The 80s Annual Vol. II by Sarah Lewis

It’s a massive thrill to have extracts from my dairies featured in Sarah Lewis‘s second 80s Annual. I love the way they’ve been illustrated and given a “scrapbook feel”. However it’s not just my diaries that make this a fantastic book!!

Here’s my review from Amazon.

Remember the eighties? And remember the annuals you used to get every Christmas? Well this is a perfect tribute to both! It’s bright and colourful, superbly illustrated and has a variety of content that will appeal to a wide audience.

It’s got some really interesting and revealing interviews with your favourites from the decade including Nik Kershaw (and yes, Sarah asks him about snoods!), Jason Donovan, Grange Hill’s Zammo, The (Bucks) Fizz (who are hilarious!) and many others. Sarah’s also included other writers to bring us ace features on Radio One and its DJ’s, ten reasons 1988 was great as well as an amusing and affectionate look back at la-la-la-la-Look In magazine. In addition to this there are some really challenging quizzes and even some puzzles to keep you amused. It wants for nothing (although a contents page would have been useful).

It really looks like it’s been a labour of love and you can tell it’s been put together with great care and affection for our favourite decade. My copy arrived just before lunch and I’ve spent most of the afternoon reading it, and I’ve nowhere near had my fill. I know I’ll be picking it up time and time again until I have read it cover to cover! Fingers crossed there’ll be a volume III next year! It could become the longest running series since Now That’s What I Call Music!!

P.S. It also includes extracts from my diaries, and yes they’re mega, but this hasn’t influenced my views on the annual. My mum always said if you can’t say anything nice you shouldn’t say anything at all, not out loud anyway (I write what I like in my diary!) – the Annual really is fandabbydozy!

Here are a couple of the pages that my diaries are featured on. If you fancy reading more about Sarah, author and self-confessed 80s obsessive, you can find her on her blog and Twitter.