Monday 27 February 2012

From Hobbits to Adrian Mole

Can it really be 30 years since Adrian Mole wrote his secret diary?
Indeed it is and his publishers are celebrating with a new anniversary edition which includes more details of his life and world.  
His creator, Sue Townsend, became one of the UK's most popular comic writers.

 Celebrating its 75th birthday this year is The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - the prequel to the cult classic
Lord of the Rings.
Did you love or hate Lord of the Rings? and did you read The Hobbit ?

Tell us what you thought of these books - and have you read any other diaries or journeys through life which you have enjoyed?

8 comments:

Bex-Read said...

Adrian Mole - didn't everybody just love him?
He certainly became a phenomenon, with his diaries taking us through his life from 13 and 3/4 to 42 years old.
Were you an Adrian Mole fan? Did he inspire you to read other diaries? Which ones?

Diaries lead us on a journey through a person's life and another epic journey begins with The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Leading us into a fantasy world of good and evil and mythical creatures, it provides an introduction to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Have you read these tales of Middle-earth? Love them or hate them?
Do you love one or both of our featured books?
Tell us what you think of them but also please share with us any other diaries or journey tales that you have read.
Jill

Ann said...

I read The Hobbit after reading Lord of the Rings - which was an epic journey in itself - but one that I enjoyed. Middle-earth is a whole new world to explore and imagine and the characters are many and varied.

Lisa said...

I've never read any of the Adrian Mole series, I vaguely remember a tv series in the eighties but I don't think I watched it. I'm sure I've read something written in a diary format but I can't for the life of me think what it was but I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it, perhaps some of you bex-readers can toss a few titles my way to try and get the grey cells whirring! I have however read and thoroughly enjoyed both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Bex-Read said...

My, My - The Hobbit is winning over Adrian Mole so far. Surely somebody read Adrian?
Lisa - was it Bridget Jones'Diary that you read? A kind of female Adrian Mole, as both of them have aspirations but frequently have their hopes dashed - yet both written with humour.

Jill

Caroline said...

I vaguely remember reading the first couple of Adrian Mole books years ago. I enjoyed them at the time, but can't recall much about them now, apart from the infamous Pandora!

I remember reading The Lord of the Rings at primary school, mainly because a boy in my class was reading it and it was the biggest book I'd ever seen - I decided it wouldn't do for someone else to have read a longer book than me, so set myself the challenge of reading it! This was closely followed by the Hobbit, which I read in a fabulous illustrated edition. I also remember being lent a book which was full of maps and traced the whole journey.

Bridget Jones' Diary is probably my favourite book in diary format, so hilarious and brilliantly brought to the big screen by Renee Zellweger - who would have thought Bridget could be pulled off by a Texan!

Bex-Read said...

That's really impressive - reading The Lord of the Rings at primary school.
Talking of diaries - has anyone tried tackling Samuel Pepys'?
Jill

Lisa said...

Well Jill - I haven't read Samuel Pepys diary but I did meet him recently, he was giving a talk in the painted hall in the old naval college at Greenwich. I must say he looks very good for 400 plus years old!

Bex-Read said...

Well - that's intriguing - certainly not a reply that I expected.
For those of you interested in diaries of all sorts, there is a new book out called 'A brief history of diaries: from Pepys to blogs' by Alexandra Johnson, available from the Central Library in Bexleyheath.
I can't really mention diaries without including the highly popular children's series 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' which often dominates a bestsellers list and is a great motivator in encouraging children to read.
Hopefully our guest editor should be joining us in a few days and he will be really interested to see what you have enjoyed and recommend, so please continue to send in your thoughts.
Jill