Books: The Gowing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend (1984)

“At sixteen, Adrian Mole's life continues to be nothing but a set of tragic circumstances: His tempestuous relationship with an alluring schoolmate tortures him, while his intellectualism continues to be ignored by the British press. Despite it all he remains as agonizingly funny as ever.”

The 2nd book in the Adrian Mole series, following directly on from the first book, focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenage aspiring intellectual. This volume takes us through the rest of 1982 through to mid-1983 and include notable events such the breakup and later reconciliation of Adrian and Pandora, Adrian's attempt to run away from home and subsequent breakdown, the birth of his sister Rosie Mole, and Adrian's general worry about his O levels and nuclear war. 

He continues his self-esteem issues as well, as he goes on about his height, his pimples, his lack of muscular development and the size of his penis. This leads to a fairly funny part where he tries running away, but only gets a few towns over before realizing his mistake. 

Much like the first book, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole are laugh-out funny (and I kind of thought this one better than the first). And once again, Townsend continues her brilliant look into mind of teenage boy, pulling out some wonderful, sometimes uncomfortable aspects, that seem to run though their minds. 

Note: Townsend would continue to write about Adrian, but it would be five years before she released The True Confessions of Adrian Mole. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years, would follow in 1993. In 1997 she would return with Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years; Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction would be released in 2004, and Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years would be released in 2009. All of the books would follow Adrian as he aged, with the last book set around 2008. Townsend, who spend the last decade and half with health issues (including blindness) died in 2014 at the age of 68.

I'm unsure whether I'll continue, but we'll see how the dark the world gets.

Books: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend (1982)

"Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, and his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual'."

I’ve known about The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ for a long, long time. But for reasons that I cannot know, I’ve never read it. But for a while, I’ve felt rather melancholy and have turned to more humorous books to turn my sour mood around. Little did I know there was more than one book; so I ended up getting an omnibus edition from Powell’s Books that contained the first two novels.

The story is set in 1981 and 1982, and in the background it refers to some of the historic world events of the time, such as the Falklands War and the wedding of Price Charles and Lady Diana as well as the birth of Prince Williams. Mole is also a fierce critic of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, listing her as one of his worst enemies. Apart from the humorous events described in the diary, a lot of the book's humor originates from the unreliable nature of the narrator, as Adrian, who naïvely, yet confidently, misinterprets events around him.

The book is a hoot and it amazes me how Townsend is able to understand the inner workings of a teenage male –it’s thoroughly and hilariously convincing. Yes, Adrian is bit immature and has angst-ridden personality that could get wearisome as he grows older, but as person who likes snark and witty, but sometimes, uncomfortable humor, this book works wonderfully.

Books: Spell or High Water By Scott Meyer (2014)

"The adventures of an American hacker in Medieval England continue as Martin Banks takes his next step on the journey toward mastering his reality-altering powers and fulfilling his destiny. A month has passed since Martin helped to defeat the evil programmer Jimmy, and things couldn’t be going better. Except for his love life, that is. Feeling distant and lost, Gwen has journeyed to Atlantis, a tolerant and benevolent kingdom governed by the Sorceresses, and a place known to be a safe haven to all female time-travelers. Thankfully, Martin and Philip are invited to a summit in Atlantis for all of the leaders of the time-traveler colonies, and now Martin thinks this will be a chance to try again with Gwen. Of course, this is Martin Banks we’re talking about, so murder, mystery, and high intrigue all get in the way of a guy who just wants one more shot to get the girl."

While the second book in the Magic 2.0 series took a slower path to get going than book one, it’s still a fun, quick read. Sure, the novelty of the premise starts to wear thin as the book progresses, and we see a lot of recycled arguments, but overall, Spell of High Water lives up to the first book.

Are there problems? Yes, one major one is that after we’re Off To Be the Wizard, which had clever and strong women, the author sort of devolves them here, becoming  either cowed by men or enjoy the chase. It also takes the attitude that women can’t be friends with women without things getting petty, or drama filled. Gwen in the first book was so brilliant, yet here she continues to be dismissive of Martin (who clearly cannot take a hint) yet it appears she likes him, and is getting upset that Martin may now have finally caught on. It’s rather disturbing in many ways.

The other issue is with Jimmy, who was exiled in book one. At first I was a bit bothered because it was clear from the start that Meyer was going to get Jimmy back in the main narrative, so satisfaction of his exile is taken away. This trope is overused in science fiction and fantasy, where the bad guy is not dead (or never truly banished); I would’ve been fine with Jimmy never coming back.

But to set up book three, I guess, he needed Jimmy. But a cleverer writer may’ve succeed in bring in what appears to be the Big Bad for next installment without resorting to using Jimmy (who often reminded me of Captain Braxton from the Star Trek: Voyager two-part episode Future's End). Still, that being said, I began to enjoy the banter between him and the two Treasury Agents who are assigned to find out how Martin did what he did in Off To Be The Wizard. Agents Miller and Murphy are comic foils, idiots, yet charming. They could be a part of spin-off if Meyer’s premise gets any more thinner.