Angus, Thongs & Full Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #1)

I (Erin) bought this one as a “blind date” from Malaprops. They wrap books in brown paper and write things like “hilarious” or “pee-your-pants funny” or whatever, and you buy it like that and then open it to see what you bought! It’s so fun! (If you already have it, you can exchange it right away, so it’s a much better deal than your usual blind date ha ha!)

Georgia is 14. She lives in Great Britain and has all kinds of misadventures like dressing up as an olive for a party and wrestling her own rather terrifying house cat. She’s very funny most of the time, but sometimes she’s kind of mean so I didn’t always sympathize with her.

This is the first book in the series–copyright 1999–so it’s a bit dated now. For example, the main character asks a million questions but never Googles anything. Clearly not a modern teenager. (Clearly not a modern anything.)

Still, it’s a light, quick read, structured like a diary which adds to the humor–at 6:00 she might say she’s never speaking to someone again, and then at 6:02 she calls them. I just wish Georgia’s sense of humor was a bit less mean–and I wish her view of the world was a bit more inclusive–but that’s realistic I suppose.

I wished that about most 14-year-olds even when I was 14 myself.

Any teenage girl, or boy, would be able to relate to Georgia. Some may not go about things the way she has, but I tell you, what an exciting life she leads. She would be a great friend to have. I've seen the movie, and it was just as brilliant and funny as the book. A great read.

Reader reviewed by marsandneptune5

I'd like to
begin by explaining a few things, since the only word in the book's
title that's readily clear to Americans is "thong." Angus is a cat,
Georgia's to be exact, but he's not any ordinary cat. One wouldn't
expect a cat of his mixed domestic/Scottish wildcat heritage to be
ordinary. He's exceedingly large, temperamental, or just plain mental
depending how you look at it. Angus intimidates dogs and Angus eats
leads (that's leash in American) on a regular basis. Angus is a killing
machine much feared by the wildlife of Georgia's neighborhood, the
rodents especially. The second thing I'd like to explain is snogging. If
you managed to miss Austin Powers you are most likely confused. A snog
is a kiss, and not of the chaste sort. One doesn't snog one's gran
(grandmother) unless one is very, very strange. Now that I've explained
the unfamiliar terms, let's move on.



Georgia leads a very ordinary English teenage life: an all girls high
school , uniforms with about fifty different
skirt lengths, sneaking off to Boots (a drug store) during double free
periods with her friends... Georgia is more interested in boys,
meeting them, attracting them,and potentially snogging them if she can ever
figure out what to do with her arms , than she is in the mysteries of
physics or Frog (French). At 14 she sometimes thinks she's the only
girl in the world without the very necessary appendage called the
boyfriend, even though she knows this isn't true when she looks at her
friends.


 
Georgia lives at the edge of love and mortification
when she's with her family, so she tries to ignore them as much as
possible. She's so successful at this that she nearly doesn't notice
when her father leaves for New Zealand to look for a job. New Zealand is
so far away it takes nearly two days by plane to get there. Is it any
wonder then that Georgia's mum begins to flirt just a little with the
builder (construction worker) who seems to taking forever to refit the
lounge (living room)? If this sounds a bit like a soap, it should, but
it's a soap driven by humor rather than the pathos.



ANGUS, THONGS AND FULL FRONTAL SNOGGING is funny enough to make the most sad looking guy laugh out loud. This is a book to share
with friends since they'll all want to know what a "tosser" is (no, I'm
not going to tell you). Georgia is Everyday girl taken to the extreme, her
antics will make anything you've ever done when looking for that special
guy seem staid, reasonable, or even worse, completely normal. Rennison
provides at least one joke per page so that the action moves at a quick
pace, and after reading it you might even come to realize that England
is more than Masterpiece Theatre and Blur.Once you start reading, you'll feel like an everyday girl in england!

Reader reviewed by Rvnclw08

This book is so funny. Your sides will be hurting from laughing so hard. I love the english lingo is this good is pretty cool listening to how british people talk.  Also, it sounds like something that would really happen to a teenager.  Its cool becaus i can relate to it.  ANd I love the sex god in the book so funny.  I think if you are a middle school, high school, or even a college student you read this if you need a good laugh.

Reader reviewed by Liz C.

Georgia Nicolson is a pretty normal 14-year-old British
girl. She hates her parents, her little sister is insane, her cat wants to eat
the poodle next-door, shes questioning her sexuality, and of course she thinks
she will never get a boyfriend (or girlfriend for that matter). Through her
journal entries we get all the juicy insight into her life. Georgia
suspects her mother of having an affair while her father is away in New
Zealand. She also thinks her best friend has
betrayed her by going for a coffee with Robbie, the boy Georgia
is in love with. She also shaves off her eyebrows and accidentally tears a
large clump of hair off her head. Finally, she loses her beloved cat/beast,
Angus, which leads her to Robbie, who it turns out is in love with her too. But
as soon as they finally do some full-frontal snogging Georgia
finds out shes leaving for holiday in New
Zealand next week. Will her new relationship
withstand a summer apart? Youll have to read the next book in the series to
find out.

