Series Fiction

8:00 p.m.
The only nice person is Libby. She was stroking where my eyebrows used to be and then she went off and brought me a lump of cheese. Great. I have become ratwoman.

My first introduction to Louise Rennison's Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging came from a friend who held the book up to me and said, "this will make you blow snot bubbles out of your nose. Do not read this on the bus." He was right. Well, not about the snot bubbles, but about the hilarity that is the life of Georgia Nicolson.

The book is written in diary format, somewhat the way Bridget Jones would have described her angst-ridden life as a 14-year-old girl (complete with worries about her nose/body/skin/breasts and the mysteries of the male gender). Georgia's life is full of things she simultaneously loves and hates, like her parents, boys and her half-Scottish wildcat Angus who stalks her legs as if they were wild game.

My one quibble with the book is that sometimes Georgia struck me as a wee bit too egocentric and unaware of how her actions affected other people. Some of the comments she makes to her father or "Nauseating Pamela Green" reek of insensitivity (but then again, I suppose most 14 year old girls are slightly unaware how unkind their actions can be). I was also a little uncomfortable with the recurring jokes about lesbianism. I like to hope we're a little more socially aware these days.

However, when all is said and done the book is literally laugh-out-loud funny. I dare you to read the scene where Georgia meets her crush, Robbie, with her three year old sister Libby in tow and not guffaw or at least cackle a bit. Recommended for ages 13 to 18.

And if you like this one, later books in the series include On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God; Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas; Dancing In My Nuddy Pants; Away Laughing on a Fast Camel; Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers; Startled by His Furry Shorts; and Love is a Many Trousered Thing.

The details: Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. New York: HarperTempest, 2001.