My So-Called Life

Rachel Riley #1

by Joanna Nadin

Rachel Riley is the offspring of a depressingly unbroken home. Her mum and dad refuse to let her have a mobile phone, and have banned Ribena and Eastenders. Her seven year old brother buys Will Young dolls from eBay and talks in Elvish, and the adopted dog eats her 'Pride and Prejudice' boxed collection. It's time for change.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Teen

289 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Joanna Nadin is an English author of juvenile fiction best known for the Rachel Riley series of teenage novels Based on Nadin's own childhood, the series follows the comedic narration of a 13-year-old girl.

Nadin has also written several books of juvenile fiction. These include two books for the Oxford University Press "Project X" series designed to encourage boys to read.

Nadin previously worked as a policy writer for the Labour Party (UK).In 2001, she became a special adviser to Tony Blair.

As a child I buried myself in books both at home in Essex and at my grandparents’ houses in Cornwall, where I spent a large part of my time, and where many of my stories are now set. Books and later films were an escape not just from where I was but who I was, which, as I saw it, was pretty much a geek. They gave me the freedom to become someone else, from George in the Famous Five to Velvet Brown winning the Grand National to Baby dancing the Chachacha with Johnny Castle.

Reviews

[Kylie🐾 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it!. I thought it was funny and witty and none of the book was a drag which is a surprise. The character was full on brilliant as well.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 tähteä

[Danielle Lowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting book. It shows the reality of a normal girl, going on about the things you might expect. Friends, family, food and the like.

What else can you expect? Well some how, even though this book is a very normal and simple book, there is something about it that is very appealing.

This book is great, especially if you don't want to read a book that escapes reality - but rather something that makes you think about normal life and that perhaps you aren't the only one with a normal life.

While it's a simple life, it's full of description and lets you imagine things the way real life would let you.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absoloutely hilairious. I loved it! She's basically from a suburb, with a tragically snobbish middle class mother, a henpecked farther, and a litlle brother who's more like a middle aged man! Not to mention the Cleggs, the dog, and grandpa! However Rachel riely and her best friends, Scarlett and Sad Ed are desperate to be edgy and exciting, and utterly vouge and boheimian! A must read!!!!!!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was in my early teens and thought it was absolutely amazing. Reading it again as an adult in their mid twenties I still believe this is an amazing book that all teenage girls should read. It’s is the basis of what pubescent teenagers go through on some level.

[ella ✧.* · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would’ve given like 3-4 stars BUT this book includes a lot of fatshaming and racism… It was overall fun and fast read, characters were funny and relatable, but nothing really big or super interesting happened…

[17mapleyn072]

This book is what got me into the Rachel Riley diaries. This book was very funny and enjoyable and really made me want to read more. In the book we find out about Rachel’s life and how she has a crush on Justin.

[Peony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining read. Made me laugh. There was no dull moment, even for me as an adult reader. The writer convinced me that the person keeping the diary actually was 13-14 (sometimes writers make children too mature) and the most entertaining parts for me was when the girl was describing the events that happened in the house and in the village amongst the adults. A lot of "adult content" so I might be embarrased to give this as a gift f.ex. for my neese.

[Sarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ihan kiva, päiväkirjamuotoinen romaani teinitytön elämästä. Vähän tuntui tosin uudelleenlämmitetyn haalelta, kun vertasin lukiessani alan ehdottomaan klassikkoon, Adrian Molen päiväkirjoihin. Tässä kirjassa ei päästä aivan samalle huumorin tasolle.

[Moa · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the funniest books I´ve ever read!

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A humorous book, perfect for lazy days.

[Cece · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was 12 years old, my mother bought me this book from Borders (remember Borders?!) because she was fed up of me reading Jacqueline Wilson books back-to-back over-and-over. Quickly, however, she noticed the “not suitable for younger readers” note on the back of the book and told me not to read it until I was older. Of course, a new book was too tempting and I read it in the secrecy of my room by head torch light when I was supposed to be asleep. Two years later when I was 14, we saw the 6th book of the series (The Facts of Life) in Waterstones and my mum deemed me old enough to start reading them.

Ever since, I have read this diary (and the rest of the series) time and time again, ever laughing at the so-mundane-it’s-funny life of Rachel Riley. Since I was 12, this has been one of my all-time favourite books and I recommend it to everyone for light and easy reading that guarantees a good laugh.

It’s relatability is prevalent on so many levels, from her often outlandish and thus unfulfilled Christmas and birthday lists to the struggles she faces with procrastination in exam season and constantly fantasising about being thrown up against a wall by her school-girl crush. I thank the Lord my mother isn’t a serial list writer, imposing bans on everything from Ribena to Channel 4 and whipping out Cillit Bang at the very whisper of a food item with the potential to create a stain.

Rachel’s fantasist obsession reminds me of when I was younger, imagining I was someone other than myself, just as I’m sure every other 13 year old girl would.

If ever you want to take a break from something complex or just need a good laugh, then I fully recommend giving this book (and any of the others in the series) a good read.

