angus, thongs, and full-frontal snogging by Louise Rennison

This book was amusing, and I thought it was a pretty quick read. I think one of the reasons why is because it is written as diary entries of a 14 year old girl that lives in England. The entries are short (some are even one sentence or two words!) as she records many of the problems that most 14 years face: boy problems, friend problems, family problems, and self-esteem problems. She does it in a really sarcastic, funny, realistic way that I think is appealing. It even has a glossary in the back, so the American readers can understand her British slang. For the most part I thought that was pretty cool, but after awhile I got tired of looking things up, so I just relied on figuring out meaning from the context of the sentence. Pretty much like you should do any time you come across a word you don't know, and you do not have a dictionary handy.

Some of her situations are so right on... for example, she is daydreaming about her current semi-boyfriend. He plays soccer (football in the book), and she begins to fantasize about him becoming famous. How she would be in all the papers with her big nose, and how she would have to worry about the paparazzi. Eventually, she comes to this conclusion...

5:15 p.m.

I can't marry him, the pressure is just too much. I am losing my own self-esteem while he gets all the attention. I'll have to explain to him tonight that it is all over.

The really funny part is at this point, they are not really dating. He had just asked her to attend a dance with him, but who hasn't let their imagination take over when daydream about a boyfriend?

This book is part of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series which as of right now has 8 books in the series. They all have equally compelling titles, and all have a picture of the crazy cat on the cover somewhere.

These are good books to read for fun. To be honest, there really isn't a lot of academic value to them. They are funny stories about being a girl and facing what life gives you. So if you are looking for something to read for fun over break or summer vacation, this book and the rest in the series might be worth a look.

Have you read any of them? What did you think?