#GeorgiaNicolsonReadalong – Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas

Welcome back to the #GeorgiaNicolsonReadalong with Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas!

Quick refresher: in honour of our dearly departed Teen Queen Louise Rennison, I started a readalong so that we could read (or re-read) her classic Georgia Nicolson series. Every three weeks we’ll post about the next book in the series. You’re invited to join in at any time!

You can catch up with posts on Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God.

Please note that if you haven’t read this book yet and intend to, there are spoilers!

If you thought Georgia’s hormones were awakening in the first two books, you were in for a heightened volume this time around. Georgia’s body is changing, and people, mostly boys, are noticing. Aka, she starts to develop breasts (or as her social circle calls them, nunga-nungas because ‘when you let one go it goes nunga nunga nunga,’ also, basoomas). Remind me why, at 28, I thought it was a good idea to read this again? :p

The first chunk of the book tackles unwanted touching. We’d call it assault now, but Georgia didn’t know much other than feeling really uncomfortable. When she was on a family trip in Scotland, a local boy who she dubbed Jock McThick somehow reached out in the dark night and touched her when she was out for a walk. How creepy is that?! Georgia immediately freaks out and calls her ‘potato’ of a mate, Jas. But Jas questions the interaction in a really bummer way.

She said, “Erlack a pongoes. Did you encourage him? Maybe you gave out the wrong signals.”

“Jas, I was not in the nuddy-pants.”

“Well, I’m just saying, Jock must have thought he could rest his hand on your basooma. Why is that? He has never rested his hand on my basoomas, for instance.”

“Jas, you are three hundred miles away. You would have to have nunga-nungas the size of France for Jock to be able to rest his hand on them.”

“Yes, well… I’m just saying, even if I was, you know, in Och Aye land, next to Jock, well, even then, you know…”

“What are you rambling on about?”

“I’m just saying this is not the first time this has happened to you, is it? There was Mark, the Big Gob…”

“Yeah, but…”

“You say it just happened. That just out of the blue he put his hand on your basooma. No one else was there so we will never really know for sure.”

“I didn’t…it was…”

“Perhaps Jock has heard about your reputation. Perhaps he thinks its alright to fondle your basoomas.”

When I read this as a teen, I probably didn’t think much into it. But now I just feel gross. The fact that Georgia’s so-called best friend questions the experience because it wasn’t the first time a guy touched her is just troublesome. And crap for a best friend. Georgia is still so upset when she gets home that she asks her mom for a breast reduction surgery, and her mom just laughs at her. And then Mark the Big Gob teases her in front of his friends that ‘she could put an eye out with those.’ Gosh.

But Georgia feels back to normal when she’s home and cars honk at her; she writes ‘I really have become a boy magnet.’ So she’s validating herself in a way. For teenage girls, perhaps the biggest form of a compliment is that people think you’re attractive. Reading parts like this reminds me of my teenage years, of just craving someone to notice and approve publicly. Yuck. (I guess I turned out alright though?)

Georgia is still all-consumed by the fact that she’s now the girlfriend of a sex god. But she rarely sees him or talks to him (though isn’t suspicious of that very much). Most of their interaction is snogging. And now that Dave the Laugh (her ex who she used to make sex god Robbie jealous) with her friend Ellen, he is more appealing of course, so Georgia starts feeling a bit confused. She ends up kissing him a couple times at parties.

2:30 am

For heaven’s sake. It was just a little kiss! I am a teenager, I’ve got whatsit…lust for life. Also it was probably my hormones that made me do it (Officer).

So, we’ll see how that goes. 😉  In Dancing in My Nuddy Pants, Georgia must decide between ‘ear snogging’ and ‘nip libbling.’

Georgia still exhibits homophobia, using ‘lesbian’ as an insult about her gym teacher and to taunt Jas. This is also a big bummer. I’m not sure if she ever snaps out of this in the series. It does make me curious of how Rennison viewed the world.

How do you guys feel about reading things like this now? Do you feel comfortable to keep going or does it entirely put you off? I know some of it is a sign of the times but that doesn’t exactly make it okay. It is interesting to read something I read when I was much younger and see the difference. Yes it taints the memory I have of the books but I think it’s important to keep things in check. And what does it mean when we remember the funny parts fondly but didn’t remember the bad things? Is that good? When I re-watched Boy Meets World, my world was shattered when I saw how much of it was filled with religion and conservativeness. The memories I had of it before I did that were all just fond of the dynamic between the characters.

Up next is Dancing in my Nuddy Pants, which we’ll discuss on May 24.