i've been lost in a world of books, books and more books :) time to do a review

Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend
(picture from amazon.com)
I've seen this book in the library all the time when I was an avid reader with frequent trips to the library but never got around to reading it. It is humorous in a grown-up kind of way, the diary of an apparently 30 1/4 old guy who's being upstaged by everyone in his life. But he's a good man, trying to make everything work and be responsible.

His mother has fallen in love with his ex-girlfriend's father and (to simplify the matters, or complicate it, depending on how you see it, like is the glass half-empty or half-full?), his depressed father moves in with his ex-girlfriend's mother. And to further simplify what I've just said, they basically, exchanged partners. How crazy can that get? Those parents are like 50 or 60 plus already.

It is obvious that it's a British book, you have to know your Tory, Labour, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and all that, otherwise you'll be kind of lost. Yup, I'm glad I read it now, might not have appreciated it when I was younger. (My younger brother doesn't like it.)

Oh there's a tv show too.

that's adrian and his mum (i guess, cos she's supposed to have red hair.) picture from comedy zone

Happy Birthday and All That by Rebecca Smith
(picture from bloomsbury.com)
Another distinctly British book, with the use of words that I do not understand, such as Asda, what's that? Apparently it's part of the Walmart family, but in UK. The second largest supermarket chain in UK after Tesco, according to Wikipedia.

Yet another story of a 30 or so adult, who wondered what happened to her life, to have turned out as such. With 4 kids, a husband who doesn't care and a name like Posy Parouselli. Again, she tries to be responsible and make things work out.

I wonder why the writer hints at the lesbian orientation of Posy's sister, Flora? To make her sound more exciting? That there's more to Flora than just the perfect, efficient person she is? To explain why she puts off the advances of another man?

She organises birthday parties, deals with Frank's, her husband, infidelity. Finds out about the new baby, survives with some pampering and support from Flora. And, good for her, she eventually junks the mummy shoes she wears at a fair. Signifying that she's not going to endure it any more after her husband takes off for a hot-air balloon ride, alone, without the 4 kids and her!

Somehow, I think it was the magician, of whom she has a good impression, who let the balloon fly off. Again that was only hinted at and not said in exact words. i like :)