The Adrian Mole diaries are a series of books by Sue Townsend. Adrian Mole starts out as a teenager whose complete cluelessness is hilarious in the early diaries; the later books are less funny because one really hopes he would have learned something by ten years later. But they're still worth a read.

Currently, the Adrian Mole series (that I know of):

  • The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, age 13 3/4: set in the early 1980s
  • The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (ends shortly after he turns 16; these first two are available as one volume called The Adrian Mole Diaries)
  • The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole: a 35-page selection of late-teen diaries, letters and poems.
  • Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major: complete text of the first two books and at least part, possibly all, of "True Confessions" as well, plus some other late-teen diaries.
  • Adrian Mole: The Lost Years: contains some (maybe all) of the new parts of "True Confessions" and "Minor to Major" as well as the complete text of the next book.
  • Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years: Adrian is in his early 20s
  • Adrian Mole: The Cappuchino Years Adrian is thirtyish and a single father.
  • Adrian Mole And The Weapons Of Mass Destruction, spiregrain was kind enough to tell me in November 2004, "is out now and sounds brilliant. Our hero cancels his 2002 holiday to Cyprus because uk.gov tells him Iraq has WMD that can reach it in 45mins. But the travel agent won't give him his money back unless he can prove the gov's claim." I shall definitely be tracking that one down.