I didn't enjoy this book in an ironic way, or in a it's-good-even-though-, or I-can't-believe-I-do-but-I-perversely-can't-help-it or any other angled, roundabout, halfway indirect from behind kind of way.... No. I sat on my couch and wolfed this thing down in one sitting while laughing my ass off.

I read it last spring when I decided I was curious about what "chick-lit" was, so that I could form an opinion and generally improve my likelihood of passing as a somewhat informed member of civilizatio More...

I'm torn as to how to rate this. On the one hand, Fielding nails the humor. Humor is very hard to capture in literature and I often found myself smiling or chuckling. But when I wasn't, I was exasperated with Bridget Jones. Fielding nails her too. Why do women insist on being proud of being so... shallow? Idiotic, blind about themselves and their lives, and obsessed with all the wrong things in life? I didn't sympathize with Bridget at all, nor did I really care about the holes she dug herself i More...

This certainly wasn't a novel but, what's worse, it wasn't even a credible diary. Who records their mishaps while cooking and running late in their preparations? Perhaps if this were written in the phone-texting age, I could imagine someone constantly chronicling their every move, no matter how pressing the situation or how inane and empty the commentary, but as it is, this book serves as a frightening precursor to a new generation of books with no established atmosphere, characters, dialogue, o More...

This was SUCH a FUN book to read. I read it in December - when family/holiday shit and self worth is really taking a beating. So to pick up this book and read about her holiday get togethers and her weight and smoking issues and family issues - and how she can make an ass out of herself in such a grand grand manner....well - it was just what I needed. To be able to sympathise and laugh at the same time? Priceless!

Didn't know what to expect when picked the book up on spec. Ended up laughing out loud so often, my husband allowed me to read bits to him -- and he laughed just as much! (Now, this was a while ago, of course!)

Let's review this book the Bridget way!
Reading goal for 2011: 35 books (not bad)
Books actually read: 38(v.g.)
No. of chick-lits supposed to be read in a year: 1 (fair)
No. of chick-lits actually read: 2 (including Bridget Jones's Diary )
But wait a second! Who can call Bridget Jones's Diary a chick-lit? That would be an insult to such a master-piece! No, Bridget is no wannabe chick-lit heroine and this book is certainly no trashy best-seller! Bridget Jones's Diary is definitely a piece More...

Okay - I learned a few things from this book and I didn't think I would. For me, Ive been doing some pretty heavy reading over the past few weeks -- SWIMMING by Hershon, THE AMBER SPYGLASS bu Pullman. I wanted a break from all that was hard. I wanted to simply read and laugh a little and enjoy a lot. I picked BRIDGET JONES' DIARY because I hoped to read and not engage my intellect too much. Durr...

I really, really liked this book, for a number of reasons. Characters that I could relate to -- wei More...

I'm not much for the beach read, or chick lit, or whatever this is called, which is fairly dumb of me. I can tell you from hard experience that Gravity's Rainbow + the Wisconsin Dells = EPIC FAIL. (Although, to be fair, Wisconsin Dells – Gravity's Rainbow = regular fail.)

I just re-read this by accident, in a serendipitous fit of laziness and disorganization. I tried to loan my copy to someone, couldn't find it, checked it out of the library, gave it to her, went home, read the best book I've rea More...

Cheeky girl humor about the trials of being a Singleton: Freaking out (or celebrating) over daily weighing ritual results. Hunting for a man who can commit. And trying to find the job that perfectly matches your aptitudes, training, and general lack of interest in working (as compared to, say, sending naughty email messages).

Recommended for people who like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb novels.

I know two stars sounds harsh, but "it was okay" is just how I felt about this book. It was fine. Mildly entertaining, good pacing, and all ends happily. Plus, I read it in two days, which is exactly what I was looking for. That's one nice thing about chick-lit--you always know what you're getting.
So, a few thoughts: I didn't really get the whole diary thing. It didn't make sense as a real diary, because obviously no one is pausing in the middle of a dinner party disaster to make regular comment More...

