false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170373808m/51071.jpg 51071 23 Adrian Mole is balding, he's bitter, and he's back, this time at age 30. Though he may be older, Sue Townsend's comic creation is certainly no wiser. With his marriage to a Nigerian beauty in tatters, he passes his time dreaming of old flame Pandora Braithwaite, now a shining star in Tony Blair's new government. But underneath the layers of experience and sophistication, fans of the Mole family will find the same dysfunctional mess that made <I>The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4</I> an instant bestseller. This diarist's young son is being brought up by his mother in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, his 16-year-old sister has left home to live with her multiply pierced boyfriend, and his father is bed-bound with manic depression. Adrian himself still makes constant lists of juvenile neuroses, and spends an unhealthy amount of time grading his penile performance (only when he reaches the bleak score of zero out of 10 does he finally take action).<p> And what of his career? The hero of <I>The Cappuccino Years</I> works at Soho's Hoi Polloi restaurant, rustling up deliberately grubby blue-collar cuisine, from "Heinz tomato soup (with white bread floaters)" to "Boiled cabbage avec Dan Quayle Potatoes." At a certain point, he's spotted by a cable producer and ends up starring in a television show celebrating offal--yes, it's called <I>Offally Good</I>. Yet even Adrian is somewhat perplexed by his culinary gifts: <blockquote> My mother's family (Norfolk) were practically illiterate, and seemed to live on boiled potatoes with HP sauce, and my father's family (Leicester) viewed books with deep suspicion, unless they had pictures which "broke up the pages." My paternal grandmother, May Mole, was a plain cook, who regarded eating as a gross indulgence. Thank God she died before I became a professional chef. It was her proud boast that she had never eaten in a proper restaurant in her life. She spoke of restaurants as others speak of crack dens. </blockquote> As the above should make clear, Townsend's acerbic (and very English) wit is still much in evidence. Occasionally she'll go to corny lengths for a joke: "I arrived at the Brent Cross shopping centre car-park, to find that my car had been towed away five days ago and was in a police compound somewhere in Purley. A £25 cab ride took me to the Purley gates." True Mole fanatics, however, will forgive Townsend her infrequent excesses. Accessible, amusing, and appealing, <I>The Cappuccino Years</I> reflects an Adrian who has tolerated the growing pains and survived the lost years. Now he's ready to face the only really important question: Is it cheating to use Viagra? <I>--Lucie Naylor</I> 2019165 1999 Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years total:592|5:115|4:215|3:187|2:56|1:19| 592 2127 765 35 0 0 false false Mon Oct 19 20:03:44 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 20:12:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Oct 05 22:44:19 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 22:46:23 -0700 2008 Pandora is still much the same - seems only natural she'd become a Labor MP now that I think of it.

...more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Jan 28 01:43:47 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 01:50:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Oct 14 00:00:00 -0700 2000 Sat Feb 02 13:19:45 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 13:23:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 14:29:40 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 17 14:22:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 15:22:44 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 21:55:26 -0700 2009
I think this one is funnier than "The Lost Years," but nowhere close to the or...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 14 05:26:59 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 05:31:29 -0700 2009
New Labour get the Townsend treatment and Pandora is a Blair Babe in Tony's cabinet. And Adrian is a TV chef. Laugh out lou...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 04:18:45 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 04:23:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jan 30 01:10:48 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 01:15:51 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 04:06:47 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 04:09:26 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 23:48:44 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 23:53:18 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat Apr 26 15:47:07 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 15:47:48 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Dec 21 03:52:24 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 03:53:30 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun May 03 07:48:24 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 07:50:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 14 12:19:51 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 12:19:51 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue May 26 07:17:37 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 07:18:13 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 25 08:20:39 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 08:20:52 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Apr 11 07:23:06 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 15:27:45 -0700 2009
04/28/09. Definitely darker than the first two. ]]> 3 0 false false Mon May 26 19:55:27 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 20:09:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Jun 05 14:45:07 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 15:00:00 -0700 2007
see all my reviews at www.tushuguan.blogspot.commore...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=51071