Diary of a Somebody

De: Brian Bilston

Narrado por: Ben Miller

This audiobook is superbly performed by Ben Miller.

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award.

'Glorious. I will be astonished if I read a more original, more inventive or funnier novel this year.' - Adam Kay, author of This Is Going to Hurt

Part tender love story, part murder mystery, part hilarious description of a wasted life, and interspersed with some of the funniest poems about the mundane and the profound, Diary of a Somebody is a stunningly original novel from Twitter sensation, Brian Bilston.

It’s January 1st and Brian Bilston is convinced that this year, his New Year’s resolution will change his life. Every day for a year, he will write a poem. It’s quite simple.

Brian’s life certainly needs improving. His ex-wife has taken up with a new man, he seems to constantly disappoint his long-suffering son, and at work he is drowning in a sea of spreadsheets and management jargon. So poetry will be his salvation. But there is an obstacle in the form of Toby Salt, his arch nemesis at Poetry Club and rival suitor to Liz, Brian’s new poetic inspiration.

When Toby goes missing, just after the announcement of the publication of his first collection, This Bridge No Hands Shall Cleave, Brian becomes the number one suspect. If he is to regain his reputation and to have a chance of winning Liz, he must find out what has happened to Toby before it is too late.

**Brian's next book, How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside: An Alternative Guide to Writing and Enjoying Poetry, is available for pre-order now!**

Reseñas de la Crítica

Glorious. I will be astonished if I read a more original, more inventive or funnier novel this year. (Adam Kay)

Nobody must find out about this unique gem, because I’m giving it to EVERYONE (Dawn French)

Achingly funny. Without doubt it should win next year's Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for the best comic novel, even if my own novel is in contention as well (Jonathan Coe)

If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston (Richard Osman)

Not since Victoria Wood has a writer squeezed so much hilarity from a biscuit.

How do I laugh at thee? Let me count the ways . . . If you like sub-Carry On puns, clever parodies of famous poems and Wittgensteinian meditations on language, you’ll love it

The midlife answer to Adrian Mole? It's a big comparison to make, in comic novel terms, but Brian Bilston - parodist and 'poet laureate of Twitter'- is worthy . . . Laugh. Cry. Cringe.

He has a knack for playing with language but his poems are accessible, witty and touching . . . In fact I rather regretted reading it over just a couple of days - it would have been better to take longer and saver it. (Kirsty McLuckie)

A welcome reminder of the joy to be had when you put yourself in the hands of someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative . . . Funny and ingenious

In a similar way to Morrissey and John Cooper Clarke, [Bilston] has the ability to make the mundane both funny and beautiful – whether that's taking out the bins or procrastinating on Twitter . . . A must-read for anyone who is a fan of wordplay, puns, The Smiths and custard creams. (Dominic Kearney)

The English comic novel, whose death this year was announced prematurely, is actually alive, well and in the safe hands of Brian Bilston (Jonathan Coe)

Highly original, genuinely funny and clever, with a gentle humanity in between the lines. Brian Bilston should be Poet Laureate (John O'Farrell)

Bilston is the greatest English anti-hero of our time. His poems have delighted people on Twitter for several years, and now he's treated us to this brilliant novel . . . This book has everything you want from a comic novel . . . Brian Bilston is real. And I love him

The pseudonymous Brian Bilston turns the base metal of comic verse into gold . . . Imagine a mash-up of John Cooper Clarke, Ed Reardon’s Week and James Joyce, and you’re about halfway there . . . Bilston is a magician with words . . . Read this novel in short bursts, pausing to savour its individual brilliancies

Brian Bilston is bringing poetry to the masses . . . topical, witty, thoughtful

Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times, a wordsmith who cares deeply about the impact his language makes as it dances before our eyes (Ian McMillan)

Thoroughly enjoyable!

Wordplay at its best. I have never wanted to read a book more after having listened to it. I feel the narrator, Ben Miller, must have had an extraordinary time of reading this (and sometimes even singing it). Bravo for a fun listen. I will be looking for more.