My wife, who doesn't share my enthusiasm for McManus, has informed me that these are "guy books." Maybe strapping yourself to the fender of an old jalopy, then having your daffy friend drive it through rock-strewn fields at break-neck speed just to save a few cents on grasshoppers for bait doesn't do it for you. If not, buy McManus for some guy who probably has either done something at least as stupid himself or wished he had. Start with "Never Sniff a Gift Fish."

All books are large, sturdy trade paperbacks unless otherwise noted.

Translated into 27 languages, the private reflections ostensibly penned by young Master Mole have gained a cultish following numbered in the millions. The...diaries of this set-upon closet genius are hilariously hedonistic and marvelously moving—filled with the soulful, scathing, and sly musings most of us never reveal.

I first picked up "Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4" in the airport in Madrid around five years ago. Since then, everyone in my family must have read every Adrian Mole book two or three times over. Townsend's genius is particularly revealed in Adrian's diary entries about the goings-on in his British working-class family. As readers, we are all too aware of the meaning, for example, of certain outside "friendships" developed by both his mother and father in the course of their rocky marriage. Even though it only through Adrian's words in his diaries that we learn these truths, Adrian remains oblivious, making the story that much more poignantly funny.

Not all books are currently in print; they tend to drift in and out. I will add more as they again become available. The "Adrian Mole Diaries," incorporating the first two books, is the best value and the best of the writing.