Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)

Adrian Mole and the Blair Mole Project is also avaliable

An elderly woman wearing a rabbit's paw brooch came in and complained that I had sold her Trainspotting by Irving Welsh as a Christmas present for her 76-year-old railway enthusiast husband.
She said, 'It's nothing but filth and Scottish words. My husband had to double his blood pressure tablets after reading it.'
I swapped it for Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.

Much more enjoyable than the last couple of Adrian Mole books. Adrian is now 34, working in a bookshop and no longer encumbered by children as Glen has joined the army and William is living in Nigeria with his mother. As usual his life is full of worries, starting with the fact that Glen has joined the army just as the second Gulf War is approaching. He gets entangled with the dreadful Flowers family, going out with badly-dressed, dollshouse-building Marigold while lusting after her sultry sister Daisy, and buying a loft apartment in Leicester's Rat quay doesn't go well either, as he is troubled by noise-sensitive neighbours, menacing swans, a rat infestation, and spiralling debts.

The funniest bits were when Adrian turned to his father for help in compiling a list of all the varieties of Mr Kipling's cakes, the letters Adrian writes to celebrities asking to interview them for the book he is writing, and a running gag about swans. But what am I saying? It's all funny (except the serious parts) and it even has a happy ending! ( )

Not as fun as the earlier novels featuring Adrian Mole but still a good read. There were lots of references that I didn't get completely as they seemed to be more British culturally based but I can say the same for the previous books by [author: Sue Townsend]. These books always make me smile and this one fulfilled that need. The ending left me a tad sad and wistful. An interesting weaving in of Iraq wars thread as well. ( )

Fun with social and political bite ( )

Poor Adrian. It just never ends, does it, mate? I didn't find this book as enjoyable as the previous ones and got a bit more annoyed with Adrian here and there than I had before. Still, the poor guy is loveable even if he's a twit. I'm planning on re-reading the whole series in a month or two. ( )