Glorious. I will be astonished if I read a more original, more inventive or funnier novel this year.

Nobody must find out about this unique gem, because I’m giving it to EVERYONE

Achingly funny. Without doubt it should win next year’s Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for the best comic novel, even if my own novel is in contention as well

If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston

Not since Victoria Wood has a writer squeezed so much hilarity from a biscuit.

How do I laugh at thee? Let me count the ways . . . If you like sub-Carry On puns, clever parodies of famous poems and Wittgensteinian meditations on language, you’ll love it

The midlife answer to Adrian Mole? It’s a big comparison to make, in comic novel terms, but Brian Bilston – parodist and ‘poet laureate of Twitter’- is worthy . . . Laugh. Cry. Cringe.

He has a knack for playing with language but his poems are accessible, witty and touching . . . In fact I rather regretted reading it over just a couple of days – it would have been better to take longer and saver it.

A welcome reminder of the joy to be had when you put yourself in the hands of someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative . . . Funny and ingenious

In a similar way to Morrissey and John Cooper Clarke, [Bilston] has the ability to make the mundane both funny and beautiful – whether that’s taking out the bins or procrastinating on Twitter . . . A must-read for anyone who is a fan of wordplay, puns, The Smiths and custard creams.

The English comic novel, whose death this year was announced prematurely, is actually alive, well and in the safe hands of Brian Bilston

Highly original, genuinely funny and clever, with a gentle humanity in between the lines. Brian Bilston should be Poet Laureate

Bilston is the greatest English anti-hero of our time. His poems have delighted people on Twitter for several years, and now he’s treated us to this brilliant novel . . . This book has everything you want from a comic novel . . . Brian Bilston is real. And I love him

The pseudonymous Brian Bilston turns the base metal of comic verse into gold . . . Imagine a mash-up of John Cooper Clarke, Ed Reardon’s Week and James Joyce, and you’re about halfway there . . . Bilston is a magician with words . . . Read this novel in short bursts, pausing to savour its individual brilliancies

Brian Bilston is bringing poetry to the masses . . . topical, witty, thoughtful

Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times, a wordsmith who cares deeply about the impact his language makes as it dances before our eyes

One of the funniest novels in years . . . It also has genuine heart – and scores of poems so witty and accomplished that, in the real world, their author would surely be as famous as, well . . . I predict that Brian Bilston will soon be

Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . brilliant

Bilston is no stranger to crafting cleverly composed poetry

Word play, laugh-out-loud poems and the deft skewering of office life are part of the fun in this brilliant comic debut.

In 1892, George and Weedon Grossmith published The Diary of a Nobody, now a classic of comic writing. In 1978, Christopher Matthew updated the idea. Now Brian Bilston brings us another Diary of a Somebody and it’s as fun as its predecessors.

This fun, charming novel is a fine showcase for Bilston’s irrepressible creativity . . . It’s all done with wit, playfulness and a sense of amused wonder at the possibilities and idiosyncrasies of the English language, with the occasional groanworthy pun seeming like a price well worth paying.

Bilston has perfected his comic voice, which brings to mind a bitter man-child with spades of misanthropic charm and a dash of Alan Partridge-esque pedantry. This is a comic novel of the highest order.

An original, imaginative and funny book.

Part murder mystery, mainly great comic novel.

The midlife answer to Adrian Mole? It’s a big comparison to make, in comic novel terms, but Brian Bilston is worthy. In Diary of a Somebody, Brian makes a New Year’s Resolution to write a poem a day for a year. Hilarious results ensue, as well as the disappearance of a poetry (and love) rival. Laugh. Cry. Cringe

Charming, funny and touching.

Sparkling with wit, intelligence and humanity.