Published November 4th 2002 by BBC Audiobooks (first published June 1st 1999)
ISBN: 1855491893 (ISBN13: 9781855491892)
original title: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, #1)
literary awards: Printz Honor (2001)
2 stars overall / 5 stars audio narration
2 stars overall / 5 stars audio narration
Goodreads Synopsis:
There are six things very wrong with my life:
1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years.
2. It is on my nose
3. I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.
4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.
5. I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.
6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.
In this wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones's Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"
My Thoughts:
I had almost finished a relatively detailed review of this book, and I lost it, so here's the short version:
WHAT I LIKED:
The book was funny enough...I laughed out loud in a few places.
The title is provocative and funny...definitely one of the more creative titles I've seen.
The audio narrator was brilliant!
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Georgia is a shallow, self-absorbed, snobby, selfish, disrespectful, mean, rude, boy-crazy girl with (virtually) no redeeming qualities.
Georgia's parents are (apparently) oblivious, and she gets away with murder. She is disrespectful in words & deeds, and a competent parent would take her down a peg or two...quickly.
Georgia seems to believe the world should revolve around her, and is somewhat astonished when it doesn't.
Georgia is way too sex-crazed at 14 years old.
Georgia is a terrible literary example for adolescent girls, and the things she says & does are grossly inappropriate for kids of that age, male or female.
THE AUTHOR is an adult and should have better judgment about what is appropriate for early teen girls.
As a reader, I am loathe to support any type of literary censorship except that which I do for myself. However, as an involved parent, I will draw the line on books like this for my adolescent kids. When they're older and better able to maturely evaluate material like this, they can read it, but not at age 14. These are not the values I want to instill in my children, nor do I want the good values the do have to be undermined by this type of literature (and I use that word VERY loosely).
I am glad I read it. Why? Because I want to make decisions about YA lit out of a position of knowledge rather rather than having knee-jerk reactions borne out of ignorance.
Hi Laura. I'm interested in your thoughts here. I too have been captivated by the title of this book for some time (indeed there are a whole series of them). I haven't read any yet, but hope to sometime, in the meantime I enjoyed your thoughts.
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