
British media is really the best, because it has something to offer almost everyone. Love all things Austen? You probably love Downton Abbey! Obsessed with mysteries
(and Benedict Cumberbatch)? Sherlock! Wacky, galaxy-hopping fantasy adventure? You must be a Doctor Who fan. But my personal favorite Anglo import has to be the British comedy.
I’m not sure what, exactly, about British comedy makes it so particularly appealing, but I’ve loved it ever since PBS started airing classics like Are You Being Served and Vicar of Dibley waaaaay back in the day. The Brit Com seems to have cornered the market on ridiculously embarrassing antics from endearingly witty oddballs, and something it about it speaks to me (as to what that says about me…well, we’ll leave that to speculation). But while Brit Coms on TV don’t seem to have the same resonance with teens as Doctor Who and Sherlock, there is one area where they dominate: YA books.
A perfect example? The snarky, irreverent Georgia Nicolson from Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging (2001 Printz Honor book and first of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books by Louise Rennison). When you first meet Georgia, she’s just accidentally shaved off one eyebrow (whoops!) and is working on ways to make that look, you know, work. Her fab lingo is just as delightful as her wry observations – I called my school “Stalag 14” all the way through high school – and no matter how you slice it, she remains one of my all-time favorite voices in, er, literature. Continue reading British Comedy YA Books