ShyBookOwl recommendation, I just downloaded this book on Libby. Excited to get this started (probably on the commute back to Houston later this week (since I am listening to Carrie on the way home)

Anyway, it looks very promising!

Also fits the prompt of #GreenCover for my #WinterBookBingo

JanuarieTimewalker13 Someone on booktube loves this one!! It may be Kayla of booksandlala (edited) 5y
ElizaMarie @JanuarieTimewalker13 oooo so it‘s gonna be good! Glad I was able to download it immediately :) 5y
JanuarieTimewalker13 I think so! 5y
11 likes3 comments
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ShyBookOwl
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Giving this a shot after coming across it on Libby while looking for something fun to read. I've been reading a lot of gothic classics lately, and wanted to lighten things up a bit. Hope it's good!

ElizaMarie This looks kinda cute :) 5y
ShyBookOwl @ElizaMarie so far: cute, yes; crass, yes; funny, yes. 5y
rachaich I loved this. 5y
See All 9 Comments
j.rye Off to Libby to look for it... 5y
ShyBookOwl @j.rye the narrator is great! 5y
ElizaMarie ooo I found it on Libby! I will download it now!! Yay! 5y
ShyBookOwl @ElizaMarie yay! I've read three chapters and I'm hooked 5y
j.rye My library doesn‘t have it. 😕 boo! 5y
ShyBookOwl @j.rye 😔 5y
61 likes4 stack adds9 comments
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Tex2Flo
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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All the men turn to look at me. Their expression is a bit like one I saw in a documentary where someone once put a single flamingo in a zoo enclosure full of camels... All the camels stared. The flamingo stared back. Everyone seemed FATALLY confused (caps are mine).

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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I‘m a bit behind on my #14Books14Weeks Summer Reading Challenge with @TheHeartlandBookFairy , but I have 6 finished, and I‘m part way finished with another, so if I want to wrap up by Labor Day, I better get going.

But it has pushed me to read a few that have been languishing on my actual shelves for too long! So, no matter how far I get....Thank you for this challenge that encouraged me to read My Own Books! 🥳

Nute It sounds like you‘re doing great! Keep up the good work!! 5y
TheHeartlandBookFairy You're ahead of me at the moment! You're doing great 😁 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheHeartlandBookFairy Well, don‘t feel too bad....if you look you‘ll notice I picked all the shorter reads and comics first. 🤔🤷‍♀️ 5y
80 likes4 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

I absolutely loved this heartbreaking, poignant, sometimes TMI, and often laugh out loud coming of age story set in 90‘s England. The daughter of a down on their luck family tries to find her way as she goes from awkward child to young woman by reinventing herself & “building a girl” from scratch as the kind of girl she thinks she should be...and all the angst, drama, mistakes, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll that she learns from along the way.

sammisho I love this book. One of my favorites! 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @sammisho I really loved it too! I‘m sorry I put off reading it for so long, now I have to find the sequel! 5y
83 likes8 stack adds2 comments
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Kayla.Adriena
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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The most ADORABLE pen pal package from one of my very first Litten friends @CaliforniaCay 😍😍 Thank You so much!! This plant themed package brightened up my week!! Cannot wait to write you back! #Litsypenpal

Soubhiville I laughed a ton reading that book! Awesome, enjoy! 6y
CaliforniaCay I'm glad I went with the plant theme because everything in this pic goes so perfectly together. Enjoy! 🌿🌵🌼⚘🌱🌷 6y
Kayla.Adriena @CaliforniaCay You nailed it!! Love it! 6y
37 likes3 comments
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Shemac77
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Heartbreaking. Hilarious.
I immediately want to read everything Caitlin Moran has ever written.
Easily recognizable for every woman that went through being a teenager.

KarenUK I loved How to be Woman..... stacking this one 👍 6y
ValerieAndBooks The cover reminds me of the one I have for this — wonder if it‘s intentional. 6y
63 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Shemac77
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Post night shift recovery mode.
Man this girl can write!

Cathythoughts Nice pic !! 6y
51 likes2 comments
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Shemac77
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Evening reading with a side of French onion soup.

Reagan I love this book and Caitlin Moran. I just started 6y
52 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Clwojick
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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It‘s taking me forever to finish this audiobook... maybe I should change over to the physical book.

Anyways, I‘m doing laps in my apartment hallways, and doing flights of stairs because I spent the day meeting my cousins newborn girl... and therefore didn‘t get too many steps in. #litsywalkers

Here‘s the view from the apartment stairwell.

RadicalReader Love walking when listening to audiobooks couldn‘t be more appreciative of unlimited data with all the delightful books there are to enjoy and how much more awesome they are when as an audiobook 6y
66 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Clwojick
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Listened to the tagged audiobook while making some veggie soup. 😍

Nom nom nom

Seekingtardis That looks soooooo good!!!! 6y
HeatherBlue That looks delicious!! 6y
67 likes2 comments
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StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Mehso-so

A coming of age story set in 90's London. The humour didn't really do it for me. I think maybe it would be better suited to audio. Had a few chuckles along the way though.

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Clwojick
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Back onto this audiobook while I make some breakfast. Then I think I‘ll be tackling more graphics today. ♥️📚

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Clwojick
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Just listened to the first four chapters of this while I was cooking some food, and I think I‘m going to enjoy this one.

Current reading time: 5hrs 25mins

#deweysapril #readathon

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sammisho
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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So accurate! 😂😂😂 although it's usually books with sexy time for me.

The tagged book is great on audio, but definitely read with headphones.

Pogue OMG my son and I are gamers. I had my Bluetooth on talking to him in the grocery store. I said something like, “ I finally got him with a head shot, because stabbing did not work”. The person next to me slowly backed away. I laughed so hard I could not breathe. 6y
sammisho @pogue hahahaha That's great!!! We had to talk to my son about talking about Fortnite in public. A 6yo saying things about sniping is frowned upon 6y
Soubhiville I really enjoyed the tagged book too! 6y
LoverofLit Dying 😂😂😂 6y
34 likes4 comments
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i.z.booknook
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Thoroughly recommend these two from Caitlin Moran.

Johanna Morrigan is funny and loveable if a bit silly and misguided sometimes 😂 in fact; all the characters are really extravagant but human and it‘s just exciting to be reading about their lives and adventures. I flew through both books. I wonder if there‘ll be anymore...? I‘m very excited it‘s already being turned into a movie!

Redwritinghood Agree. These were so much fun to read. I did them as audiobooks and the narrator really brought the story to light. 6y
64 likes1 stack add1 comment
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sophierayton
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Very good. Somewhat concerned that the title might make this book accidentally land in the laps of some unknowing 10 year old girls after having been given a Christmas present by a well meaning but clueless aunt.
I accidentally read these books out of order so it might be unfair of me to say I like How To Be Famous better (as in my experience you tend to like what you've experienced first best). Still hilarious and all that great 90s goodness.

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ChristyM
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Pickpick

Funny and heartwarming - Johanna is a teen mixture of Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole, growing up in the ‘90s and trying to decide who she should be.

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Lauren.Archer
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
Pickpick

What a smart book. So glad I finally read this. Going to start on the next book immediately.

Aaronlisa Sorry about that, I hit the send button by accident. I rated this a 3 star read but it stuck with me. I read the second book this year and liked it. 6y
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quietjenn
How to Build a Girl | Caitlin Moran
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Finally finishing this one up today.

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