Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend dies

Pro Hoc Vice

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26982680

RIP, one of the books that really got me into reading.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/author-sue-townsend-dead-adrian-3399021

Angry_Mammarys

I'm really saddened by her death, she was my favorite author, she never lost her wit, I read she was in the process of writing one more Adrian Mole Diary May she rest in peace.

vitani

Sad news. I read the Adrian Mole books when I was a teenager, and I don't think I really got them back then. It's only now that I'm older that I really appreciate how brilliant they are. I've been laughing at the quotes on Twitter all morning.

There is a short piece in the Guardian about her. I loved her Mole books, and I think they'll have a second outing soon.

As noted in the Guardian piece, she never romanticized her early poverty as some writers do:

Although her books later made her fortune, she said that no amount of "balsamic vinegar or Prada handbags" would make her forget what it was like to be poor.

That quote is much like her writing, perceptive, witty, and revealing in equal measure.

Mint Sauce

Was the first series of books, or books by more than one Author than I had read after Ronald Dahl.

Recently bought a load of books by Dahl, now considering buying a few of the Mole books so I can remind my self how good they were.

RIP Sue.

SamAK

Oh wow....sad news.

Have read all of the series....wonderful stuff.

Thank you and goodbye..

r3nu4l

I was about 10 when I first read the secret diary of Adrian Mole and a year or so later I understood what it was like to be Adrian I absolutely loved the books. I wasn't a great fan of the books when Adrian was an adult but the teenage books were great.

Sue Townsend had a hard life, even after she became famous. Her medical issues alone were tough. RIP.

alaimacerc

Anyone else find the mention of ST on Arena remarkable offhand? "I suppose we should also mention..." I'm not sure if he was going for "understated", but it came across as dismissive. On grounds of "not Irish" or "insufficiently highbrow", I'm not quite sure...

Very sad news indeed. Sure to be remembered for the definitive summary of the Blair Regime, among much else.

Fox_In_Socks

Sad news, she was one of my favourite authors. Those books always made me laugh.:(

4umbrellas

RIP. Read the original Adrian Mole as a child, and laughed and laughed.

syklops

4umbrellas wrote: »

RIP. Read the original Adrian Mole as a child, and laughed and laughed.

I more chuckled bitterly. I identified with his character a lot.

vellakare

I am reading them again, and the books are like a documentary of a period of British history. You have the Falklands war, and teenage angst, Margaret Thatcher and the miners strike. The discovery of the Hitler diaries hoax was mentioned in it. Thats just a bit that comes to mind.

vitani

vellakare wrote: »

I am reading them again, and the books are like a documentary of a period of British history. You have the Falklands war, and teenage angst, Margaret Thatcher and the miners strike. The discovery of the Hitler diaries hoax was mentioned in it. Thats just a bit that comes to mind.

Re-reading them as well at the moment. It's funny how some things don't really change - even though there's a higher standard of living now, some of the entries on unemployment and the recession are relevant again. Even though most of his poetry was awful, these three lines actually strike me as not being half bad.

'We divide and still they rule.
They give us Job Creation Schemes,
When what we want are hopes and dreams.'