Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend

Advantages: Excellent as always, and a must-read book.
Disadvantages: Honestly can't think of any.

Adrian Mole - a man who holds a very special place in the hearts of all that encounter him. The eternal idiot, all his admirers are grateful that he is so dense that he doesn't realise the fool he so frequently makes of himself. After his divorce from Jo, the wonderful (and clearly totally out of Adrian's league) woman that he fell for in 'The Wilderness Years', Adrian has no one to long for but his old love Pandora, who we grew to love/hate during ...
...that this is the best Adrian Mole novel, but each of them is so funny and spot on that I would find it impossible to differentiate between any of them, each is vital to anybody's library. These books don't need to be read in order every time, however, they are funny whichever way you choose to read. They are also books that, once bought you will read time and time again, and books that will consistently make you laugh out loud. The special thing ... Read review

Advantages: Wickedly funny, engaging style, memorable characters, clever storyline
Disadvantages: Will those who don't know (or haven't read) the original books be interested?

...age, the very mention of Adrian Mole will instantly bring back memories of a bygone era....of spotty, hormonal adolescence muddling its way through the early 1980s. With her ingenious and extremely popular 1982 novel "The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾", author Sue Townsend tapped into a rich vein of humourous teenage angst, creating a protagonist as fully realised as any work of fiction ever has managed. The idea was strong enough to provide ...
...with everything whose relationship with Adrian never seemed to settle on being either purely platonic or of a more intimate and committed natured, and whose very existence seemed to consume him whole? His dysfunctional family life, so wittily brought to life by Townsend via Mole's sardonic diary entries, helped to create a believable, if slightly caricatured, environment for the characters to inhabit. Now, more than 15 years on, Adrian Mole is back. ... Read review

Advantages: Funny, witty, comical
Disadvantages: Adrian and Pandora are still not a couple!

...great to see dear old Adrian Mole back after so many years. But this time he is a grown man in his 30's, not a meer spotty lad of 13 yrs old! Sue Townsend has, yet again, written a book that is so witty, funny and comical, I was laughing the whole way through! He is an offal chef at the 'Hoi Polloi' restaurant in Soho, London. A job he endures only to earn a living. His real dream is to be a writer, something he has had little success of. Another ...
...eccentric mother and father, as Adrian works in London. I think the funniest part is when Pauline (Adrian's mother) has an affair with Ivan Braithwaite (Pandora's father), so George (Adrian's father) goes to live with Pandora's mother, Tania. The thought of this situation happening in real life doesn't bare thinking of!! Certainly a book to read and read again! ... Read review

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

...a teenager you loved the Adrian Mole books, this is the one for you. Adrian is now a thirty something chef, a single parent and still hopelessley in love with Pandora Braithwaite! Pandora is now a Politician and Adrian still fantisizes constantly about her. Adrian gets his own tv series as a celebrity chef! The book is very light reading and will have you in stitches. The book finishes on a cliff hanger with plenty of opportunities for a follow, ... Read review

Advantages: great characters
Disadvantages: can all this happen to one man, bit like reading forrest gump

...about the characters and how Adrian Mole was as a teenager before picking up 'The Cappucino Years'. The book itself is fairly easy going, and it is as it suggests like reading someone's diary. Adrian himself has grown up in some ways but is still the naive schoolkid he was in the first two books. The book is set around the time of the last General Election. Since we left he has been married (to a Nigerian woman - who has since left him and their ...
...as a chef in a trendy Offal restaurant. He is still fixated over Pandora who is now the local Labour candidate for Ashby de-la-Zouch. The story is typical Mole, he loses his job quite early on and ends up moving home, follows Pandora's every move, is constantly trying to get his book published, experiences every possible family drama, he is stalked, he finds he has another son etc. etc. Definately worth a read if you like a bit of light comedy. ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent Comical Read
Disadvantages: That there was not a sequel

...The Queen and I was first published in 1992, unfortunately I did not get around to reading it until I was 20 and in need of non strenuous entertainment as I was heavily pregnant at the time. The Queen and I is work of the legendary Sue Townsend, a writer with a sense of wit and comedy and is responsible for other comical books such as The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 ¾ and The Cappuccino Years. I have admired Sue Townsend’s work from an early age and loved every book of hers that I have had the pleasure of reading and this book was no exception. The story tells of the election of a republican government and its removal of the royal family in to the real world. They are stripped of their wealth and houses and are forced to live like others on benefits within a two bed roomed council house and an elderly person’s bungalow... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Easy-peasy to read, makes you laugh out loud on buses and other public places!
Disadvantages: Bath water goes cold if you read it in the bath, the book ends!

...and moves in with Pandora and her lover Jack Cavendish, she soon bores of Adrian and sends him packing, he gets s job working in a soho restaurant called Savages where he works as a chef catering for celebs and politicians, Adrian admits he can't cook and all he has to do there is un-wrap, defrost and heat up, he meets his 2nd girlfriend who works in a newsagents, called Bianca, they have a wonderful realtionship until Bianca runs off with Adrians stepfather (Pauline Moles 2nd husband) then he meets Jo jo, she is working in the resaturant as a waitress, he begins the most lovely relationship with her, then he is taken away on a writing holiiday in Greece, the book ehds there, we know that Adrian is very in love with Jo jo and that he is on the brink of being discovered! In 1997 Sue Townsend wrote Adrian Mole the Cappuccino years, he is now 30... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful