Hour 4

Hours into the challenge: 4
Hours spent reading/blogging: 4
# pages read:372
# books read: 1 full, 1 partial

The Mates, Dates Guide to Life, Love, and Looking Luscious Cathy Hopkins 241 pages

This is a companion volume to the Mates, Dates... series. You know the stuff they put at the end of each chapter in those books? Well, this is kinda like a compendium of that, but it's not. I mean, it reads like it is, and some of the material is taken from the chapter-end material, but a lot of it is new.

And, there's some great stuff in here. I actually liked this book better than any book in the series and I wish I had it when I was in junior high/ high school. It gives important advice on how to make your first kiss not suck, how flirt, and how to spot a love rat. It also deals with more serious issues such as what to do if you're being bullied and how to tell if you're ready to have sex.

I love the section on homemade face and hair masks for different skin and hair types-- I must try them out. AND! Who knew there was a cure for whisker rash?!

One of my main complaints about the series (besides how a lot of the books came off like a bad after-school special) was the lousy translation job-- they'd just translate words and forget the context. In one book, Nesta makes a pun about public schools. Now in a translation from British to American English, "public school" means "private school". So, they changed the public to private... completely ruining the joke and making the entire page make NO SENSE if you didn't realize that's what had happened. There's not a lot of translation here. I mean check out this sentence:

Boys tend to be more anoraky than girls

Would anyone besides a hard core Anglophile know what "anoraky" means as an adjective? Because that's something I never would have picked up on until I moved there.

But then, once again, the one time they DO translate, they forget context. It say if you're mugged to hand over your personal property and call 911. Now, in the UK, you call 999. So, they translated the phone number, but the illustration still says 999.

But what really gets me is what's left untranslated-- it gives some great hotlines and websites to check out if you're being bullied, but they're all British. Would it have been so hard for the US publisher to add a few pages in back with American resources?

Also, just a note, this was written before the series ended, so keep that in mind, other wise some asides they make don't make ANY sense in the context of the last book, but it makes perfect sense if you realize that the events of the last book haven't happened yet.

Ok, it's after 1. Off to bed and then a group meeting tomorrow and lots more reading! Stay tuned!

Mates, Dates and other things...

Now Reading: Mao's Last Revolution Roderick Macfarquhar and Michael Schoenhals
So Far from the Bamboo Grove Yoko Kawashawa Watkins
The Girl Sleuth Bobbie Ann Mason

Ok, so, I didn't update the first week, so last week I was supposed to review 10 books. I did 4, so this week, I'm aiming for 11. Got your seatbelts on?

Right now, I'm going to talk about Cathy Hopkin's series Mates, Dates, and.... I've already discussed the first one, Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras.

Overall, the series isn't funny (it has its moments, but humour isn't the object), but is too light to actually carry a more serious tone. It can get really preachy, and in its preachyness, especially when talking about drugs, the information is just plain wrong. That said, I did find this series oddly compelling and have read all of them now and enjoyed them. I'm sad that Cathy Hopkins has stopped writing this series, but I didn't enjoy it enough to pick up her new series, Truth or Dare.

I think the main reason I liked this series is that Hopkins does do teenage girls well. The books alternate first person point of view and although sometimes her main characters read like she brainstormed five adjectives to describe them and then stopped, I do like them and did get attached. My favorite part was the fact that these girls are the worst friends you find in literature. These friendships are REAL. They fight over stupid stuff. They make up in silly ways. They accidentally piss each other off ALL THE TIME. It's so real! And the angst levels tend to be spot on.

So... here's a quick recap of the books:

Mates, Dates, and Cosmic Kisses This is Izzie's story about trying to find a boy. She meets Mark in the shops at Camden. He's lovely and she's smitten but he doesn't call when he says he will! (Oh my god! He's a real boy!) And Izzie's always trying randomly run into him and generally making a painful fool of herself in the way only a smitten 14-year-old can. All the while, ignoring the perfectly lovely Ben who is obviously a better match. Predictable and sweet.