[Lilly B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay so this pains me so much because this book is so funny BUT

This book is absolutely INSANELY bigoted. Obviously at the time I first read this I knew certain words were bad to use but hoooooly SHIT re-reading as an adult with a developed frontal lobe, this is so offensive.

I am both shocked that this came from a special adviser to Blair and also absolutely not shocked at all. it feels so very New Labour™️ now I am aware of the politics of the time etc.

Slurs abound (n word[?!] and R word [EXTENSIVELY]), misogynistic, racist, homophobic, fat phobic, super anti-working class, massively anti-benefits/welfare and a weird obsession with being derogatory against little people?! And that’s just what I can remember off the top of my head.

Obviously this is very derivative of Rennison’s Georgia Nicholson’s diaries, and don’t get me wrong those books are not without sin (and tbf not as funny as the rachel riley diaries), I thought they were a bit off colour but the rachel riley diaries are a whole new level of reactionary.

If all the reactionary shit was removed these would be a 5* but as per my rating system this is a 2 because it lets itself down so badly. Honestly this is really sad for me I loved these books as a tween I can’t believe they’re so mean spirited (probably explains why I was a little cunt as a teenager lol)

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book does not stand the test of time. I am unsure if the book has had any revisions since its first publication, the use of slurs was heavy in this book, which proved problematic and is made worse by the character being well, awful herself. (And the author being white. Yes THAT slur is used in the book.)

It is meant to be written from the perspective of a teenage girl, however, the lengthy entries of politics remove your mindset that this is written by a teenage girl, and simply doesn’t provide much to the experience of this book. The protagonist acts as if they are poor, underprivileged, but in reality they are middle class and simply are spoiled (despite them thinking they are notoriously punished by their parents.)

I was questioning why I ever read this book as a teen (hence why I picked it up after seeing it in a used bookstore) and in conclusion: it was because the author was born in the same town as I.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohhhh my God. randomly saw these on my Vinted feed and was instantly transported back to 2008 when these were my favourite books to re-read. Naturally I had to buy the whole set and dive in.

Should I have been reading these books at age 11 considering the high number of slurs, politically incorrect jokes and sexual references, supposedly from a 14 year old narrator? Absolutely not. Did they form an integral part of teenage me’s sense of humour and pessimistic outlook on life? Of course.

Some entries genuinely had me howling, initially you think Rachel is doing the classic teenage moping of oh my GOD my family is so embarassing!!!!! but then you consider her Hobbit-obsessed brother, painfully middle class parents, and outrageous grandparents and actually, maybe she has a point

[Juliette Appleby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good light book. The style is quirky and different but I believe it works well for the book and the plot. It was a quick read - taking less than a day. It was quite a simple read but had a good. engaging and gripping story line. There is no real plot twists and surprises but nevertheless it was a good book and I would highly recommend it. It is a book which I believe is suitable for a wide range of audiences from older children to preteens to teenagers. So, if you are looking for some light reading I would highly recommend this book. Hope you enjoy it if you read it and enjoy it as much as I did! xx

[mols ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read!!! one of my favourite books ever, especially as a girl who was raised on jacqueline wilson and louise rennison books. minus a star for the shockingly overt classist stereotypes displayed in the characters of “the kylies” which are especially disappointing in a book written by a labour mp. it could be somewhat excused by the fact that this was written in the 2000s, but still there’s a lot of lazy stereotyping for cheap laughs and a book like this would rightly never be allowed to include those depictions today. nevertheless, the rest of the book is literally SO funny & engaging, and u best believe that i’m scouring amazon and ebay for the next books in the series <3

[Annabelle Ioannou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about the sixth time I’ve read this book, and I still love it. The writing style, though as simplistic to be understood by teens, also portrays the literary genius that Rachel believes herself to be. The characters are realistic for British teenagers, and although I wanted to slap our narrator for being so naive she always gets her comeuppance in some form at the end. Above all though it is absolutely hilarious.

[Misto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of dumb but in the best possible way. I've always enjoyed these books. The main character is relatable yet you get to roll your eyes because of how dumb she can be. I'm glad I picked this up again after so many years.

[Jeenu · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't like it at all.boring book. stopped reading after page 24..

[Stargazer · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't get into it

[Emilia Utter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay, Rachel is kinda stupid but thats why this book is kinda funny. I didn’t choose to read this book (School made me read this) but this was better than I thought.

[Emry Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun throw back to my teenage days. I can see why 13 year old me was the way I was as I was reading this.

[Cesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book series is great! Really enjoyable, I love the characters I wish there were more books in the series as I have read them all now

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even from about page 10 you could tell Sad ed Loves her and it isn't even revealed!

[Francesca Pashby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this but couldn’t quite get a handle on who it was written for. A more modern Adrian Mole, almost, but with references that a 21st century young teenaged girl just wouldn’t get.

[Maija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yllättävän hyvin toimiva, mukaantempaiseva nuortenkirja jossa ajan hammas ei vuonna 2021 vielä pahasti näy.

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

read as a child - approx '09-'12

[Suvi · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐️½

[Grace Sargeant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed.