Adrian Mole: The Lost Years

I've just finished reading Adrian Mole: The Lost Years.. The inside flap of the dust jacket says: "Sue Townsend is the author of the immensely popular Adrian Mole diaries, ostensibly penned by young Master Mole, which broke sales records in England. Translated into twenty-seven languages, these private reflections gained a cultish following that numbered in the millions."

No, it's not a blook. But Adrian Mole has his own website now. Back in 1982 when the first in the series appeared, blogs were but a blip-to-be on the horizon. I hesitated to mention the book here, since it was not a blook, but there's a couple of things that can be gleaned from it since it reads very much like a blog plunked on paper.

First, I found it difficult reading. I'm reminded of a reader's criticism of Kristin Espinasse's Words In a French Life, which made the shortlist for the 2007 Blooker Prize. Andrew S. Rogers wrote at Amazon: "Unfortunately, despite several attempts to make good progress moving from cover to cover, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I have to conclude that what works very well in a blog just doesn't translate (so to speak) very well to a book." He blamed the difficulty on the tiny sections. "I suppose my attempt might have succeeded better had I tried to read this the way I read her blog: one small section at a time, with a day or so in between samples." By contrast, Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia, did a masterful job of creating a blook from her posts, supplying the necessary transitional material that never made her blog. [She also eliminated dates and anything else that sounded bloggy - creating a real tale.]

Second, one-liners and slick anecdotes [one reader's opinion -- don't shoot!] don't make for compelling reading. I found nothing to savor or to reflect on. By contrast Irma Bombeck's books were also humorous but had bits which stung or pricked, stuff that made you think -- at least occasionally. I basically ended up plowing through Mole's diary. I'll grant you it was funny but I'm really glad I didn't purchase it.

Lastly, a word of praise. There are two handfuls of characters which are actually fleshed out enough to be recognizable with foibles and personalities of their own. I would have thought that to be a difficult thing using the diary approach.

So if you're considering converting your blog to dead tree format, I'd suggest 1) that you ask yourself if the entries are too uniform to be read one after another in one sitting; 2) that you check to see if there's substance tucked away that could be brought forward a bit; and 3) see if the salient characters can be eliminated or whether they need to be rounded into real contributors.