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!

...As a child of 7 onwards i was an avid reader, still am, but the books you would find on my bookshelf were the odd beano and dandy, enid blyton, mr. meddles muddles and a very well thumbed copy of The secret diary of Adrian mole aged 13 3/4. It was the book you read when you were off school with tonsilitis or if you feigned a tummy ache cos it was a maths test. In those days if you were off school you were up in your room...all day...to come out only for toilet breaks or to release the cat so Sue Townsends book was a relief to say the least! Sue Townsend really does write the books well, she is a grown woman writing about a teenage boy, god, she really did do well if you think about it, she had to deal with writing about his puberty, it's hard enough understanding going through it as a girl but to imagine being a boy really... Read review

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Advantages: see op
Disadvantages: see op

...In the hard-fought battle to be the most famous woman from Leicester, I would say it is a straight fight between Adrian Mole creator Sue Townsend and diet and fitness guru Rosemary Conley. (Engelbert Humperdinck's wife and Gary Lineker's mum are a poor joint third). The fairest way to settle the issue once and for all is for the two women to have a scrap in Leicester's Town Hall Square, an occasion that I would gladly pay to witness. My money would be on Rosemary's dieted hips and thighs winning the day. Sue Townsend is definitely the better writer of the two. Ghost Children is one of her lesser known books, and does not feature Adrian Mole in any shape or form. The Adrian Mole books are funny reads edged with sadness. In Ghost Children there are still funny moments, but the tone is more serious. The book tells the story... Read review

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Advantages: Heartwarming and incredibly funny
Disadvantages: Diary format maybe not for all of us

...Thursday, July 1st Nigel has arranged for me to have a blind date with Sharon Botts. I am meeting her at the roller-skating rink on Saturday. I am dead nervous. I don’t know how to roller-skate – let alone make love. Saturday, July 3rd That’s the first and last time I go roller-skating. Sharon Botts is an expert. She went whizzing off at 40 mph, only stopping now and again to do the splits in mid-air. She was soon surrounded by tall skated youths in satin shorts so I staggered off to get changed. I rang Nigel when I got home. He said that Sharon Botts had already rung him to complain that I had showed her up by dressing in my school PE kit. Such is the neuroticism and downright bad fortune of Sue Townsend’s teenage creation, adored by millions of readers of all ages since the first book was released to critical acclaim... Read review

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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

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Advantages: Funny , entertaining ,great characters ,good plot , easy read
Disadvantages: May offend some , but shouldn't

...Among my husband's mammoth Christmas list ( he always knows exactly what he wants unfortunately ) there was a copy of Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend . He has been an ardent fan of Ms Townsend since her first Adrian Mole books . Having read all of those books up to and including The Cappuccino Years , he had seen this one and quite fancied it . So here we are middle of February and he still hasn't looked at it , but I have . Having had some time to spare I picked this book up one evening not quite knowing what to expect . I have never read any of the author's other books and had not read any reviews of this particular book , so I had no idea what to expect . The dust jacket shows a chicken , smoking a cigarette and wearing a crown so that's not much help . I decided to just dive straight in . Inside the cover there is a rough... Read review

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Advantages: Hilarious
Disadvantages: None!

...5 volumes. I got my copies several years ago and according to Amazon, the present format of the books is as follows.... The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (£3.99) The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (£4.99) Adrian Mole, The Wilderness Years (£3.99) Adrian Mole, The Cappuccino Years (£6.39) True Confessions of Adrian Mole (6.39) There is also a mini book called Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians, which can be found inside The Wilderness Years. The Mole Diaries were the brainchild of Sue Townsend, a writer from Leicester who writes a regular column in Sainsburys Magazine, and has several other books out, one of which is a collection of her articles for Sainsburys. She has a dry sense of humour and can write excellently about the pains of an adolescent boy. ***THE DIARY*** The diaries chronicle Moles... Read review

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