si
Su Pollard
Bad Wolf! No biscuit!
Posts: 460
|
Post by si on Jan 3, 2005 0:53:26 GMT
Is it wrong to - (a) love these books and;
- (b) identify with Adrian a little bit too much
? They're not very highbrow, but the last two Sue Townsend has written are lovely.
|
|
|
Post by Adrian on Jan 3, 2005 20:10:46 GMT
He was the bane of my teenage life, the fucker. Although never having read them, I think I now want to, to see the hilarious Adrian = Adrian similarities.
Should I start at the very start?
-A
|
|
|
Post by jode* on Jan 3, 2005 20:56:40 GMT
I love them.
Although obviously I cannot relate as I am a girl.
You probably should start at the beginning, although they have evolved massively through time from a teenage book to an adult one.
Haven't read Weapons... yet, but Wilderness Years and Cappucino Years were just brilliant.
|
|
|
Post by Sparkle on Jan 3, 2005 21:19:59 GMT
I think anyone who's ever been a teenager can relate to early Adrian in one way or another.
Weapons... made me cry.
|
|
Snuff
Su Pollard
The Tibble Twins.
Posts: 437
|
Post by Snuff on Jan 18, 2005 14:05:29 GMT
I read them when I was young and my sister thought this was apalling because of the sexual references. I thought it was funny then but I would probably understand more of it now as i've gone through teenage life.
|
|
|
Post by Ms Finerevolution on Jan 25, 2005 0:37:38 GMT
Weapons was really sweet. The others I can pretty much take or leave.
|
|
|
Post by Steven on Feb 6, 2005 21:47:34 GMT
I got Weapons... for Christmas, and I really enjoyed it. There's just something about Adrian that means I'm always on his side, even when he's doing something monumentally stupid. I don't necessarily agree with what he does, but I want it to turn out for him.
Although I cringed through so much of Weapons... when he started running up all those debts. Ouch.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Feb 6, 2005 23:38:38 GMT
I loved The Wilderness Years, and part of me would have quite liked for it to have ended there, when it looked like he'd finally broadened his horizons and found genuine fulfilment doing something he was genuinely good at. So it was annoying as fuck when The Cappuccino Years came out and he seemed to have regressed, as well as being saddled with a kid (and then another one), a failed marriage and an unrequited love which seemed to cripple him completely. It was also annoying that the whole 'person dies and leaves him something substantial in their will' thing happened towards the end, again, just when things were looking bleak. And then the ending was even bleaker. And the weekly Saturday columns in the Guardian over the next couple of years were fairly consistently depressing. So I didn't expect much from Weapons when it came out.
But! It was really, really nice. He got in the shit, and then he got out of the shit, and he actually found someone who seemed to suit him, and he was doing something he enjoyed, and I hope Sue Townsend sticks to her word and leaves him be now (even though the thing at the end which upsets him could be seen coming a mile off, really).
|
|
|
Post by thomasj on Mar 7, 2006 16:35:18 GMT
Sue Townsend is so underrated. Her comic timing throughout the early books takes my breath away, although she did milk it with the later ones which were far too overtly political.
There set just near where I grew up as well. I got so excited when Adrian said he was going to ride his bike to Loughborough, like he was real or something which he evidently was not.
|
|
|
Post by LoveMusic on Mar 23, 2006 10:52:25 GMT
LoveLoveLoveLove Love.
Fabulous.
And Sue Townsend's musings on her holiday to Majorca, in one of the novels is great
|
|
puppydogstail
Jane Asher
She never cooks, she keeps a filthy house and she talks profanely!
Posts: 108
|
Post by puppydogstail on Apr 11, 2006 21:31:52 GMT
Adrians Mum Pauline is a personal hero of mine. She tells it like it is. When Adrian attempts to tell her about a disturbing dream he's had she hits back at him with "Theres only one thing more boring than other peoples dreams and thats other peoples problems." She tells it like it is.
|
|
fused
Su Pollard
Posts: 405
|
Post by fused on Nov 30, 2006 22:52:40 GMT
I love them, though personally I think The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole are head and shoulders above the others. I kind of agree with the general comment a lot of people make that the character works better as a teenager confused about the adult world than as an adult.
I wasn't a fan of True Confessions (I really the fictional secret diary Margaret Hilda Roberts, i.e the future Mrs. Thatcher in that book though), or The Wilderness Years at all to be honest, though I did enjoy The Capucinno Years.
I thought Weapons Of Mass Destruction was OK-ish. I liked how most things were resolved.
|
|
Lisa
Su Pollard
Campaigning for the ghostly return of Toby - always my favourite serial killer
Posts: 454
|
Post by Lisa on Dec 6, 2006 12:20:47 GMT
I remember he painted over his wallpaper black but could still always see Noddy's hat coming through; I had a similar incident with blue paint and a care bears border!
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Jan 1, 2007 23:49:25 GMT
Did you know that the first book was the best selling book (fiction) in the 1980s?
I've just reread Minor to Major, the compilation of the first three and a bit books. I haven't read them for ten years or so, and probably enjoyed them more than I did the first time round. The comic timing, as mentioned elsewhere, is often breathtaking. However, reading them together does highlight that Townsend sometimes reuses jokes, and that the third book isn't a patch on the first two.
I remember being very underwhelmed with The Wilderness Years at the time, but I was young, so I shall reread it. Not read the others. I think I'll invest though.
It amazes me how little Sue Townsend has done away from Mole - The Queen and I being an honorable, and brilliant, exception of course.
|
|
fused
Su Pollard
Posts: 405
|
Post by fused on Jan 7, 2007 2:48:51 GMT
Just before Christmas I spotted a book I hadn't seen before by Sue Townsend called Queen Camilla. The concept is that the Queen abdictaes, but Charles only agrees to take the throne if Camilla is recognised as queen, which is unpopular with the public who "would probably rather have Jordan as queen than Camilla".
Seems an OK idea, although I was more interested in the front cover- it had a chicken wearing a crown and smoking a cigar!
|
|
|
Post by Rad on Jan 7, 2007 12:06:50 GMT
the queen&I, number ten and queen camilla are all worth a read-a bit contrived at times, but amusing.
I love mole though less so wilderness/cappuccino years. I have all the individual books but I seem to remember minor to major has an extra bit in so if you really want to read the complete mole you need that as well. which is annoying.
|
|
|
Post by LoveMusic on Jan 7, 2007 21:00:20 GMT
Yes, it has - like an extra segment
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Jan 7, 2007 21:58:56 GMT
Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians - I've no idea where it came from, but I presumed that it was first published in a newspaper or something. I prefer it to the third book, actually! It's nothing special though, but is about 45 pages long.
|
|
|
Post by lockjawsghost on Jan 22, 2007 10:21:30 GMT
my copy of minor to major has fallen apart. i received it as a sallow youth and it has served me well for years. i liked the cappucino years but aidy was best as a naive teen in my opinion.
|
|