I laughed out loud in places so why am I not giving it a higher rating? Because. Because it's a brand and so you could have 100 pages of it or 1000 and you know what to expect. This is not to knock it - just to say that it is what it is. And you would not want to read another straight after. Bit like glomming one pack of chocolate biscuits doesnt mean you want to plough straight into another packet. Good though. ( )

Adrian Mole is one of the funniest characters ever invented in literature. This volume of "lost diaries" covers the years in-between The Cappuccino Years and The Weapons of Mass Destruction. In this volume Adrian, on the cusp of the second millennium, is a single father bringing up his two boys, longing still for some kind of recognition from Pandora who is now an MP and trying to deal with his parents' sexual peccadillos, trying to find a job & still finding literary success as elusive as ever.

In Sue Townsend's capable hands, the irritating Adrian becomes a truly sympathetic character & the reader is constantly rooting for him even as he is laughing at his antics. I'm hoping he'll go on forever & good news! Adrian Mole: The Prostate Years is being released in the UK in November. ( )