A few years on, Adrian is much more grown up as he finds himself implausibly turned (briefly) into a cable TV chef and has to take on the responsibilities of fatherhood, against the background of the rise of New Labour, with Pandora sitting at the right hand of the Tony. It's fun to see a walk-on appearance from the upstart diarist Bridget Jones at one point — Adrian does a few entries in her style, but soon gets bored with it. ( )

Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years could be seen as a cautionary tale for men in their 30s: do not get too dependent on mama. Adrian, at this stage in his life, is divorced, lusting after a former flame while being the father (a decent one, I might add) to two boys, and yes, still living with mother. As he tells his journal, he is frequently constipated and suffers from bad breath and ill penis health.
This was a silly read. I almost gave up on it a few times, especially when it became over the top ridiculous. Case in point, Townsend seemed to be poking fun at the Food Network with the creation of "Ping with Singh," a cooking show aimed at microwave users. The show becomes popular enough to create a stage adaptation to satisfy the masses. Adrian's own show "Offally Good" produces a book deal (which his mother ultimately ends up ghost writing, go figure).
The best parts were the current events of the times: Tony Blair's election, Lady Di's love affair with Dodi and Bill Clinton's Monica scandal. The latter got a chuckle out of me.

The one line I laughed at, "'Your money, Mr Mole, is an abstraction wafting in the air between financial institutions, at the mercy of inflation and interest rates, dependent on the health of the global economy'" (p 151). That, sadly, is banking in a nutshell. ( )

This is another brilliant Adrian Mole diary reflecting the times we live in. Adrian is now 30 ¼ and is working as the Head Chef at Hoi Polloi, which has a “Traditional English, No Choice Menu”. A typical menu is “Heinz Tomato Soup (with white bread floaters), Grey lamb chops, Boiled cabbage avec Dan Quayle potatoes, Dark brown onion gravy, Spotted Dick à la Clinton, Bird’s custard, Cheddar cheese, Nescafé, After Eight mint. Two types of wine, white and red.” He is still in love with Pandora, who is now a prominent M.P., often in the news.

Adrian has a three-year-old son called William by a Nigerian woman who has moved back to Nigeria leaving the boy with him. Later, after Adrian undergoes a DNA test, it turns out he is also the father of 12-year-old Glenn. The mother, Sharon, with whom Adrian once had a short affair, writes painfully bad English, and Glenn is practically illiterate. Adrian senses that the boy doesn’t have “a single strand of intellectual DNA in his body”.

Adrian’s mother, Pauline, gets engaged to Ivan Braithwaite, Pandora’s father, while his father, George, gets together with Tania, Pandora’s mother.

Adrian gets a TV programme called “Offaly Good!” In the first episode he makes sheep’s head broth. (I’m glad I didn’t have to watch the programme.) A group of Oxford undergraduates gives it the thumbs up – they found it great comedy. But the Times reviewer does not agree: “’Offaly good!’ is offally bad.”

Adrian has a contract to write a book of the same name, but can’t even get started. However, Mum comes to the rescue.

William is obsessed with Teletubbies and Jeremy Clarkson. Adrian is addicted to Opal Fruits and obsessed with his rapidly balding head.

In short, this as another enjoyable parody of British life, and I found it to be one of the best of the Adrian diaries ( )

Wonderful writing. Townsend captures the zeitgeist perfectly, and the chasm between what life should be and what it is, with humour and humanity. ( )

I finally got around to reading Adrian Mole and found that I shouldn't have been so highbrowed as to put off reading it in the past. Some big things happen in the years this diary covers; Adrian becomes a star of sorts as a celebrity chef, inherits a pile before (spoiler alert) losing it. At the end though, he comes out a hero, and that's the most any of us could hope for. ( )