This is a quirky read, to be enjoyed for the oddball poems which are at its heart. Nobody could take the fictional Bilston seriously. He's hopeless at his job, socially inept, useless at time and money management. But he writes quirky verses, using anything from great literature the day's puzzle corner in the paper as his catalyst. A book to read when the New Normal of Covid 19 is getting you down. ( )

While I enjoyed the poems, I thought the novel had a strong beginning that petered out towards the end. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Bilston's style and think he has a lot to offer; but you can tell this is his freshman effort. His novels, should he write more, will improve, I'm sure. He's got a knack for the subtly funny (and obviously funny too) and a good way of interspersing funny repetitive gags into his work. I just wish this story made me feel something MORE. ( )

I wanted to like this, but I'm not sure that it works sufficiently across the duration of the piece. Brian Bilston of the book has broken up with his wife, who has taken up with a motivational speaker. Brian decides to write a diary and poetry every day, this is that diary. Brian, at times, seems to self sabotage, he is a member of book club and never reads the books, despite buying it (plus numerous others) each month. He meets someone at poetry club, Liz, and this relationship again suffers from the self sabotage. Also at poetry club we meet Toby Salt, against whom Brian has a major grudge for being more successful and against whom he often compares himself. Across the year Brian makes a number of poor decisions and the humour sits oddly against the repeated bad decisions and the moaning about the consequences of said bad decision. The mystery about the disappearance of Toby Salt hangs over the book for some time, but the resolution seems to be far to swift when it eventually comes.
I liked this in parts, but the year long format just made it all a bit too long to maintain the interest. Some of the poems are excellent short form works, I'm just not sure that the mating of poetry and the prose format works sufficiently well. ( )

Brian Bilston has been hailed the poet laureate of Twitter – a 21st century title if ever there was one! – and while I generally struggle with poetry, I have found his poems delightful, amusing, and utterly relatable. Here, he writes as a fictional version of himself, having decided that he is going to write a poem every day of the year, while also keeping a diary of his year. (The poems are all included in his diary, and while there are a minority of days when he doesn’t write one, he more or less keeps his resolution.)

The Brian Bilston of this story is a likeable character, with a sharp eye for life’s minutiae, and while he often writes about the mundanity of life, he always makes it highly enjoyable. He is also a genius at wordplay!

Brian and his wife Sophie have broken up and she has fallen for a new, indefatigably enthusiastic man; his relationship with his teenage son is strained; work is boring to Brian and he has no interest in it; the insufferable fellow poet Toby Salt is finding fame and fortune, much to Brian’s disgust – in fact the only bright spots in his life are his cat and Liz, the new lady at his poetry club, but he can’t seem to get things going with her.

As we follow Brian through his calamitous existence, there is a smile or laugh to be had on every page, even though much of the story is actually quite poignant, and there is a mystery element thrown in which was enjoyable, although probably not necessary. I found myself rooting for Brian throughout, although I sometimes wanted to give him a good shake as well.

Overall I would certainly recommend this book and I do hope that Mr Bilston releases another novel before too long. ( )

Brian Bilston's a quirky enough figure, but Pooter he ain't. The poems and gags rarely provoke a wry smile, let alone a laugh. That being said, there are worse ways to while away an afternoon. ( )