One thought on “Starter for Ten”

1. This was a First Reads win, so I desperately wanted to like this book It s a coming of age story about an awkward, nerdy main character In fact, this character is like many a person I ve known during my own coming of age period in my life Unfortunately, unlike the many similar people I ve known and liked and befriended, Brian Jackson lacks any redeeming quality that makes me, the reader, want to root for him The first forty pages of the book had me slightly interested in learning what would happ [...]

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2. I m aware that the transition into adulthood is a difficult and sometimes painful one I m familiar with the conventions of the rites of passage, I know what the literary term bildungsroman means, I realise that it s inevitable that I ll look back at things that happened in my youth and give a wry, knowing smile But surely there s no reason why I should be embarrassed and ashamed about things that happened thirty seconds ago No reason why life should just be this endless rolling panorama of bodge [...]

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3. This is David Nicholl s first novel and it really shows Although it was enjoyable, funny, heart wrenching and relatable it just wasn t what I was expecting It felt clumsy and confused and I didn t like the way women were portrayed.I guess I just can t get over the fact that Understudy by him is one of my all time fav books I think about it everyday and I just want another one of his books to do that to me Unfortunately, this is not one of them.I found the synopsis and reviews misleading Having s [...]

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4. Well says Alice we had some friends round, like we always do on Boxing Day, and we were playing charades, and it was my turn, and I was trying to do Last Year At Marienbad for Mummy, and she was getting so frantic and over excited, and shouting so hard, that her cap popped out and landed right in our next door neighbour s glass of wine And everyone s laughing, even Mr Harbinson, and the atmosphere is so funny and adult and amusing and irreverent that I say, You mean you weren t wearing any under [...]

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5. This is a very funny book about an English lad during his first year at University He has all the usual first year mishaps and, partly as a result of falling in love with a beautiful undergraduate, joins the team for University Challenge, a British quiz programme based on College Bowl He pursues his relationship with the beautiful girl while at the same time crossing swords with a radical but much rounded girl The book was made into a film starring James McAvoy which is also very amusing Don t [...]

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6. Brian Jackson is a grant student entering his first year at university Coming from blue collar family and friends, he s always been the oddball at home, and is hoping that at university he will find his niche As a fan of the television show University Challenge, he is excited to make the team, even if it is only as first alternate mostly because he gets to see the posh and beautiful Alice at team meetings As his first year of college progresses, though, Brian learns the valuable lesson that know [...]

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7. This is set at Bristol University in one of the years I was studying there which is why I read it and is presumably somewhat autobiographical as the author was there at that time However, bar the odd mention of certain music, it wasn t particularly comparable to my experience or people I knew.It is the story of Brian s first couple of terms at university, during which he fulfils an ambition to be on the University Challenge TV quiz team However, the quiz is just a literary hook to portray the st [...]

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8. 1985 First year student and Kate Bush fan Brian falls or beautiful University Challenge queen Alice Harbinson in a brilliant comedy of love, class, growing up and the all important difference between knowledge and wisdom Another David Nicholls book I hear you scream Yes indeed and they just get better and better Starter For Ten is a brilliant read however the main character is a bit of an oddball Brian Jackson is a lanky and rather geeky boy that is unbelievably socially inept Starter For Ten is [...]

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9. I think I d have had a lot sympathy for the main character if I had read this a decade ago, when I was also an insufferable asshole nineteen year old.

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10. When we were young a long long time ago a friend of mine and me joked about the continuous crises the first year at uni crisis, the mid degree crisis and of course, the last degree year crisis Hey, our life was so full This is a first year at uni crisis novel, dissected by his protagonist and narrator, Brian He presents himself as a working class lad setting off on his big university journey, with all its appealing prospects leaving home to live on your own that is to say, in your shared accommo [...]

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11. This book made me glad that there are such things as libraries.Had I wasted a nickle buying this book I would ve been furious.It s not very good.The first thing I want to say is that once you re onto David Nicholl s gimmicks the whole book falls apart Here it is his gimmick He seems to lead you to this great climax in the plot and then whammo he lets you drop flat on your face All his plots have bad endings That s how he engages you with bad endings.Yes One Day was fabulous but that was because [...]

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12. Post One Day, I wanted to have at some of David Nicholls work Starter for 10 is his first novel, and well.I finished it underwhelmed.A few reasons why this one tripped me up when One Day for me anyway was so lovely 1 The protagonist, Brian Jackson A college freshman, Brian has fancy notions of what it means to head off to university But he s nerdy and his face is pock marked with acne and he s awkward So, SO awkward Every scene becomes slightly painful to read because it s Brian tripping over h [...]

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13. Tohle mi prost fakt sedlo Brian je mi jako hlavn hrdina hrozn sympatick , asi hlavn t m, e se v n m trochu vid m A fakt jsem se musela sm t u popis vysoko kolsk ho ivota, proto e prost jo, takhle n jak to vypad David Nicholls opravdu nep e kn ky, kter by m n jak z sadn obohatily, ale p e kn ky, kter m hrozn bav st Tahle m la nav c tu v hodu, e pojedn vala o v cech, kter mi jsou sakra bl zko Velk m plusem jsou taky postavy, kter Nicholls zkr tka um 4 a t m se na dal knihu

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14. Retirado do post original em alerdesde1500 2013David Nicholls um dos meus escritores contempor neos preferidos.Adorei One Day e este Starter For Ten esteve muito perto das 5 estrelas mas O meu mas com D Nicholls continua a ser o mesmo crescer n o tem de ser uma sucess o de desilus es.A escrita dele do mais fluente que tenho lido, os di logos realistas, as observa es perspicazes e pertinentes, um humor constante, ironia q.b.E mesmo com tudo isto, h um constante sentimento de derrota e desilus o p [...]

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15. I had high hopes for this book after reading One Day, but they turned out to be in vain Starter for Ten has a cast of characters that I found generally repugnant, especially the main character He s so obsessed with a girl who plainly doesn t like him and who uses him repeatedly, yet he never seems to learn from these lessons, so the reader is forced to roll their eyes as surprise she screws him over again The story focuses on his failed courtship of her than it does on his self professed dream, [...]

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16. I like game shows, so I was interested in the quiz show aspect of this book I found the book painful to read at times, as the main character was so awkward and inept Yet, truth be told, I did a lot of stupid things when I was his age Maybe I was a little better at covering my tracks.

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17. When I approach the table, Alice stands up, and amazingly puts her arm round me and hugs me really tightly, her cheek pressed tight against mine I don t know what to do, so I put my arms around her too, leaning forward slightly to allow for the volume of her puffball skirt, one hand on the grey satin, and one on her back, her beautiful back, just where the flesh swells out over the top of the satin, and she whispers in my ear you are such a lovely man and I think I m going to cry again, not beca [...]

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18. Desilus o labirinto livros Uma Quest o de Atra o o segundo livro publicado em Portugal de David Nicholls, autor do bestseller Um Dia opini o aqui Apesar de n o ter ficado totalmente rendida ao autor com o seu primeiro livro, decidi dar uma segunda oportunidade ao senhor.Bem, por onde come ar O argumento deste livro muito simples Brian prestes a entrar no mundo universit rio, n o se sente completo Por isso mesmo, decide candidatar se a um concurso de televis o intitulado Desafio Universit rio No [...]

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19. 1,5 estrelasUma Quest o de Atrac o foi a minha estreia com David Nicholls J devem estar fartinhos de saber, mas para quem n o sabe, enjoei YA e muito raro gostar dos livros do g nero e n o li a sinopse, por isso n o sabia que livro se enquadrava no g nero antes de o come ar a ler , por isso tenham em aten o que a minha opini o a opini o de algu m que partida n o gosta do g nero.Apesar de ter um tom humor stico e um estilo leve e descontra do, foi um livro que me chateou e deprimiu Parece antag n [...]

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20. Men don t read Or that s something of a stereotype assigned by publishers that makes finding good books somewhat difficult at times One can always pick up airport reads about lawyers Grisham spies Clancy or scary medical stuff Crichton and then of course there is fare for the intellectual Franzen What about the non alpha male middle class white guy, somewhat in touch with his sensitive side who wants to pick up something that doesn t assume he is without brains, but doesn t necessarily push him [...]

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21. 4.5 stars This book was hilarious I don t tend to pick up funny books for some reason but I am so glad I picked this one up Honestly, it was one of the funniest books I have ever read Brian was such a great character He was the one you loved to hate and his knack of embarrassing himself constantly left me in hysterics There were times when I was actually groaning audibly because of his awkwardness By the end of the book, I felt so close to him and I just wanted I found myself picking up Starter [...]

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22. David Nichollsin esikoisromaani Kaikki peliin Otava, 2012 on humoristinen kuvaus 1980 luvun puoliv list Englantilaisessa pikkukaupungissa varttunut Brian Jackson aloittaa englantilaisen kirjallisuuden opinnot yliopistossa, mutta pian k y ilmi, ettei el m akateemisen sivistyksen keskell olekaan aivan sellaista kuin h n on ajatellut Lis ksi pakkaa sekoittavat l hestyv yliopistojen v linen tietokilpailu ja kuvankaunis opiskelutoveri Alice, joka laittaa sukat py rim n jokaisen miehenpuolen jaloissa [...]

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23. I don t know if I love or hate that ending So, at first, I really really really hated Brian and, to an extent, I still do However, at a point about half way through the book my hatred gave way to some sort of mild eye rolling affection I just came to accept that he s a bit of a prat and got on with the book.It was a good book Not brilliant, but not bad either I liked the fact that the plot followed the choices of the protagonist It wasn t a plot driven book, but it WAS a character driven book, w [...]

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24. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to almost the finish The style is wry and self aware with just enough pretentiousness to let the reader into the world of the university and Brian Jackson.The writing style was comedic and had me laughing on buses all over the city The major downfalls of the novel are the ending, which seemed a bit rushed, and some parts of the narrative became trite, leaving me a bit jaded Perhaps I saw rather too much of myself in Brian Jackson a pretentious twit who p [...]

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25. HAHAHAHA That is all.

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26. I listened to the audio of this book read by David Tennant It is absolutely sidesplittingly hilarious Throughout you get the ominous feeling things can only end badly for Brian But do they.

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27. Starter for Ten started out to be the prose equivalent of a British John Hughes film The year is perfect The Breakfast Club year of 1985 Something like this book had been badly needed and I was so grateful to Mr Nicholls for having written a deliciously long book Like his protagonist and himself , I read English in college Accordingly, I developed all the pretentiousness and affectations of a literature student I cannot remember any other reading experience that made me feel so profoundly embarr [...]

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28. was than a bit pissed when I realised it s January 16th and I ve only read two books Two bloddy books And neither of them have been that good, either From here on out I m dedicating a lot time to reading Anyway, back to the book.Ever since I read One Day by David Nicholls I ve been meaning to try of his work I ve got his most recent release Us on my kindle, but I put it down after about fifty pages as it wasn t working for me I might try it again at some point though as I ve heard good things [...]

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29. H alguns anos que queria ler este livro E antes disso queria ver o filme, que tem um dos meus atores favoritos James McAvoy Ainda n o vi o filme, mas agora j li o livro e posso dizer que gostei imenso Aqui est um livro que posso dizer que diferente dos outros que tenho lido, devido ao seu humor N o costumo ler muitos livros com um cariz mais divertido, a n o ser aqueles em que existe humor em alguns momentos da trama Dei por mim a soltar gargalhadas durante algumas partes do livro, especialmente [...]

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30. Starter For Ten features the incredibly unlikable protagonist, Brian Jackson, as he bumbles his way through university life in this coming of age novel The main problem that irks many readers is that Brian is a pretentious git who spends his entire time lusting after his university challenge teammate Alice But Nicholls is very, very aware of this At some point in the novel, everyone calls him out on his horrendous attitude, and he eventually does get his comeuppance But Brian, I think, was a str [...]

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