 

 

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging is written in diary
form. You will either love this format or hate it. I found that for this series
it works a lot better than a regular novel; if a part is getting boring (which
is a problem I had with this book) you can simply move to the next entry. It
definitely wasnt as hilarious as its supposed to be, and as I said it got a
bit boring in some parts. I suffered from much second-hand embarrassment, even
if the characters were fictional. The situations Georgia
gets herself into are not at all un-realistic, which made them more
cringe-worthy. This is a British book so some of the language Georgia
uses may be unfamiliar to American teens. The version I read had a handy glossary
with clever definitions for all the British slang. Overall Angus, Thongs and
Full-Frontal Snogging is a prime example of a great YA novel. It is unique,
fun, and highly enjoyable.

Reader reviewed by Laina

Summary (from the back of the book): Angus: My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small Labrador, only mad.

Thongs: Stupid underwear. What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up your bum, as far as I can tell.

Full-frontal Snogging: Kissing with all the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues... everything.

Her dad's got the mentality of a Teletubby (only not so developed). Her cat, Angus, is trying to eat the poodle next door. And her best friend thinks she looks like an alien - just because she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. Ergghhhlack. Still, add a little boy-stalking, teacher-baiting, and full-frontal snogging with a Sex God, and Georgia's year might just turn out to be the most fabbitty fab fab ever!

Review: This was possibly one of the funniest books I've ever read. Georgia is a hilarious narrator. At times some of the things she came up with just cracked me up. Like she starts calling her mother "Mutter" (Mutti for short) and her father "Vater" (Vati for short), as she's taking German at her school, and actually continues that throughout the book.

One part that absolutely cracked me up was after she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows and she's hiding from the world in her room. (Just so you all know, Libby is her little sister, two or three years old.)

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

Absolutely hilarious and the entire book is like that. At times I actually had to stop myself from laughing out loud because I was reading it at night.

My only issue is perhaps some of the subject material is a little old for a girl who's only fourteen, but that could easily be that I'm simply in denial about the fact that fourteen year old girls are dealing with things like that. Otherwise, though, I loved this book and would recommend it without a second thought and I'm looking forward to reading the others in this series.

Conclusion: A good, fun book definitely worth checking out.

Happy reading.

*Reprinted with permission of author from http://lainahastoomuchsparetime.blogspot.com/

Reader reviewed by Adriana M.

This reminded me of "Gert Garibaldi's Rants and Raves" (Kizer) and another one I read, "My mother is a french fry and further proof of my fuzzed up life" (Sydor), but I think this is the original.

Georgia is a british teen whose parents don't get her and whose friends are trying to cope with crushes, their teachers, and having to wear berets at school. Even with all the british lingo, I really enjoyed it. I found myself laughing out loud more than once. There is plenty of wit and humor, mixed in with the teenage angst and those feelings of wanting to fit in and get the guy. I had heard they made the book into a film, so I'll be trying to watch that soon. For now I will be starting the second in the series. It's a well-written, funny, and light-hearted read.

Reader reviewed by Hillary

Georgia Nicholson has a very complicated life. Her cat, Angus, is the size of a small Labrador, she has a three year old sister, and her best friend is not all that supoortive and thinks that she is weird. Like that is not enough to make a girl's year interesting, she has recently met the most gorgeous boy in the entire world who she has named the "Sex God." Now, all she has to do is find a way to get him to break up with his current girlfriend, get him to like her enough to ask her out, and discover how to wear the hat required in her school uniform without it being seen.

Ummm, who forgot to tell me that these books are awesome? I've gone all these years and no one has told me? I'm surprised. The British lingo might be confusing for a few chapters but it's really easy to understand once you get used to it. Georgia was an amazing character. She's funny, sarcastic, and has just the right amount of pathetic to really make the books entertaining but not annoying. It has a cliffhanger ending so make sure you have the second one on hand because you'll want to hear more about Georgia's crazy life.

Reader reviewed by Amanda Marasco

Georgia finds herself in many errr situations in this hilarious book. The Story is mostly about how Georgia feels about her family, friends, school and of course boys, including the sex god.

I love how this book is told in diary form. We are able to really get inside of Georgia's head. It was sooooo funny! Even if you don't like to read, you'll love to read this book. The only thing that bugged me is the book barely has a plot.

You should buy this book! Ohhh and you can buy the rest of the series! GO GO GO!!!!

Reader reviewed by MRose52

"Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging" is a hysterical novel about Georgia, a teenager growing up in England. This is a great book if what you want is lots of laughs, because this book is all about boy-problems, makeup, hamburger-a-gogo land, and ways to roll a baret into a sausage shape (so that no one can see it). I really liked this book because it made me laugh nonstop. But Beware! You may want to refrain from reading this in public (or more importalty, in front of people you want to respect you).