How My Legendary Girlfriend changed my life (…the book by Mike Gayle, not an actual girlfriend!)

This guest post was originally posted on Rather Fond of Books on Saturday, May 7, 2016 as prt of the #LadLitBlogTour

Today is my turn on Steven Scaffardi’s Lad Lit blog tour and I have a fab guest post by Steven to share with you. I was really happy when Steven suggested writing about how Mike Gayle’s My Legendary Girlfriend changed his life, as I remember reading that book soon after it was published and I loved it. It was something different that I hadn’t read before, so it’s very interesting to read how this book inspired Steven.

How My Legendary Girlfriend changed my life (…the book by Mike Gayle, not an actual girlfriend!)

Travelling up and down the country in the #LadLitBlogTour bus has given me plenty of time to research other great articles on lad lit, hidden in and around that big world wide web called the internet.

Earlier this week, I found this great piece on lad lit author Matt Dunn with Novelicious.com titled The Book That Changed My Life. Matt explains that it was Nick Hornby’s masterpiece High Fidelity that inspired him to write his first novel Best Man, which led to securing him a publishing deal.

It got me thinking – what was the book that inspired me to write lad lit? A lot of people have asked me on this blog tour why I write lad lit, and often my response has been because I was inspired by my own experiences and those stories told to me by friends. But the more I think about it, the more I start to realise how important My Legendary Girlfriend by Mike Gayle was to me writing The Drought.

In the summer of 2005 I moved out of my parents’ house and into my own flat in south London with a good friend of mine. After a game of paper, scissors, rock, to determine who got the bigger room, I found myself cramped into the box room wondering where the hell I was going to put all of my stuff.

I wandered into my flatmates bedroom to see if he had any space he could afford to lend me (he didn’t of course, I’d have to make do with shoving stuff under my bed), but I was drawn to his bookcase. I was looking for a new book to read, and after flicking through a couple of books that didn’t really take my interest, I picked up My Legendary Girlfriend.

It was one of four or five Mike Gayle books he had on his shelf. After reading the blurb, my flatmate told me what a great book it was, but being a man who had mainly read crime novels and other macho books like that, I turned my nose up at the thought of reading a book about relationships. “That was for girls,” I told him.

Still, it had secretly piqued my interest, and later on that night I found myself sneaking into my flatmates room to steal the copy off his bookshelf. Granted it was a bit awkward when he woke up at 2am and saw me in my boxer shorts hovering around his bed, but after time we got over the incident. Actually, we just don’t bring it up anymore…

But..! The next morning I found myself engrossed in Mike’s words as he articulated the male mind on the pages of a book like I’d never seen (or read) before. I was hooked – Will Kelly was a real bloke, who viewed the world, women, dating and love like a guy did. Not like one of those perfect specimens who appeared in the chick lit novels my then-girlfriend would read; the type of guy who made it virtually impossible for all other men to stand up against in the real world.

Instead Mike captured all of the quirks and insecurities that the everyday man goes through in matters of the heart. And you know what – it was funny too. Hilarious even! The best comedy is always the type of comedy you can relate to, and before you knew it I was sneaking into a flatmates room on a regular basis to pick up another Mike Gayle book. Looking back, it probably would have been better if I had just asked him if I could borrow the books. The least I could do is wear something other than just my boxer shorts every time I paid him an impromptu late night visit.

And years later, I’m still a fan of Mike Gayle, and like Matt Dunn admits to doing with High Fidelity, I often find myself referring back to one of Mike’s books when I get stuck or I am looking for inspiration. It has served me well, and one of the biggest compliments I got after publishing The Drought was TV presenter Ortis Deley saying: “A pleasantly darker alternative to the offerings of Mike Gayle. All hail the arrival of Steven Scaffardi.”

It was high praise indeed, and if I can be half as good a writer as Mike Gayle, then I’ll be a very happy man!

Lad Lit Book Reviews: My Legendary Girlfriend by Mike Gayle

I never would have found Mike Gayle had it not been for my flatmate insisting I read one of his books. I have to admit I wasn't too sure at first. The blurb read a bit too much like chick lit novel for my liking. I'm a man, and I like manly things dammit! Luckily I got past my silly male ego and embraced my metrosexuality, and a good few years later and I'm one of Mike Gayle's biggest fans.

My Legendary Girlfriend was Gayle's first novel, having spent time as a journalist and features writer. This book was a huge success as Gayle followed in the footsteps of fellow lad lit author Nick Hornby to write a book about relationships from a male perspective with very high praise indeed.

English teacher Will Kelly is single and pretty miserable to be honest! Set over one weekend, Will spends most of his time pining over his ex-girlfriend, Aggi, who cheated on him with his best pal. Then Kate enters Will's life in a series of phone calls which start to make Will feel like he has found someone to help him get over his ex.

Dubbed a male version of Bridget Jones Diary, Mike Gayle's first book gets a big thumbs up. I think whether we like to admit these things as men or not, we've all been there when we have pined over a girl a wee to much. We can't help ourselves, we know it's wrong and our friends are probably avoiding us because of it, but we've already gone too far.

That's Will in a nutshell. The guy we've all been and don't ever want to think about it. Like me, you'll probably want to grab Will at times, give him a slap, and tell him to snap out of it!

But Gayle writes in a way that makes you want to keep reading to see what happens, regardless of whether you like Will or not. Not that I disliked Will - as I said, we've all been there, and you end up rooting for Will.

This book will always hold a special place for me as this was my first real introduction to lad lit, and in a way, this was probably one of the biggest influences on me to pursue the idea of writing The Drought.

All in all, I would say that My Legendary Girlfriend is a great read, and once you've read this one you'll be searching for other books by Mike Gayle and trust me - you won't be disappointed!