Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? - Louise Rennison

60%
29.06.09

The final confessions (really?) and finally a happy ending after 9 previous cliffhangers. Nothing new - still the Mallory Towers parallel universe of fives courts, berets and teenagers who do no more than snog. But it's a world you want to be a part of, whatever your age, and make friends with the eccentric characters. I'll miss it - but spinoffs are likely. [Ju's note: well, there is a new spinoff and it looks a bit rubbish. Time will tell...]

Stop in the Name of Pants! - Louise Rennison

57%
25.07.08

Talking of fluff, more of the same from the irrepressible Georgia, this time with an unusual dark tone as Angus the cat, rather movingly, almost dies. But otherwise fun and 'vair vair' silly. [Ju's note: It turns out there's an adult edition of this - no, not the one with all the sex and drugs that are mysteriously missing from Georgia's teen life, but one with a slightly arty cover and ironic quotes on the back. Surely nobody can be ashamed of their addiction to such a sunny series? I'm out and proud, with 3 shiny volumes of Georgia chronicles on the shelf opposite the front door, for visitors to admire or ignore, as they choose.]

Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing - Louise Rennison

53%
10.07.07




More of the same, which is becoming formulaic as the series goes on. It's still fun but entirely inconsequential and - as always - unresolved. It's very funny, though.

Startled by His Furry Shorts! - Louise Rennison

11.08.06
66%




What a relief to take a break from glum Joyce Carol Oates and rejoin the surreal sub-80s world of Georgia and her gang. The same old thing, but it works.

Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers - Louise Rennison

63%
22.06.05




More innocent fun in Georgia Nicolson's alternative reality. It's getting a bit slick now - there are only so many variations on a theme. But, as with the Stephanie Plum novels, good characterisation and witty one-liners save the day.

...And that's when it fell off in my hand - Louise Rennison

 67%
14.08.04




Gritty realism? Not for Louise Rennison - no teenage pregnancies (although interestingly Rennison herself became pregnant at a young age) or gun crime or sex or drugs in her books, though there is some rock 'n' roll. Which is great, espically when mixed with sly jokes and mad characters. But, more seriously, there is nobody working class or (apparently) any ethnic minorities, which makes this alternative universe a little too alternative.

Dancing in My Nuddy Pants - Louise Rennison

66%

28.07.02

Bereft - the final Georgia novel (allegedly), just published. [Ed: 7 years later, we're up to number 10 or something and Georgia hasn't aged at all.] She's just like a teenage Stephanie Plum, really: eccentric, unwittingly attractive, funny and always getting the best guys. Isn't that how we'd all like to be?

Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison

72%
02.01.02




It's very funny, it's very clever and it only takes 2 hours to read. Why weren't there teenage books like this when I was a teenager? Though I probably wouldn't have appreciated the satire.

It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers - Louise Rennison

 68%
16.11.01




An evening gulp of a book, far funnier than any adult books I've read recently. The teenagers seem to live in some sort of parallel universe, though they have more fun than I ever did at that age. The main character is strongly drawn, and once you start reading her memoirs, it's far too difficult to stop.