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Product Description
Product Description
It's the 1980's and David has just started secondary school. He's becoming a teenager, but still hanging onto the rituals of childhood, particularly his addiction to Doctor Who, sharing the books with his best friend and neighbour, Robert, and watching the TV show. But time moves relentlessly on, and Robert starts rejecting the Doctor in favour of girls, free weights and new music. Against a backdrop of Bowie, Breville toasters and trips to Blackpool, David acknowledges his own abilities and finds his place in the world.
About the Author
Paul Magrs was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear in 1969. He's always wanted to write the kinds of book he could never find when he was a teenager. Nowadays he is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read The Diary of a Dr Who Addict while on vacation, and I can't stop thinking about it!
It's not just the fine crafted characters and the touching nature of the story - but it's the way Paul Magrs has encapsulated the thoughts and behaviour of The Fan.
What fascinates me about the book is the way a person who was a teen in the 1980s can recall their own feelings from the experiences of David, about a new season starting or a new Doctor, and yet, because of the success of the modern series, today's teenagers can see their own feelings mirrored in it too.
The main appeal for me, though, is all the nuances of fan behaviour present in the character of David that read like a fictionalised version of my own past. Playing the Geoff Love and His Orchestra arrangement of the theme tune relentlessly, recording episodes off-air onto audio tapes and listening to them as radio plays, catching up with the older stories via the novelisations, visiting the Doctor Who Exhibition in Blackpool, and thinking about the show virtually all the time - and being very out of synch with one's peers and the world at large.
I'm so glad I bought The Diary of a Dr Who Addict. While it is fictional, I can see much of it has been drawn from the author's own adolescence. I found it by turns hilarious and deeply touching.
I couldn't put it down.
It's not just the fine crafted characters and the touching nature of the story - but it's the way Paul Magrs has encapsulated the thoughts and behaviour of The Fan.
What fascinates me about the book is the way a person who was a teen in the 1980s can recall their own feelings from the experiences of David, about a new season starting or a new Doctor, and yet, because of the success of the modern series, today's teenagers can see their own feelings mirrored in it too.
The main appeal for me, though, is all the nuances of fan behaviour present in the character of David that read like a fictionalised version of my own past. Playing the Geoff Love and His Orchestra arrangement of the theme tune relentlessly, recording episodes off-air onto audio tapes and listening to them as radio plays, catching up with the older stories via the novelisations, visiting the Doctor Who Exhibition in Blackpool, and thinking about the show virtually all the time - and being very out of synch with one's peers and the world at large.
I'm so glad I bought The Diary of a Dr Who Addict. While it is fictional, I can see much of it has been drawn from the author's own adolescence. I found it by turns hilarious and deeply touching.
I couldn't put it down.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Paul Magrs book, takes us through a year long journey of a young lad growing up in the north of England during the early 1980's (about the time when Tom Baker regenerated into Peter Davison).
It is essentially a "coming of age" tale, told in an interesting way, and deals with the way that the central character begins to find out who he is in this world.
One could say that regeneration, is a marvellous metaphor for becoming a teenager, as we see friends who were bound together by the tv show, starting to drift apart, as one is clearly maturing at a faster rate, and becoming more interested in getting girls, and listening to music, than watching Doctor Who on TV, or reading the Target books that were available at the time.
This books works on many levels. For the teenage audience that it is aimed at, there are some interesting and quirky historic references that they will find interesting; such as taping the audio from the tv to a cassette recorder, the thrill of getting a top-loading VHS video recorder and being able to record one of the 4 channels for the first time etc... For those of us of a certain age, its like a walk down memory lane!
A nice easy and entertaining read. It's a shame it ended when it did, as I would love to follow the characters journey to adulthood. Hopefully another book will continue that journey!
It is essentially a "coming of age" tale, told in an interesting way, and deals with the way that the central character begins to find out who he is in this world.
One could say that regeneration, is a marvellous metaphor for becoming a teenager, as we see friends who were bound together by the tv show, starting to drift apart, as one is clearly maturing at a faster rate, and becoming more interested in getting girls, and listening to music, than watching Doctor Who on TV, or reading the Target books that were available at the time.
This books works on many levels. For the teenage audience that it is aimed at, there are some interesting and quirky historic references that they will find interesting; such as taping the audio from the tv to a cassette recorder, the thrill of getting a top-loading VHS video recorder and being able to record one of the 4 channels for the first time etc... For those of us of a certain age, its like a walk down memory lane!
A nice easy and entertaining read. It's a shame it ended when it did, as I would love to follow the characters journey to adulthood. Hopefully another book will continue that journey!
Format:Paperback
I loved this book but felt very much that it mirrored some of the themes from his earlier books for young adults. I think if you are a big 'Who' fan then it will add another dimension to the story.
Worth buying and I'm glad I have it in my Magrs collection.
Worth buying and I'm glad I have it in my Magrs collection.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Diary of a Doctor Who Addict
A story about growing up, we will all identify with parts of David's story and for some of us memories of new video recorders and Breville Toasters will make you smile. Read more
Published on 14 May 2010 by Esmeralda
The Diary of a Dr Who Addict
Even though I'm not a teenage boy living in the 1980s, I still related to The Diary of a Dr Who Addict much more than most of the other books I've read. Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by Jenny, Wondrous Reads
It said something to me about my life
I wish this book had been around when I was 13.
This isn't a book about growing up in the nostalgia show approved 80s, where everyone had at some point a Chopper,... Read more
This isn't a book about growing up in the nostalgia show approved 80s, where everyone had at some point a Chopper,... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2010 by Mr. Jonathan Arnold
OK but a tad confusing as to the target audience
This title really is what it says it is and whilst it's a fictional diary of a fan in the 80's I can't help but feel its semi biographical of the author who himself is a Dr. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
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