Published in the US as “The Fireside Grown-Up Guides” and in the UK as “Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups” these amusing little books with their vintage Ladybird illustrations are great fun and make wonderful presents. Covering a range of topics they rarely fail to raise a smile, but essentially they’re not the sort of book that reward multiple readings so once read soon forgotten. Nevertheless, a laugh or even a smile is always worthwhile aiming for so I do in fact recommend them. This is perhaps not one of the funniest but certainly delivers a few home truths.

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)

RATING: 4 STARS

I loved Ladybird books when I was a child so when I saw there were books for grown-ups, I had to check them out.

This book brought back memories as it kept the old-fashion feeling to them - pictures, writing and layout. I love the witty humour and it is a fun gift book to give out or keep for yourself.

A reasonable entrant to this series, but not the funniest – while it may well be true and sensible to lump all the stereotypes about midlife crises into a few pithy examples, a lot of the times here the pictures have so little to do with the text that all humour is lost.

This would make a perfect gift for any adult of that “certain age”. Pictures as some of us remember (and even then they seemed out of date!) and text to make you smile. Treated with a pinch of sarcasm, a hint of nostalgia and a large dose of hilarity this is a short easy, laugh out loud read. (I can’t put “lol” for a book that harks to the 1950’s!!). I voluntarily chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
I voluntarily chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Hilarious and perfect. This is my favorite Fireside book so far!

These books are very well observed and stick to the style of the original educational books in a very humorous way. I have enjoyed everyone of these books that I have read and can highly recommend them!

Slight but humorous book. Instantly recognisable mid-life scenarios.

My Favorite Ladybird So Far

Many of these guides go for easy targets. Moms, Husbands, and so on. That's fine, but it's hard to score a zinger on every page when your topic isn't really that edgy or deserving of parody treatment. But here the authors were free to spread themselves and almost every page has a clever, snarky and well aimed barb. Everyone and every sort of mid-life crisis falls within their view and no one is spared. While still fundamentally good-natured and good-humored, these little mini-observations and pronouncements, which are teamed up especially well with the vintage drawings, strike a chord more often than not. Because each and every word is chosen with care, and because timing and tone is superb, this is one volume that particularly lends itself to rereading. A very nice effort.

For what it's worth, the books in this series are published in the U.K. as "Ladybirds for Grown-Ups". The "Fireside Grown-Up Guides" are now starting to be published in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster, and are fairly faithful adaptations. Either way you can find them, as Ladybirds or as Fireside Grown-Up Guides, these books are a hoot.

So, a cheerful bit of parody fun and a nice find. (Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Sadly accurate. I think I'm having my third midlife crisis at the moment, perhaps a tad past mid.

Apparently this sort of book is popular in the UK, where an actual line of kids' books has been repurposed to provide adults with necessary advice, using simple prose and old-fashioned illustrations. I can definitely imagine these catching on, even as, in denial, I age out of the target audience group. I should probably buy the book on The Hipster next for cues for the next midlife crisis.

As with all the other books in this series this one is funny, irreverent but with a resounding ring of truth.

The mid-life crisis is that time of life when you look back and realise that life isnt what you thought it would be and (in the words of Hamiliton) there are a 'million things you haven't done'.

In other words you are getting old and death is approaching, time is running out and all your options with it. So (according to this book) people do all kinds of things to make up for the fast pace of time such as taking up new hobbies, taking up with younger lovers, trying to capture lost youth, buying childhood toys etc etc

Of course it is funny, painfully funny in some places, but it is a bit short compared to other books in this series.

But not everyone has a mid-life crisis. Some people (such as myself) just revel in newly disposable income, freedom from childcare responsibilites and a kind of F' it attitude because you look good for your age, have brains and talents, but mostly because having done everything you need to you don't really give a s*#*.

Just sayin.

So this is another funny story from the series which left me wanting to read more of these. Not a strong favourite in the series for me but still a very good one.

Copy provided by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Not quite as funny as The Meeting but still pretty funny. I like how the author has used the pictures to create the little stories and anecdotes. I probably didn't find it as amusing because I haven't actually reached middle age but I did recognise a lot of the little scenes/stories as funny cliches. Another enjoyable one which would make a great jokey present for someone hitting middle age head on.

This is one of the latest additions to the Fireside Grown Up Guides, a series of funny books that are written in the style of children's books, but deal with rather more adult topics.

This one is about 'The Mid-Life Crisis', which probably would be a whole lot funnier if it wasn't just around the corner for me! All the thoughts that we've secretly had are here: things we will never do, the sense that things that feel recent were actually 20 years ago, the attempts to recapture our youth...

If this sounds like familiar territory, you will feel like you aren't alone. If you're lucky enough to be way younger than middle age, there's humour in the sense that you will never sink to these levels (you will!) And those of more advanced years will probably read this with a wry smile on their faces and some recollection of their own mid-life period.

A worthy addition to a very funny collection of books, offering a light-hearted and witty take on life.