Louise Rennison (1951–2016)

My first exposure to YA lit was "Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging", and it changed the course of my life. And no, I'm not overstating that. When I started library school, my goal was to become a catalog librarian-no public contact, work in a cubby with books as company all day. The last thing I wanted to do was work with any people, let alone teenagers!

But Georgia's trials and tribulations broke something open in me-something I thought was irretrievably gone-the ability to laugh out show more loud-really, really laugh-snort things out your nose laugh-and in public, no less! And so, I began devouring ya lit, encouraging my daughter to have her friends over, and just observing them interacting and having fun. And I learned a lot. Mostly that I didn't want to sit in a stuffy little cubby in a moldy back room in an academic library somewhere.

Then, Georgia's story came to an end, and I mourned the passing of an era. But, behold, here's Tallulah Casey come to the rescue! She's definitely not Georgia and the Ace Gang, but that's not what we want--a retread of awesome isn't awesome anymore. Tallulah has her own brand of dizzy, wacky awesome to be discovered, and it's coming into full bloom in this third installment. Dother Hall is still in dire financial straits, and Tallulah is hated by the Bottomly sisters and Dr. Lightowler even more (if that's possible!). The owlets have flown the nest, Honey is off in Hollywood, and things are looking a bit glum for the Tree Sisters.

If you're a fan of Georgia, don't miss her Irish cousin Tallulah! Much fun to be had! show less

Poor Georgia; her Luuurve God boyfriend Massimo has absconded to Italy to see his family and Georgia's parents won't let her go to visit him! It's for the best anyways, because Georgia and Massimo aren't really meant to be together. He's not very funny, she can't really talk to him, and he didn't seem to care all that much when Angus got hit by a car. Boyfriends are supposed to care about our fur-babies, or they should be dumped! The person who Georgia always seems to go back to is Dave the show more Laugh, since the two of them have so much in common. Or at least they're both slightly mad... Which is really all that matters when it comes to love. As Dr Seuess said: "We're all a little weird, and when we find someone who is the same weird as us we fall into mutual weirdness and call it love." show less

4.5 stars! This review has to come with a disclaimer: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging had so much content in it that would never EVER be published in 2025 (for good reason - it’s super offensive), so if you read it, just know that I’m not at all a fan of those parts.

That being said, this book made me laugh harder than I’ve ever laughed at a book in my life. I’m OBSESSED with Georgia’s insane thoughts and opinions. She is so dramatic and selfish, and I loved it. And her show more unruly cat, Angus, who makes it a habit to terrorize the neighborhood, is a delight! Before I had even gotten to the halfway point of this book, I had already ordered the second one from the library.

While horrendously offensive at times, Georgia’s thoughts sort of make sense coming from her, because Georgia is a 14 year old writing in her diary, and thus an unreliable narrator. I think most people would immediately pass away if they saw the contents of a 14 year old girl’s diary. They are brutal and scathing, taking no prisoners. In capturing Georgia as a character, Rennison gets it right!

Also, I normally don’t like diary formats for books, and I loved this, so don’t let the diary aspect scare you away from giving this a go. show less

TW: massive, massive anti-lesbian statements stuffed into nearly every page of this book. Misogyny is even more common. Classism is on display, as is age-ism and some incest. I firmly believe this character is related to Bella Swan, or mayhap sociopathy in teen girl book characters makes me think they are. The character says she's fifteen and a half but I am convinced she's an unusually literate six years old and got into what she thought was sugar and most adults would say coke. How the show more fuck is anything in this book funny? And it became a SERIES?!.
Georgia isn't six years old, however, because she obsesses over boys when she's not utterly fixated on how icky lesbians are. She is vapid, completely self-absorbed and self-centered, has absolutely no empathy, feels no loyalty to her friends, cannot shut up about herself, forgets about everyone except herself, has no boundaries with her toddler sister. Her selfishness knows no bounds. She hates every single other teen girl in existence. At least she hates girls she deems uglier than her (nearly everyone) as much as she hates girls she thinks are hotter than her (a few girls who might be trying to steal her crush who she's never actually spoken to). At least she enjoys things: insulting her best friends; whining when people don't call her every hour; obsessing over boys; insulting her teachers for enjoying teaching; sleeping; complaining about how absolutely hideous she is when boys are stated to think she's cute; and trying out wacky makeup stuff. Oh, and stealing things.

I briefly looked through some reviews people I'm following on Goodreads wrote and at least I know where they stand. I'm surprised at myself for being so horrified--a lot of support of non-heterosexual folx is still very performative. I read and enjoyed a series by a transphobe who proudly froths at the mouth about her views. I PUT A DISCLAIMER ON MY GOODREADS REVIEWS EXPLAINING WHY I OCCASIONALLY STILL READ THE BOOKS UNTIL EARLY 2022, WHEN I SWORE THEM OFF THE FINAL TIME. IT'S NOT HARD, PEOPLE. Donate to charities that help queer folx after reading this book and I will be somewhat less upset. And to think, I was hoping this book would be silly. It's mind-numbingly stupid when it's not incredibly hateful.. show less