I first read Adrian Mole’s diaries when I was not much younger than he was when he was first introduced to us, aged 13 and 3/4, and I’ve kept up with him through the years. He is one of my favorite characters. (I also loved the TV series adaptation of the first two books.) When I bought Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, I shelved it, waiting for the right mood to read it. But then, a couple of years later, his creator, Sue Townsend, died, and the thought of this being the last time I’d read about Adrian’s life made me postpone doing so. I’ve finally read it, with a sense of melancholy, and I found it both funny and poignant. I feel like he would have written a poem for this occasion, but I’ll just say: farewell, Adrian.