The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001 - Sue Townsend

I've been a huge fan of the Adrian Mole series for years, as well as other novels by Sue Townsend (The Queen and I, Queen Camilla etc.) and used to consider her a comic genius. When I was given this book for Christmas I expected it to be of the same high standard as Townend's others, but was soon disappointed. *** Why "The Lost Diaries"? *** This novel came out in 2008 and consists of columns that were originally published in The Guardian between 1999 and 2001. It is out of sync with the rest of the diaries, since the book published before this one, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, was set post-2001. The ...  Read the complete review

Adrian Mole starts the new millennium at a low point in his life; his previous career as an offal chef and TV presenter has come to an end, he has developed a bald spot the size of a jaffa cake and he is forced to live amongst the underclass on the Gaitskell estate. Adrian is now a single father to his two boys Glenn and William and parenthood brings new challenges for him. William wants a Barbie hairdressing salon for Christmas and Glenn forges notes from home to the PE teacher asking that he be allowed to wear long trousers for cross country running to spare him the humiliation of having his skinny legs on show. Modern parenthood can be a minefield, ...  Read the complete review

'The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001' was first published in 2008 and is the seventh addition to Sue Townsend's long running Mole series of books. This volume goes back in time to plug a continuity gap in the series between 'The Cappuccino Years' and 'The Weapons of Mass Destruction' and is collected from 'The Diary of a Provincial Man' series that Townsend wrote for The Guardian from 1999 to 2001. Mole explains at the start of the book that these diaries were originally taken in an anti-terrorist raid and events in the book eventually explain how this happened. In 'The Lost Diaries' Mole is in his early thirties and an unemployed single-parent with two ...  Read the complete review

== Author == The author, Sue Townsend lives in Leicestershire, as does her creation Adrian Mole. As well as writing many books about the Moles, other satirical novels, and serious books, she has also written for the stage, television, radio and Sainsbury's Magazine. I think that the aspiring fictional author Adrian, and any others in a similar situation, could draw comfort from the success Sue Townsend has now had after leaving school aged 15 to work in a series of unskilled jobs. Her new book Adrian Mole the Prostate Years is due to be released in hardback and audio CD on, ironically, 5 Nov 2009. I hope its fit for better things than ...  Read the complete review