Picked this slim little book, first in a long series by Louise Rennison, at the recommendation of a friend, as a good "comfort" read. Hah.
Book: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #1)
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The Book Review
Georgia might be the most unlikable teen diary narrator I have ever encountered. But she is so perfectly unlikable, she is actually a delight. Selfish, self absorbed, and 100% clueless (and I really wanted to say something on the lines of "exactly like three other people I work with," but that would be a lie, as no one even comes close—am I lucky? Is this what they call perspective?). But I loved her. I actually thought.... wow, am I really going to say this? I am. I really am. I actually thought that this was the best diary-style book I ever read. Diaries BORE me. They are one-sided, whiny, unrealistic, and why are teen girls so down on themselves (rhetoric question, of course)? And not that Georgia wasn't any of those things, she was, and to an extreme level that tip-toed the line on annoying and delightful on every new diary entry. And who cares? She nailed every time.
(Side note: British is so cute.)
anThe most absurd section for me was at the end, the Q&A with the author. It seems like this book was just incredibly auto-biographical, which is, well, shocking, because nothing in it sounds real. But maybe she is just pulling our legs.
The Quote
“I am going to become a writer for Cosmo—you don’t have to make any sense at all. Or maybe I’ll be a bloke, they don’t have to make sense either.”
The Cover Redesign
Here's the deal: I hate to dig at other people's work, but have you seen the cover for Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging? This is the one that graced my kindle edition. Cute, put together girl. Fluffy kitten. I mean... It could be a good YA cover... for the Princess Diaries series. But Angus (the cat) is not that chill, and Georgia (the girl) is not put together, she is a hot mess—which a typical 14 year old girl has all the right to be, and honestly, it's why we love her. So for my redesign, I wanted either a punk-rock cool but nor traditionally pretty girl, or a deranged wide-eyed cat. Turns out drawing girls are easier, and this "cover redesign and a review"book project I am doing is about quick ideas so I wasn't about to spend the next week perfecting a cat.
I'm pretty happy with the drawing, it is unpretentious and simple, as I wanted it to be. I wanted it to have that quick sketch look, with a limited color palette (I am a huge fan of limited color palettes!) and just some red lips and good teeth with some color.
In the story, Georgia keeps using sello-tape to keep her bangs down. So I wanted to have the author's name on that tape, and also cover the girl's eyes. I've noticed that a lot of YA doesn't like to show the face of the characters on their covers, so the reader can see themselves in those characters.
Also, eyes are hard to draw, and I'm keeping this post as honest as if I was Georgia writing on my diary.
And to finish it off, the t-shirt had to be a canvas for the title. Looking like a shirt you bought on vacation for $5 because it said something funny, but it's that really crappy itchy fabric that doesn't really feel good, and the t-shirt maker used the most boring font (Arial, Futura, etc) they could find on Microsoft Word... You get the idea. And yeah, shitty was what I was going for with this shirt layout. I mean, which publisher worth their salt would split "full-frontal" into two lines? But if the shirt was bought at a really crap stall just for fun, then yeah, I can see this happening. All it is missing is a glaring typo.
I had fun with this one. I'll probably read all other books as well, once my to-read pile is under a modicum of control.