I began this book thinking: 'oh my gosh what in the world am I getting myself into?' Upon completion: 'that was actually rather good, how could I have thought of it so improperly before I had given it a chance?' But now that all that intro-mumbo-jumbo is over, let's get this review started.

(view spoiler)[After the first month, I found myself wondering: 'How in the world is this actually classified as being based, even loosely, off of Pride & Prejudice.' I saw it as a contemporary chick-lit novel [of which (hide spoiler)] More...

The simultaneous failure and masterstroke of this book is, of course, the fact that Bridget Jones is everyone. It’s a delightfully funny romp of a book; the pages turn quickly and the laughs come easily because every reader identifies with Bridget’s misfortune and neuroticism. But the fact that most readers will identify with her means that she’s probably not individualized enough—except in her case, with her zany ways, it’s likely that she’s too much of an individual, which paradoxically makes More...

... I know.

So I know I'm not supposed to like Bridget Jones, with her obsessions over her weight and her single state and her constant attempts to improve herself to conform to a societal standard and blahblahblah.

But I do, so there.

I remember when this book came out and everybody was so in awe of how Fielding had managed to write a book that was spot on in terms of being a Singleton in a world of Smug Marrieds, and how a single woman in her 30s often worries about dying alone and being half-e More...

Excerpts from my readers response notebook...

(early on in my reading)

I think Bridget Jones has too many vices in life. She copes with not having love by drinking and eatings. I think there are many women like her trying to be strong...trying not to give into the temptations, but failing miserably anyway.

"Only three alcohol units consumed over the last week as grudging concession to Tom, who complained that spending the evening with the new vice-free me was like going out for dinner with a whelk, More...

I read this book for a contemporary section of an AP Literature Class.

To say the least, Fielding sells her soul to the idle masses to sell novels. I believe the only way BJD will be remembered in the literary canon is if the critics of the future look back at what a horrid generation we were.

A daughter of the greatest generation, Bridget Jones is an insecure, irresponsible, sex-driven woman who (to be fair) write clever, quippy journal entries of her life. The humor, at best, is a compensation More...

we'll see if it's still 5 stars after a quick re-reading, but since I've been running into a lot of fuckwits lately, my money is on Jones...
UPDATE: indeed, still worth it after all these years. :) apparently, it doesn't matter which mr. darcy we're talking about, as they are all fabulous. found myself mildly annoyed at her going on about the disasters of weighing 130lbs, but the counting cigs, alcohol units and lottery tickets was as funny as ever.

I usually end up liking the books better than their film counterparts, but it worked the other way around for Bridget Jones's Diary for me.

While I loved the movie, this book was just a bit blah. Bridget irritated me with her whining and her desperation for a man. I hope that I won't be anything like that by the time that I'm nearing the big 3-0. The diary format of the writing annoyed me, but that might just be because I prefer books that are descriptive and have wonderful narrative.

Daniel Clea More...

Anyone who doesn't know the premise of Bridget Jones has been living under a rock for the past ten years, so I'll skip over that part. I read, re-read, and re-re-read this book before the movie came out in 2001. Since then I've re-watched the movie many times, but never did get back to the book again until just recently.

I had forgotten the differences between the two and it was fun to experience the book version once again, but this is one of those rare times when I have to admit, quite freely, More...

Need something light and funny for the first week of Summer!

I found this book entertaining, as expected, but difficult to read. Obviously, it was written in the format of a diary, but I didn't expect 98% of the book to be that way. It was difficult to get into a rhythm due to the entry format and all of the abbreviations. I think this is the rare instance where I enjoyed the movie more than the book.

A novel by, say, Edith Wharton is like a twelve-course meal. By comparison, Bridget Jones's Diary is like a single potato chip: tempting and kind of amusing but not satisfying, fluffy rather than substantial--and quickly forgotten.