Mates, Dates, and Designer Divas is Nesta's book. She falls in deep smit with Simon, who is definetely upper crust. Nesta's used to being the "rich" one amongst her set, but Simon's world is one of riding and designer duds. Mainly, his sister's friend is a straight up racist bee-otch and Nesta's having a major crisis of self-esteem. And Izzie's singing with Ben's band, which is pretty neat-o. Nesta also gets wasted, which is funny. But this is wear the first "translation" issues really become apparent. As you are probably aware, in England, a public school is what Americans would refer to as a private school. In dealing with Richie Rich and his gang, Nesta says she also goes to a public school because, as she later tells the girls, the public is allowed at their school. HA HA HA HA. At least, I think that's what she said, because they translated the public school to a private school to make sense to American audiences, making the next few lines of the book make absolutely NO sense.

Mates, Dates, and Sleepover Secrets This introduces the new character of TJ, whose best friend just moved away to South Africa. The girls decide to "adopt" her and she's makes the trio a quartet. TJ's big problem is that she's a bit of a tomboy and all her guy mates think of her as just that, a mate. She's crushing on the boy next store, all the while not realizing that Lucy's brother is crushing on her, big time. Lots of preachiness about being true to yourself.

Mates, Dates, and Sole Survivors Is back to Lucy's point of view. Lucy's bummed out, because she and Tony are back off-again and everyone else has a boyfriend. Lucy goes off on a self-discovery weekend with her dad and meets a lovely boy named Daniel. He's also into fashion and designs his own stuff. Then he turns really possesive and keeps trying to change Lucy. And I thought Mates, Dates, and Sleepover Secrets was heavy on the be-true-to-yourself theme. Also preachy on the don't-let-boys-rule-your-life theme.

Mates, Dates, and Mad Mistakes Izzie's sick of being treated like a little girl and takes on a whole new image, much to her mother's chagrin. She dumps Ben and starts dating this scally she thinks she can reform. She drinks. The boy smokes weed. This book irked me the most because it was the preachiest, and at the end, when Izzie has her little learning moment, she's talking about what she's learned about drugs and a lot of her information is just plain wrong.

Mates, Dates, and Sequin Smiles Nesta has to get braces! I liked this one, because not only is Nesta all freaked out about her braces (which are A LOT less common in England than in the US) but she meets this hotttt guy in her acting class, Luke. As soon as her dad sees Luke though, he forbids Nesta to ever see him again, and won't give her a reason. The books not nearly as preachy as Mates, Dates, and Mad Mistakes and the plot was less predictable than usual, and a little more oddball.

Mates, Dates, and Tempting Trouble Luke's a dawg! And cheating on Nesta! With TJ! And it's on! Lucy sides with Nesta (especially when TJ dumps Lucy's brother OVER EMAIL) and Izzie's on TJ's side. Friends before boys, girls, friends before boys. Obviously it gets worked out, because there are more books in the series, but OH! THE DRAMA!

Mates, Dates, and Great Escapes We're back to Lucy's POV and everyone's going on the school holiday to Italy except for her, because her family doesn't have a lot of extra money for such things. But then some extra money comes into the picture and she gets to go too! And just in the nick of time, because she and Tony are definetely OFF. And Lucy meets a hott American and maybe things will get better? This one's not preachy and fun, because it's the girls running around in Italy. Also, I really like how Lucy can finally afford to go on the trip.

Mates, Dates, and Chocolate Cheats We're back to Izzie and back to super-preachy. Izzie's got curves, and as all curvy girls know, there's a fine line between curvy and fat and we often think we're on the fat side of that line when we're not. It's the problem of being curvy. So, Izzie thinks she's fat and is trying to lose weight and doing all the stupid things girls do to lose weight short of developing an eating disorder. At the same time, the girls are trying to be on a pilot for a TV show called "Teen Talk" or somesuch. And Izzie falls in love with someone who is so obviously gay, it's hilarious. But in the end, we all learn the lesson that not only is Izzie NOT fat, but even if she were, it's what's on the inside that counts and you can't lose weight overnight (sadly). Oh, and you can't date a gay guy.

Mates, Dates, and Diamond Destiny Once again, the girls are ripping on Nesta for being shallow, but Nesta's PMSing and takes it really seriously. Plus, there's a guy collecting at the coffee shop who was one of Luke's friends. Nesta gets involved with charity work to prove she's not shallow but she keeps running into William. She DOES NOT like him, so why are the girls giving her such a hard time? And even if she did like him, how would she be able to trust a friend of Luke's? A bit preachy on the charity-work angle, especailly when cancer-girl makes an appearence, but fun. Especially when they smack down the smug girls.

