Get It Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics - Zoe Williams (Hutchinson, £9.49)
If you feel like Russell Brand might be talking more than a grain of sense beneath the showboating interview style, but couldn’t quite face reading his entire book - this is the one to head for. Published just in time for the elections, it looks at why Westminster has become as held in universal scorn as it seems to be today and what the alternatives might be. Williams’s style makes you feel like you could absorb her smartness with every passing paragraph, without exhausting you with stats or nagging. Witty, wise and warm, it’s a great antidote to ‘well there’s no alternative’-type thinking, even if just as a jumping off point for exploring further political ideas.
*Leave Your Mark - Aliza Licht (Piatkus) **
If you’re the sort of feminist who thinks we don’t have time to worry about lipstick, give this one a swerve: the biog on Licht’s book tells us she ‘lives for the perfect red carpet moment’. But despite her being a US fashion PR, Leave Your Mark is far from looks-obsessed. If anything, it’s business obsessed - a sassy, chatty and very American look at how to get the career you want. Some of the advice - “Intern like a Rock Star” - may not quite translate to the average UK office, but the tone and the mindset largely do. It encourages the kind of go-getter mentality that is so applauded and indeed assumed in men, but does it with a friendly almost relentless positivity that can’t help but make you smile.
Do It Like A Woman - Caroline Criado Perez - (Portobello, £12.99)
Taking the old maxim that ‘doing it like a woman’ is to do a lesser, weaker, less relevant job than doing it like a man, Criado Perez tells her own campaigning story as well as looking at some of those who have done the concept of ‘doing it like a woman’ proud. There are some fantastic stories and perspectives in here, from the all-women team who climbed The Shard for Greenpeace to the mother in Pakistan who has fought her own family to defend her daughter and her community’s right to education and literacy. There is little to disagree with here, but Criado Perez’s writing style is light on the sort of humour or accessibility that might open this up to readers beyond those who will agree with the concept already.
[True Face - Siobhan Curham]{href='https://www.amazon.co.uk/True-Face-Real-Fearless-You/dp/0571313388' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'} (Faber, £6.99)
Siobhan Curham is probably best known for her work on Zoella’s recent novel Girl Online. She is described as variously ‘editorial consultant’ and ‘writing coach’ in the press material for this, her non-fiction guide for girls on being your ‘true self’. The disingenuousness with which Girl Online was published makes True Face a challenge for the cynical reader, promoting as it does total honesty at all times. But Curham is a lovely writer, who can make the obvious feel fresh and negative seem manageable, as is evident in the simple arguments and exercises to help navigate competitive social networking and wavering body image. This is definitely for a younger teen rather than a gender studies graduate, but it’s nice dollop of positivity to get started with.
All I Know Now - Carrie Hope Fletcher(Sphere, £12.99)
Actress, celeb sibling and youtube sensation, Fletcher is now a bona fide author too - albeit one whose writing style feels a lot like online chat. This is another collection of anecdotes, memoir and advice, gathered to help the reader navigate the worst teen years have to offer. It’s girly without being sickly, and cheery without feeling hollow and it all feels a little more nuanced than True Face. Chapters on hindsight, the art of biting your tongue and how to apologise suggest that Fletcher knows how manipulative teenage girls can be, but also indicate a real warmth towards them. This feels like it was written with a lot of kindness, and deserves to do very well.
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Photographs: Anna Jay
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.