The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

British adolescent angst has never been so laugh-out-loud funny as in this first encounter with a sharp-witted, pining, and achingly honest underdog ( The New York Times). Perhaps when I am famous and my diary is discovered, people will understand the torment of being a 133⁄4-year-old undiscovered intellectual. Adrian Mole is approaching fourteen, and like all radical intellectuals he must amass his grievances: His acne vulgaris is grotesque; his crush, Pandora, received seventeen Valentine’s Day cards; his PE teacher is a sadist; he fears his parents’ marriage is over since they no longer smoke together; his dog has gone AWOL; no one appreciates his poetry; and Animal Farm has set him off pork for good. If everyone were as appalled as Adrian Mole, it would be a better world. Introducing one of literature’s most endearing figures: a luckless adolescent of great expectations and dwindling patience who knows all—or believes he does—and tells all ( The Observer). First published in 1982, Adrian’s chronicle of angst has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, spawned seven sequels, and been adapted for television and staged as a musical. Here’s where it all began.