Mates, Dates, and Sizzling Summers This is the last book in the series. For some reason, TJ is still totally in love with Luke, the asshat who cheated on her best friend. WTF? This whole angle is something I never understood and Hopkins couldn't make me. Actually, she didn't really try to explain why she still liked him. But TJ is dating the dreamy Ollie Axeford, who's a bit of a player, but, to his credit, is always straight up honest about it and doesn't lie to her. TJ's dad has a stroke and the family goes down to... Devon? Cornwall? I can't remember. Anyway, there she meets up with some of the Truth or Dare characters in a really obvious attempt to bring readers over to her new series. The ending really dissapointed me, because it seemed really out-of-character for TJ and it ended the series on an off note.

YA Angst (or, not enough sex, drugs, or rock & roll)

Are We There Yet? David Levithan

In this wonderfully lyric tale, Levitahn tells the story of two brothers, Danny and Elijah. Danny is motivated, driven, a pre-planner, and a work-a-holic rising star at his New York Corporate Firm. Elijah, seven years his junior, is laid back, a bit of a stoner, and a spur-of-the-moment type of guy who takes time to truly see the world around him. Danny doesn't think Elijah knows how to make a living. Elijah doesn't think Danny knows how to make a life. Their parents trick them into spending nine days together, alone, in Italy. Both predict utter disaster. The entrance of the beautiful Julia doesn't help matters any.

Despite all this, Levitahn manages to craft a story that is sweet, but not sappy, with a realistic happy ending that one can actually believe in. He paints a beautiful picture of a real relationship between two brothers trying to figure out each other and themselves.

Rainbow Party Paul Ruditis

In this conterversial book, Gin is planning a Rainbow Party-- where a group of girls each put on a different color of lipstick and give blowjobs to a group of guys-- leaving behind a rainbow. (Although one character does point out that the lipstick would just get all smeared together and make a mess of brown, but that's neither here nor there.) The book follows the characters through about five hours of time on the afternoon and evening of the party-- Gin who's preparing and the classmates who are contemplating going.

Although the book tries to deal with the sexual politics involved in such a situation, double standards, and teen motivation for sexual practice, it remains a relatively light book. Not funny, but it doesn't get very deep. Despite the subject matter, it is not sexualy provacative or explicit and is fairly tame. Still, it was a fairly enjoyable read and teen sex and relationships and one more example of why people getting all up in arms about books they haven't read are just stupid.

Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras Cathy Hopkins

Lucy is 14 and looks like she's 12. Maybe. Her friends all easily pass for 16. Her best friend since forever, Izzy, is hanging out with the new girl in school, Nesta and Lucy is feeling more and more left out and left behind. It's time to choose what subjects to do for GCSEs (and then eventually A levels) and her friends and classmates have it all figured out. Lucy is clueless what she wants to be when she grows up. Then, she meets the most perfect boy and must try and get him to notice her, 12 year old body and all.

One more installment to the neurotic teen genre that I love so much, Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras is more serious than of Georgia Nicolson or Angelica Cookson Potts and less laugh-out-loud-hysterically funny. But, it is still nice in a fluffy teen chick-lit sort of way. There are a million books in this series and I haven't read them all, but I will!

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole Sue Townsend

Adrian's back! And more angsty than ever (which is exactly how we like him!) In this novel, there is more ups and downs with Pandora, more ups and downs with his parents' relationship, more rejected poetry from the BBC... Adrian befriends Barry Kent and tries a brief stint as a yob, runs away and contemplates suicide. As cringe-inducing and hysterical as the first, Adriane endures as the angstyiest of all the angsty British teens I love so well...

Adrian Mole : The Lost Years Sue Townsend

More Adrian! He finally gets on the BBC, finishes school, loses Pandora for good, has sex, gets a job, and another and another and another and another. His mum gets married! His little sister and brother grow, his grandmother dies... he moves to London... Adrian is all grown up, and he does it beautifully, while still being Adrian, but not always being an obnoxious brat...

This also has a slightly different format than the other books-- in addition to diary entries, there are sections told in letters and radio transcripts. We also get large chunks of Adrian's magnus opus, Lo! The Flat Hills of my Homeland. Also, large chunks of time are missing as Adrian rapidly matures. It's a change that works well.