I remember being shocked and appalled that the American publishers of the Harry Potter books figured that American children were too feebleminded to work out that "jumper" actually means "sweater" and so they changed the British English to American English.

Likewise, it appears that the American publishers of Bridge Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding, believe that American women are too feebleminded to understand that "stone" is a weight measurement, and have substituted all of Bridget's "stones" More...

Liked the movie better. Can't help it! I own the movie and have watched it about 50 times- I am a huge Colin Firth fan. Anyway, one of my favorite book excerpt- hilarious and so true.

"How many calories are you supposed to eat if you're on a diet?" he said.

"About a thousand. Well, I usually aim for a thousand and come in at about fifteen hundred," I said, realizing as I said it that the last bit wasn't strictly true.

"A thousand?" said Tom, incredulously. "But I thought you needed two thousand jus More...

Judging by some of the reviews, I think its quite possible that it might be slighlty lost on the audience if not a Brit or spent time there. The book was such a success because she nailed the English sensibility, particularly, but not exclusivley female. Everyone either has an element of Bridget in them or knows someone like that. We do whinge, worry about the size of our arses, have to put up with naf jumpers for Christmas, occasionaly about having no friends and found alone eaten by alsations More...

Ahhh, this is exactly what I want when I pick up a chick lit book. It's a light, funny story about errant boyfriends and strained family relations, but it's also clever and relatable.

Unlike other books of this genre, the main character does not completely reinvent herself. Bridget ends up with The Guy, of course, but little else changes in her life. She's still smoking, dieting, weighing herself obsessively, drinking too much - there's no cathartic moment where Bridget realizes the error of her More...

If they allowed half stars, I'd give it 3.5, but they don't so I'm rounding up. As an interpretation of Pride and Prejudice, it has some pros and cons. Pros: it doesn't try to hard, shoe-horning in things that don't belong in the modern world. This really is a modern plot, with only the bare-bones structure (and Darcy's name) being borrowed. It also acknowledges that P&P exists, and is self aware, which I like. It's fast, and Bridget is a believable (mostly) character. She certainly is more More...

I'm pretty sure reading this book is bad for you, especially if you are a woman. The relationships in it are so entirely dysfunctional, and Bridget Jones herself is about the worst of all at interacting with people in healthy ways. Of course, this is the charm - the Flawed Narrator approach. However, if you're not careful, it's too easy to start to think that she's being even slightly reasonable with her obsessive weighing, "The Rules"-esque approach to men, or constant moping about how she will More...

looking for an easy, light hearted read I picked this book up, I'd seen the film so figured it was going to be one of those books I could read when I wasn't in the mood for anything too taxing, and have to say I loved it. It is easy to read you get a total feel for the character Bridget Jones, and can relate to her in many ways. it has you thinking or saying to yourself, I remember doing something daft like that, and when she's talking about men and friends I found myself relating the characters More...

What a depressingly bad book. ‘Helen Fielding is one of the funniest writers in Britain,’ says Nick Hornby on the front cover, ‘and Bridget Jones is a creation of comic genius.’ What in earth…? Why is he saying that? Did he want to sleep with her? Same goes for Salman Rushdie. ‘A brilliant comic creation,' blurbs Salman. 'Even men will laugh.’ Oh, Salman. Why is he saying that? Surely, if a book is genuinely funny, then people will laugh irrespective of their gender. Obviously. ‘Even men will la More...

Oh Bridget! I have seen the movie based on this book so many times now, and I love it. Why oh why did I wait so long to read the book?? It's just a great! Now I did miss a couple of key scenes like Daniel and Mark fighting one another in the street outside the bar (oh Hugh and Colin!!) but still freaking hilarious.

The epistolary approach was the perfect form for this book. It gives so much insight into Bridget's head! Plus I really love her accounting methods for cigarettes, alcohol, and calori More...