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 [...]

"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 b [...]

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. Havi [...]

"'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 a [...]

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 more rounded girl. The book was made into a film starring James McAvoy which is also very amu [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

"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. [...]

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

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 [...]

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 wa [...]

Post-One Day, I wanted to have at some more 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 tr [...]

Tohle mi prostě fakt sedlo. Brian je mi jako hlavní hrdina hrozně sympatický, asi hlavně tím, že se v něm trochu vidím. A fakt jsem se musela smát u popisů vysokoškolskýho života, protože prostě jo, takhle nějak to vypadá. David Nicholls opravdu nepíše knížky, který by mě nějak zásadně obohatily, ale píše knížky, který mě hrozně baví číst. Tahle měla navíc tu výhodu, že pojednávala o věcech, který mi jsou sakra blízko. Velkým plusem jsou taky postavy [...]

Retirado do post original em alerdesde1500/2013David Nicholls é um dos meus escritores contemporâneos 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 não tem de ser uma sucessão de desilusões.A escrita dele é do mais fluente que tenho lido, os diálogos realistas, as observações perspicazes e pertinentes, um humor constante, ironia q.b.E mesmo com tudo isto, há um constante sentiment [...]

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 more on his failed courtship of her than it does on his self-professe [...]

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.

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 [...]

Desilusão (labirinto-livros/)Uma Questão de Atração é o segundo livro publicado em Portugal de David Nicholls, autor do bestseller "Um Dia" (opinião aqui) . Apesar de não ter ficado totalmente rendida ao autor com o seu primeiro livro, decidi dar uma segunda oportunidade ao senhor.Bem, por onde começar? O argumento deste livro é muito simples. Brian prestes a entrar no mundo universitário, não se sente completo. Por isso mesmo, decide candidatar-se a um concurso de televisão intitula [...]

1,5 estrelasUma Questão de Atracção foi a minha estreia com David Nicholls. Já devem estar fartinhos de saber, mas para quem não sabe, enjoei YA e é muito raro gostar dos livros do género [e não li a sinopse, por isso não sabia que livro se enquadrava no género antes de o começar a ler], por isso tenham em atenção que a minha opinião é a opinião de alguém que à partida não gosta do género.Apesar de ter um tom humorístico e um estilo leve e descontraído, foi um livro que me [...]

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 necessaril [...]

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 more. I found myself picking [...]

David Nichollsin esikoisromaani "Kaikki peliin" (Otava, 2012) on humoristinen kuvaus 1980-luvun puolivälistä. Englantilaisessa pikkukaupungissa varttunut Brian Jackson aloittaa englantilaisen kirjallisuuden opinnot yliopistossa, mutta pian käy ilmi, ettei elämä akateemisen sivistyksen keskellä olekaan aivan sellaista kuin hän on ajatellut. Lisäksi pakkaa sekoittavat lähestyvä yliopistojen välinen tietokilpailu ja kuvankaunis opiskelutoveri Alice, joka laittaa sukat pyörimään jokais [...]

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 b [...]

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 w [...]

HAHAHAHA!That is all.

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.

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 profoundl [...]

was more 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 more time to reading. Anyway, back to the book.Ever since I read One Day by David Nicholls I’ve been meaning to try more 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 th [...]

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

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 [...]