The Adrian Mole Diaries<\/i> by Sue Townsend
\n(Compilation of the first two Adrian Mole novels, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3\/4<\/i> and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole<\/i>.)<\/p>\n
I have no idea why I ended up reading this book.<\/p>\n
Well, some. But I can’t reconstruct the process completely.<\/p>\n
It started with this line from Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt<\/i> by Nick Hornby:<\/p>\n I haven’t read James Wood’s collection of essays The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel<\/i>, but I’m counting on Woody to provide a useful counterbalance to that sort of high moral seriousness. So I’m presuming that all of the comic greats– P.G. Wodehouse, the Molesworth books, George and Weedon Grossmith, and so on– are present and correct between its covers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, here Nick Hornby, who holds Wodehouse in as high esteem as I do (if not more), has listed some other authors in the same list of comic greats. So, I investigated.<\/p>\n Researching today, the Molesworth books appear to be a series of classic illustrated children’s books. J.K. Rowling got the name of “Hogwarts” from these books.<\/p>\n The Grossmiths worked together on a novel in the late 1800s called The Diary of a Nobody<\/a>. The main character is Charles Pooter, his son’s name is Lupin. Another J.K. Rowling reference? <\/p>\n Somehow, though, in my original research, I ended up requesting a copy of The Adrian Mole Diaries<\/i> from PaperBackSwap.com. I’m not sure how that happened, but regardless, it was a good read, though intended for young adults. Another J.K. Rowling thing.<\/p>\n Written in diary format, (a popular British style, to be sure) it tells the story of a young obsessive-compulsive would-be-intellectual boy’s experiences in a dysfunctional family. My favorite excerpt:<\/p>\n SUNDAY MAY 9TH<\/b> Very witty, and true. I grew up in a culs-de-sac, and had seen neither of those things by age 13 3\/4 either.<\/p>\n There are later books documenting Adrian’s life at various stages:<\/p>\n # The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole (more teenage years) The last book is set in 2002, so Adrian is roughly my age. Though, in British years, he may be older. I’m not sure of the conversion rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Adrian Mole Diaries by Sue Townsend (Compilation of the first two Adrian Mole novels, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3\/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.) I have no idea why I ended up reading … Continue reading
\nFOURTH AFTER EASTER, MOTHER’S DAY (USA AND CANADA)
\nI have just realized that I have never seen a dead body or a real female nipple. This is what comes of living in a culs-de-sac.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n# Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians (more teenage years)
\n# Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (aged 23 3\/4 years)
\n# Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (aged 30 years)
\n# Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (aged 33 3\/4 years)<\/p>\n