Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Cover to Cover)

Georgia relates her tales of love, life and full frontal snogging through her diary, a format that in this case works like a dream. Georgia not only has to cope with the hormonal roller coaster that refuses to stop, but fears that she might be a lesbian and her dad might be a transvestite. Of course, Georgia is seeing the world through her naive eyes and seems to get every situation hopelessly wrong--not so good for her but great for the reader who is treated to an hilarious account of a few months in the life of typical teenager.

Rennison's prose crackles with energy and enthusiasm and her voice is so painfully authentic that at times you feel almost guilty, as if you are secretly peering into the pages of a real person's diary. But it is the author's razor sharp humour that will keep you hooked and, at times, virtually crying with laughter as Georgia stumbles from one mid-teen crisis to the next, such as an unfortunate incident with a pair of tweezers and some eye liner pencil. Her cringe-inducing encounters with boys, especially her over-friendly cousin, cause just as many problems as what she should do with her hands while engaging in a heavy kissing session.

Angus, Things and Full-Frontal Snogging is a smart, sharp and very funny book, superbly written and acutely observed--please Ms Rennison, can we have some more? (Age 12 and over) --Jonathan Weir