{"id":16247,"date":"2024-05-20T22:25:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T21:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=16247"},"modified":"2024-05-24T22:28:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T21:28:24","slug":"misc-reading-is-it-just-me-miranda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=16247","title":{"rendered":"MiSC\/READING: Is It Just Me? Miranda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Is this even a good idea?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I lurch from one disaster to another (quite possibly – to be honest I\u2019m past knowing or even caring – largely self-inflicted), I\u2019ve opted to pick up and read this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another book recently purchased in a church for 20p, or thereabouts. And one I was actually on the point of taking to a charity shop, unread, as part of our ever ongoing de-cluttering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Next Day\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been raining more or less continuously for the last 48 hours. We have a soggy moggy just arrived in our bedroom. Bless him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I\u2019m kind of glad I chose to read this Miranda book. I do prefer her on\u2019t tellybox. Her persona in writing is essentially a literary version of her onscreen self. All clumsy and ex-public schoolgirly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her candour and humour are charming and amusing. And whilst I don\u2019t share all of her \u2018Is It Just Me?\u2019 stuff type experiences, I do – as I\u2019m sure a great many of us do – identify with a great deal of her experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who hasn\u2019t<\/em> had a number of mortifying moments over the course of their lives? Surely most folk\u2019s lives are – if we only knew – messier and more troubled than a first glance might suggest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with things like her height – she\u2019s the same height as me, 6\u20191\u201d – she\u2019s built an adult identity, indeed, an entire career, out of playing the klutz. A dangerous game, perhaps?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, whilst I generally avoid books of this sort – by which I mean apparently lighter than a souffl\u00e9 – esp\u2019 if loaded to the gunwhales (as this is) with contemporary pop culture references, I\u2019m glad I made an exception for Miranda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a fan of comedy. I mean, either you laugh or cry at the tragicomedy that is life. I\u2019ve done more than my share of crying. I\u2019d far rather laugh, if I get to choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Miranda can and does make me laugh. Sometimes it\u2019s just a wry smile, at others it\u2019s a proper full on belly laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter sounds like a euphemism for farting. And, to her great credit, whilst simultaneously admitting to a very English difficulty with all things bodily, she frequently visits this most comedic of bodily functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember attending a meditation group in Brixton, some decades back, where a hirsute hippy dude let off a pleasingly sonorous but appallingly eggy guff. I was one of the few who couldn\u2019t help but laugh. So Miranda\u2019s recollections of po-faced yoga classes where the \u2018fart-police\u2019 ban mirth has a sulphurous resonance for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And whilst I\u2019ve not had a pigeon mistake me for a lamp post, I did have one defecate directly into my as yet untasted pint of beer, just as I hoisted it mouthwards, sitting outside a pub in Soho, many moons ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pesky pigeon bum-bombed my beverage with what might\u2019ve been a pleasing plop, to an avian dam-buster. \u2018Bomber\u2019 Harris would\u2019ve killed for that pigeon\u2019s pin-point accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was, of course, mortified, and very<\/em> pissed off. And I have countless other experiences not dissimilar to many of Miranda\u2019s. So it really isn\u2019t<\/em> just her. As I guess she full well knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, after just one days\u2019 reading, I\u2019m about 60% through the book. If I\/you weren\u2019t doing anything else (I had a shift of work and numerous household chores to contend with), it could be comfortably read in just one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s written \u2018what I call\u2019* \u2018Miss Book\u2019, in part, as a conversation with her 18 year old self. She\u2019s also made it 18 chapters, allegedly one for each year of her younger self. Each is themed on one of life\u2019s vexing challenges. Ranging across such issues as Hobbies, Beauty, Office Life, Technology, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Viewers of her TV show will recognise not just her catchphrases, but her entire persona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All told, whilst not blown away by Is It Just Me?<\/em> I am glad I did at least choose to read it, before moving it on. Teresa and I have been \u2018in the wars\u2019 recently, in our differing ways. And some light-hearted laughter – perhaps esp\u2019 when it touches upon potentially awful\/personally distressing stuff, as this does – is most welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOME DAYS LATER\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, so I just finished this book. Much Miranda is already known to us, via her TV shows, etc. But there are some new things I\u2019ve learned about her, reading this. Some that I love, and a few that make me feel I might have less in common with her than I originally thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess the main thing I have in common with her (apart from close to identical height), is typical human foolishness, or klutziness. And traits associated with how that plays out in adult life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Areas where we diverge include the fact that I\u2019m an artsy-fartsy muso type, of sorts, and whereas she seems proud to be a little dumb, and is happily and unashamedly into \u2018pop culture\u2019, I\u2019m keen on trying to be clever, and pretty cranky about the banality of popular mainstream culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her book is a quick, fun, easy read. I much preferred it to a book I once read (Born Lippy<\/em>, was it?) by Jo Brand. Both are female comedians whose paths through life have been greatly affected by their physical and related aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both books are written to come across like the TV personae we know and (for me, with Miranda) love. Neither is to my normal tastes. But of the two, Miranda\u2019s Venn circle overlaps that bit more with mine than Brand\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike many books I\u2019ve read and reviewed over the years, esp\u2019 those I\u2019ve really enjoyed, I\u2019m hesitant about recommending this. It\u2019s hardly a classic. And it\u2019s not going to teach you anything you didn\u2019t already know, or haven\u2019t already heard elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, at the end of the day, if, like me, you enjoy Miranda on the tellybox, you\u2019ll probably also enjoy her in book form. Of the two, I think TV is better suited to her whole style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Partridge would be an example of a TV comedy character that, for me, whilst still best enjoyed on TV (or now in podcast form, as well), transitions better into the written word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, there you go. I picked it up cheap. Eventually read it. Quite enjoyed it. And now I\u2019m moving it on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I lurch from one disaster to another (quite possibly – to be honest I\u2019m past knowing or even caring – largely self-inflicted), I\u2019ve opted to pick up and read this. Another book recently purchased in a church for 20p, or thereabouts. And one I was actually on the point of taking to a charity … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “MiSC\/READING: Is It Just Me? Miranda”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-4e3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16247"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16247"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16631,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16247\/revisions\/16631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}