Rating: 
Summary: The 'Male' Bridget Jones Diary
Review: If your girlfriend wonders why you spent so much time talking about, cars, sport, football and she laughed out loud reading Bridget Jones, then you must read this book.It perfectly explains the reasons why we, the male species, do things they way we do and for no other reason than because we are invariably unconcious to her 'obvious' reaction to our actions. Hindsight is a great thing but this book will give us all foresight and if 'you' really care you will read, take notes and think about the consequences of the next time that you say, 'OK.....just one more for the road'. This book is here to be read by all 'blokes', it is funny and you should all laugh.......heartily! Enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Please!
Review: Is it just me? Am I so jaded that I'm missing something? This just reads like another Guardian columnist's Londonite "insight" into fatherdom, is Dadlit a recognised genre yet? Perhaps fascinating to anyone who's never reared kids, but, aside from the glint of recognition for those of us who have, what are we given? I don't want to sound highbrow but this writing is pretty undistinguished, like a succession of Reader's Digest "funny things that happened on the way to the potty". I even knew a few of the punchlines he was building to, like a Frank Carson routine. I found it poorly constructed, tame and a must-have for Daily Mail reading accountants who like to wear jeans at the weekend and fantasize about being a bit edgy.
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Summary: We Kept Waking Up Our Baby As We Laughed Our Heads Off
Review: John O'Farrell has loudly and comically proclaimed all of the secret guilty thoughts that we have had as new parents. As my husband and I read the book together, we had to try not to wake our baby with our laughing. We could definitely identify with Michael and Catherine, and laughed at ourselves as we thought about those early months of parenthood. All of our friends with small children will be getting this book for birthdays and Christmas!
Rating:
Summary: Another Undiscovered Gem From Britain
Review: Like Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons, John O'Farrell can be added to the list of hilarious British authors who make the idea of children and fatherhood painfully real and side splittingly funny. Michael Adams has managed to balance his jingle writing career and his wife and two very young kids in a rather unique way; He leads two lives. In one, he's a devoted father put upon by his demands at work which force him to be away from home for a few days at a time.Away from home he shares a flat with three distinct bachelors who have no idea he's married, let alone has kids.
All this plays out in a witty, funny first person narrative that sounds like a role tailor made for Hugh Grant, Colin Firth or Greg Wise.If you liked Nick Hornby's "About A Boy", or Tony Parsons "Man & Boy" you'd probably enjoy this as well.
Rating:
Summary: A must for Nick Hornby fans
Review: OK, so the plot is a bit high-concept. But it was all I could do not to finish this book in one sitting -- it's that smoothly written and hilarious. I laughed out loud at least once every other page, and tried reading it more slowly just to make it last longer. It might put you off the notion of becoming a parent, but maybe that's not so bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Family values surprise
Review: Songwriter Michael Adams has the perfect life. A beautiful wife ; two wonderful children and a third on the way ; and the best of both single and married life. You see, he has created a way to spend several nights and days per week away from home living in an apartment on the other end of London. He sees his wife and children just enough to enjoy them when he wants while not having to deal with the children when he doesn't. But his "perfect" life proves illusory when the single life and family life can no longer coexist happily. What is perfect for Michael is not so perfect for the wife he loves more than anything else in the world. Michael is forced to make a choice and learns some lessons along the way. John O'Farrell's debut novel is a British romp through the challenges of fathering and its inherent dangers to marriage. What makes this tale stand out, however, is its whole-hearted portrayal of family's importance in a man's life. Men, married or no, are most often portrayed as philandering, sex-obsessed and unfaithful to their spouses and families. But, from the start of this book, protagonist Adams is a loyal family man. Unfortunately, O'Farrell dampens this message with sexual material that is too explicit for this otherwise light romp. Michael Adams captures my viewpoint perfectly when he muses, "I didn't disapprove of sex, but Hugo talked with such contempt about the women he had seduced that it almost left as bad a taste in my mouth as it must have done for them." The vulgarity and sparse but prurient content of this book leave me with a sour aftertaste. That complaint aside, this is a wonderful book. It reads as though destined to become a movie. Not surprising given O'Farrell's background in screenwriting. But only purists will be bothered because this book is funny and poignant at the same time. Sudden surprise twists keep the reader on his toes and lead to an ending that ties up loose ends and finishes with a pleasant gasp.
Rating:
Summary: Family values surprise
Review: Songwriter Michael Adams has the perfect life. A beautiful wife ; two wonderful children and a third on the way ; and the best of both single and married life. You see, he has created a way to spend several nights and days per week away from home living in an apartment on the other end of London. He sees his wife and children just enough to enjoy them when he wants while not having to deal with the children when he doesn't. But his "perfect" life proves illusory when the single life and family life can no longer coexist happily. What is perfect for Michael is not so perfect for the wife he loves more than anything else in the world. Michael is forced to make a choice and learns some lessons along the way. John O'Farrell's debut novel is a British romp through the challenges of fathering and its inherent dangers to marriage. What makes this tale stand out, however, is its whole-hearted portrayal of family's importance in a man's life. Men, married or no, are most often portrayed as philandering, sex-obsessed and unfaithful to their spouses and families. But, from the start of this book, protagonist Adams is a loyal family man. Unfortunately, O'Farrell dampens this message with sexual material that is too explicit for this otherwise light romp. Michael Adams captures my viewpoint perfectly when he muses, "I didn't disapprove of sex, but Hugo talked with such contempt about the women he had seduced that it almost left as bad a taste in my mouth as it must have done for them." The vulgarity and sparse but prurient content of this book leave me with a sour aftertaste. That complaint aside, this is a wonderful book. It reads as though destined to become a movie. Not surprising given O'Farrell's background in screenwriting. But only purists will be bothered because this book is funny and poignant at the same time. Sudden surprise twists keep the reader on his toes and lead to an ending that ties up loose ends and finishes with a pleasant gasp.
Rating:
Summary: Any guy with wife+young kids will find this book hilarious
Review: The long tunnel you enter when having one or more small children enter your life -- those bipolar first 1-5 years -- are shocking for a lot of people. And specifically if you are a guy in your 30s with kids, you can likely relate to the author's view of the experience. Simple and hilarious insights into both husband-wife relations and some of the realizations you ultimately have as a new parent. The book is laugh-out-loud funny in many parts and is also a super-quick 300pp read. You'll likely just want to finish in one or two sittings -- its that good. Very Hornsby-ish too ... you can picture John Cusack as the lead in the movie if they ever made it.
Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: This is a thin novel, and not the deepest thing you'll ever get your hands on. But it's well written, poignant, simply hilarious at moments, and it will keep you reading. Someone has described it as "Bridget Jones for men," and that may well be true, I'm not sure. What I am sure of is this: if you are a kid in a grown-up's body (who isn't?) and if there are times when you wish you could leave all the responsibility behind -- whether that responsibility takes the form of kids, a job you hate, a mortgage payment, or whatever -- you will find something in the main character's ruminations to which you can relate. It's definitely worth a read, and maybe worth two. How many books can you say that about?
Rating: 
Summary: Do me a favour
Review: Yeah right, Nick Hornby, Bridget Jones, Tony Parsons, thats about the mark. If undistinguished hacks banging on about the obvious is your bag maybe this dismal sack of cliches will be bang up your alley. If you prefer Sade to Hendrix, Freddie Starr to Bill Hicks, Blind Date to Blue Jam then this insipid scribble may well light up your life.
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