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"Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years" by Sue Townsend
1993

Adrian Mole has reached maturity, in as much as he is 23¾ when his new memoirs get going at the start of 1991. He is now living in the box room of the house owned by his first girlfriend and true love, spends his days saving newts and remains convinced that his novel "Lo! The Flat Hills Of My Homeland" is the greatest feat of English literature in history. He is, still, a loser.

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It has been a long time since I read any of Adrian's adventures, but since I somehow have accumulated all of the novels, I thought it was time to get back into them. When I left him, he was but a teenager, but now he's my age, and I guess that was why I wanted to get back into him.

The book is funny, as Adrian talks about the mess his life has become and references world events in such a manner that suggests he hasn't got a bloody clue what they all mean. In fact, he doesn't have much of a clue about anything. One thing I had forgotten is that Adrian Mole is one of the most insufferable men that never existed.

But it's all part of the genius. If you ever think you're having a tough time of it, just be grateful you aren't Adrian Albert Mole.

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July 24th, 2011

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"Sleeping Murder" by Agatha Christie
1976

A magnificent climax to Miss Marple's long career in crime - as she tackles a 'perfect' murder that has escaped detection for eighteen years.

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Newly-married Gwenda and Giles Reed have moved from New Zealand to England and found themselves a house. But there is something ... familiar ... about the whole situation. Unnervingly familiar. They make the acquaintance of Miss Marple and, despite her insistence that they shouldn't interfere, the newlyweds set about solving a murder that happened eighteen years ago.

This is the first time I've ever been one step ahead of Agatha, but perhaps that is because I'm becoming more familiar with her techniques. A wonderfully crafted novel from the Queen of Crime.

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July 22nd, 2011

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"The Little White Car" by Danuta de Rhodes
2004

When a concept album by The Sofia Experimental Breadboard Octet sparks a relationship-breaking argument, Veronique jumps into her little white Fiat and drives off into the night ... straight into an incident with global ramifications.

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A gorgeous but insane buddy novel centered around one of the most memorable events of our lifetimes - the death of Princess Diana. Few people now remember that at the time, a few flakes of white paint scientists traced to a Fiat Uno had been found at the scene. The car responsible was never found.

This is the (possible) story of what happened to that little white car, and what happened to the people who knew it. Set in France in the late 1990s, this warm and well-crafted novella is worth a read to make you laugh and wonder how some writers minds work.

This author is better known as Dan Rhodes. He is brilliant.

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July 19th, 2011

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"Beta Male" by Iain Hollingshead
2010

Sam Hunt is a confused modern male in his very late twenties. A work-shy, commitment-phobic would-be actor, he and his friends are just beginning to worry that turning thirty might just be the last straw.

Flatmate Alan, the sensible one, has just been proposed to by his girlfriend Jess, with his femme fatale boss looking on with a saucy gleam in her eye. Newly-dumped Ed spends his time tearfully watching "Sex and the City" in a pile of his ex-girlfriend's pyjamas and plotting his revenge. Meanwhile unemployed doctor Matt embarks on a dubious bet with Sam to see who can be the first to ensnare a rich wife and enjoy a life of leisure...

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A classic example of the small but very present genre known colloquially as lad-lit. A genuinely funny ride through the adventures of four friends who have known each other for nearly their whole lives. It's got some brilliant lines in it, and really explores the nuttiness of the modern world - marriage, infidelity, Christianity, money, and the battle of the sexes.

An excellent story, but nothing to take seriously.

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July 10th, 2011

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"Past Mortem" by Ben Elton
2004

With old friends like these, who needs enemies?

It's a question mild-mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself when, in romantic desperation, he logs on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '88 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn fiercely once more.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, and failing comprehensively to solve a series of baffling and particularly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned, and as history begins to repeat itself the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again.

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A complex, gory and deeply graphic murder mystery, but one I was capable of working out before we got the answer. Less satirical than Elton's other work, but still has a few digs at the mess society is in.

A good read, but not the sort of thing to peruse over your dinner. A very clever story with characters you have no choice but to feel strongly for.

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July 5th, 2011

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"Elliot Allagash" by Simon Rich
2010

The least popular kid at school, Seymour is painfully shy and physically inept. But when he meets Elliot Allagash, his solitary existence comes to a sudden end.

Heir to America's largest fortune, Elliot has been expelled from every reputable school in the country, but now his father has made such a large donation that, no matter what Elliot does, he isn't leaving. So to pass the time, he takes up an amusing new hobby, and on the way introduces Seymour to new concepts, like power, sabotage and vengeance.

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When the funds are unlimited, so are the options. Elliot decides to take it upon himself to turn Seymour from the school loser to the most popular kid around. This is a brilliant book of far-fetched tales, unlikeable characters that you still want to cheer on, and events that can only happen in fiction.

This is the literary version of films like "Juno", "Scott Pilgrim" and "Mean Girls". Well worth a read, if only so you can dream of living the way Elliot and Terry Allagash do...

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June 29th, 2011

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"The Clocks" by Agatha Christie
1963

The house at Wilbraham Cresent...

To think that was the house where it happened! It looked ever so nice, net curtains and all. Yet a man had been killed there - with a kitchen knife... Mesmerised by the people swirling round her, she stared and stared and ceased to think... She started when a voice spoke in her ear. Then turned her head in surprised recognition.

Approximately two minutes later she was dead...

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Another masterpiece from the Queen of Crime that I had absolutely no chance of solving. It all makes perfect sense, of course, but I was paying too much attention to the red herrings.

Still not read any Christie? Do it now.

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June 28th, 2011

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"Zoo City" by Lauren Beukes
2010

In Zoo City, it's impolite to ask.

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons.

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I didn't really know what to expect of this, and it's a bit confusing, but I'll give you the gist. OK, so the daemons from the Northern Lights series, remember them? Take them, and move them to people in 21st century South Africa. Oh, and only give them to criminals as a physical manifestation of their sins.

Now add tabloid journalism, a healthy dose of magic, a lot of sex, drugs and rock and roll and you're getting there for where this book is. Zinzi is an intriguing character, but it's her Sloth that I fell in love with. An interesting book nonetheless and one that's going to stay in my mind for some time - Beukes is a name to watch.

If you like your fiction with a double dose of weird, this is for you.

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June 23rd, 2011

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"Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf
1925

Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts and sensations on that one day, and the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa's life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide.

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Further reinforcing my ideas that the classics are not to be bothered with, Mrs Dalloway is a book that has survived to modernity for reasons that I don't think I'll ever comprehend. Stream of consciousness writing is great when done well, and an interesting exercise, but this book is so disjointed, wobbly and unclear that I struggled to keep up with it repeatedly.

There are better classics out there to waste your time with - I'm now going to have to read a book from 2010 to sort myself out.

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June 13th, 2011

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"Room" by Emma Donoghue
2010

Jack is five.
He lives in a single, locked room with his Ma.

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This beautiful, heart-wrenching and gripping tale of love, family and isolation has just been devoured by me in less than a day. I'm not one for going along with the crowd when it comes to books, but one too any superb recommendation on this one pushed me over the edge.

This is an outstanding book about a boy who has never known anything outside the 11x11 foot room he shares with his mum. They never leave, they don't have a key, and their food appears in the night. But why?

Haunting, captivating, gripping, For goodness sake, go and read this now.

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June 2nd, 2011