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Created page with "{{infobox |title=Confessions of Modern Women |sort= |author=Spadge Whittaker |reviewer=Jill Murphy |genre=Lifestyle |summary=Another fab book from Bookbag friend Spadge Whitt..."
{{infobox
|title=Confessions of Modern Women
|sort=
|author=Spadge Whittaker
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Another fab book from Bookbag friend Spadge Whittaker, this time collating confessions from women that belie all those perfect life social media profiles that make us feel inadequate. It's both fun and funny to read and occasionally bawdy to boot!
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=153
|publisher=Spadge UK
|website=0993429912
|date=February 2017
|isbn=http://spadgeuk.com/blog/
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993429912</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0993429912</amazonus>
|video=
}}

She's back! Huzzah! Do you remember when Spadge Whittaker [[Braver Than Britain, Occasionally by Spadge Whittaker|faced her (and our) deepest fears]]? We loved the way she did that. EXCEPT FOR THE SPIDERS.

This time, Spadge has turned her attention to what it means to be a modern woman in twenty-first century, digital Britain. Sure, we're not kept in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant like many of our female forebears. Sure, technology has made many traditional tasks a lot less hard work. But are our lives actually any easier? Are we really under less pressure to conform? To be perfect? Spadge isn't sure about that and she's probably right. And she wonders if, behind all the social media profiles extolling everyone else's perfect life, all the other British women are as stressed out and are making as many hapless cock-ups as Spadge herself is.

To this end, Spadge recruited a couple of dozen willing Facebook friends to tell her (and us) what it really means to be a woman in early twenty-first century Britain. The confessions of these wonderful Anonymous Modern Women are arranged into ten sections covering most of today's preoccupations - by official title and real meaning. So ''clothing'' is really ''shopping'' and ''cooking'' is really ''microwaving''. Spadge introduces each section with a few words of her own and where she stands on this particular test of successful modern womanhood. The result is funny, silly, entertaining, enlightening, occasionally bawdy, and SO, SO TRUE.

Let's have a bet. I'll bet you a tenner to one of my children's smelly, un-laundry-basketed socks that you'll think ''OMG! I thought it was only me!'' or ''I've been there SO many times!'' or ''Bloody hell! I wish I'd thought of that!'' much more often than you'll think ''but I'd never do THAT!'' as you read. Are we on? I don't want to say much more because it's a little book and should be enjoyed without me spoiling it all in advance. But I can't resist just a couple of highlights. Just a couple, mind.

''I have a hair that grows out of a mole that my ex nick-named Spike.''

MOLE HAIRS ARE SUPER VILLAINS. I BELIEVE THIS.

''I once told my ex-boyfriend that I was pregnant for April fools. He took it very seriously and came back at the end of the day with a 5 year plan depending on what decision we came to. At the time it wasn't funny but looking back it really is.''

AM I A SUPER VILLAIN FOR FINDING THIS THE FUNNIEST THING OF 2017 SO FAR?

If you aren't tempted by 153 pages of this, I'm disappointed in you. I do love Spadge Whittaker. She's got the right attitude to life if you ask me. Because what is the point of life if you can't laugh at it? And the underlying message is that yes, of course you're good enough. And so is everyone else. We're all making a mess of it half the time but that's just what life is all about.

Recommended.

If you haven't read Spadge's fear-facing [[Braver Than Britain, Occasionally by Spadge Whittaker|first offering]], you really should. [[Pugh's New Year's Resolutions by Jonathan Pugh]] also makes kindly fun of the undue pressures of modern life, this time in cartoon format.

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