Literary Birthday – 2 April – Sue Townsend

Sue Townsend was born on 2 April 1946 and died on 10 April 2014.

Sue Townsend Quotes

1. I must have been a very strange child. I was very pretentious. Like Adrian Mole.
2. I’ve always loved books. I’m passionate about them. I think books are sexy. They are smooth and solid and contain delightful surprises. They smell good. They fit into a handbag and can be carried around and opened at will. They don’t change. They are what they are and nothing else. One day I want to own a lot of books and have them near to me in my house, so that I can stroll to my bookshelves and choose what I fancy. I want a harem. I shall keep my favourites by my bed.
3. There’s only one thing more boring than listening to other people’s dreams, and that’s listening to their problems.
4. Live with all of your senses.
5. Will you lie to me and promise to read them? Books need to be read. The pages need to be turned.
6. I always wanted to be Jo in Little Women. She’s a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I’m probably more like Madame Bovary.
7. I do think that books, good books, free you. They make you feel a citizen of the world and things like class, sex, and age don’t matter. They’re the greatest leveller.
8. She liked people. Me, I can take them or leave them, but mostly leave them.
9. I don’t know why women are so mad about flowers. Personally, they leave me cold. I prefer trees.
10. Every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can’t do it.

Sue Townsend was an English writer and humourist. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole. The series began with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4. She enjoyed great success in the 1980s, with her Adrian Mole books selling more copies than any other work of fiction in Britain during the decade. The first two books were adapted into a television series, broadcast in 1985 and 1987, and a video game. Townsend became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993. Amongst her honours and awards, she received honorary doctorates from the University of Leicester, from Loughborough University and De Montfort University, Leicester.

Source for image: Book Riot

by Amanda Patterson

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