Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Book Review - Louise Rennison's Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me, Georgia Nicolson Book 10

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
Published by: HarperCollins Childrens (Uk), HarperTeen (US)
Publication Date: June 2009 (UK), October 6th, 2009 (US)
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (UK)
To Preorder (US)

In the tenth and final installment of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series, Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? Georgia is once again on the rack of luurve. I have always been a big supporter of these books with it's witty protagonist and inventive use of the English language, but, I am also glad to say the series has come it's end (in it's current incarnation). This last installment seemed a little stale. Georgia is once again trying to find where she stands with a Luurve God and with Dave the Laugh. But haven't we been here before? The jokes have been used one too many times and the situations are a little frayed around the edges. While we have been spending ten years reading the exploits of Georgie only two years have passed in her world. The lack of time is occasionally frustrating, because the first and second book were the only two with a distinct time lapse, the rest have been under a month! So while it seems Georgie has been on the rack for awhile, it's actually early days for her yet. But I did enjoy the fact that she seems to be gaining some maturiosity. She comes to realize that with a boyfriend like Masimo she doesn't have that much in common other than the snogging, so what do you do with a boyfriend like that? Well how about upgrade to a guy who is not only cute but funny, who you aren't nervous around and who you don't pretend to be someone you're not around and who likes you and thinks you're beautiful? Maybe Dave? We also get to see another hilarious Billy Shakespeare adaptation, this time Rom and Jul, with Georgia playing Merc-Lurk-io. Jas also becomes less of a spaz and tries to be a little less clingy when it comes to Tom. Also was there this much German in earlier books?

The one thought I have is, what would happen to Georgia later in life? While the current teen aspect has run its course what would happen if Louise Rennison decided to relaunch the series later in Georgia's life. This isn't a far fetched idea either. Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend was a huge success in the 80s and later she decided to continue his tale later in his life. He started out as 13 3/4s in 1983 but by 2004 he was 34. I personally think this would work for Georgia, plus she could give Bridget Jones a run for her money, especially seeing as they are making yet another film (why I ask, why!?! The second was awful and in my mind hurt the perfection of the original).

As a final note, I loved the Rowan Atkinson quote (I think it's from Blackadder, but I was also watching The Thin Blue Line recently, so one of those): "You wouldn't get it if it came in a large bag marked IT!"

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