Status
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Description
Fiction. Literature. Romance. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:USA Today's top 100 books to read while stuck at home social distancing The iconic #1 bestseller by Helen Fielding; Bridget Jones is now the inspiration for the September 2016 Working Title film release of Bridget Jones's Baby, starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey and Emma Thompson. Bridget Jones's Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self-improvement. Caught between the joys of Singleton fun, and the fear of dying alone and being found three weeks later half eaten by an Alsatian; tortured by Smug Married friends asking, "How's your love life?" with lascivious, yet patronizing leers, Bridget resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult and learn to program the VCR. With a blend of flighty charm, existential gloom, and endearing self-deprecation, Bridget Jones's Diary has touched a raw nerve with millions of readers the world round. Read it and laugh�before you cry, "Bridget Jones is me!".… (more)
Media reviews
User reviews
Bridget
It's even rarer that I laugh-out-loud than cry because of passages in a book, but his one had me giggling at Bridget's list of her Breakfast: hot-cross bun (Scarsdale Diet--slight variation on the specified piece of whole-wheat toast); Mars Bar (Scarsdale Diet--slight variation on specified half grapefruit). When I wasn't wildly giggling while reading I was widely smiling in rueful recognition.
I even got a kick out of the Pride and Prejudice homage that consisted of more than just there being a character named Mark Darcy. (Even if Bridget is no modern day Lizzie Bennet by any stretch of the imagination--too ditzy.)
The most laugh-out-loud moments I've had with a book since Good Omens.
This is totally a rite of passage book for any girl who loved Judy Blume and Madeline L'Engle as a child...and stealth-read Cosmos at the public library because Sr. Gertrude Marie didn't stock that filth in the St. Matt's library.
First time through the film I know I understood very
I only decided to read the book because I saw it on a list of 'Have you read' books recently. Really, I am still not sure how it became a part of the list. There was nothing especially special about the book. It appears to follow along much as the movie did. Of course I am going to have to rewatch the movie at some point, I guess, to determine if I am recalling that correctly. While it wasn't a life-changing book for me to read I will probalby also read the sequel so that I can say that I read both books and saw both films.
At
But
She’s also touchingly loyal to friends and family, some of whom behave in ways that strain that loyal
And
Who am I to talk anyway? I have a home library that could grace a small town, but does that really give me “standing” to be critical? Bridget’s pretty funny, with none other than Salman Rushdie blurbing “Even men will laugh” on the back cover; and I did.
First, I’ve got to say this is the worst cover I’ve ever seen. Creepy woman with big eyes and puckered mouth trapped inside a book. Looks like Tom Riddle’s diary went drag.
Second, the movie
It’s a look into the double standards of single woman life, expecting the body to be a certain way and full of people around her who say the same thing. At least it’s short. But you are way better off watching the movie and avoiding the book. There is nothing that you missed.
This book is so good.
I saw the movie. I laughed at the idea that Renée Zellwegger was fat. I drooled a bit over Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy. I loved the screw-up at work where Bridget claimed she was on the phone with an author who had, unbeknownst to her, died
The book isn’t better, or worse. It’s different, and frankly, I thought it was fantastic. I was expecting a sad, ridiculous stereotype of a woman – instead the Bridget Jones in print is a complex woman who isn’t overly intellectual but isn’t flighty or ridiculous. She’s living in a world where she’s been told what her value is in terms of looks and in terms of her marriagability. She is rational, then irrational, then rational again.
The book has a somewhat similar storyline to the film – there is a relationship with her boss Daniel, there is a disdain, then attraction, then disdain, then attraction with Mark Darcy, all her friends are accounted for – but there are also some diversions. For example, she has a brother in the book. And her mother’s journey takes something of a dark turn. But the core of the book – and of Bridget herself – remains.
I’m newly married, and I only spent one year as properly single in my 30s. However, I could relate to so much of Bridget’s internal monologue. Some of it was so ridiculous – like when she leaves a potential sex partner because she doesn’t want to just fuck around, and has this triumphant feminist moment … then muses “I may have been right, but my reward, I know, will be to end up all along, half-eaten by an Alsatian” – but still relatable. She’s so hard on herself – tracking her daily food consumption, her weight, her cigarette intake – and beating herself up with each weight fluctuation.
One favorite part is when she somehow manages to get her weight down to her goal, and everyone comments that she looks a bit tired, and looked ‘better before.’ “Now I feel empty and bewildered…Eighteen years – wasted. Eighteen years of calorie- and fat-unit-base arithmetic…I feel like a scientist who discovers that his life’s work has been a total mistake.” Observations like that – as well as the one that she has lost 72 pounds and gained 74 pounds over the course of the year – are real, at least, to me, and they represent the constant struggle many women face, and how they feel they can’t win. I’ve been there. Shoot, I live there.
She’s also hard on herself when it comes to work, and men. Whenever she has a flash of self-confidence or makes an attempt to start fresh, something inevitable pops up to derail her. Sometimes it’s silly, but most of the time it seems fairly realistic. It’s not like everything is bad, always, but there is this sort of constant underlying stress. It’s not the same stress as someone who is facing poverty, or racism, or anything so serious, but it’s that steady undercurrent saying you aren’t thin enough, or smart enough, or attractive enough, or enough like society wants you to be (i.e. married and having children). It’s the stress of wanting to fit convention, then buck it, then fit it again.
The book feels light and deep at the same time. I’m sure if I spent more time analyzing it I could find some problems to dissect (is she an active agent, or does she fixate her life around finding a mate?) but I kind of don’t want to spend more time focusing on it because I don’t want to ruin a really fun reading experience.
The story is told in diary form by Bridget Jones, who is whiny, boring, and shallow. She is neither funny
The characters, including Bridget, are one dimensional and flaccid. It was impossible to work up any empathy for anyone in this book.
There is also a slight error in her diary. On the entry for March 15, she writes it is two weeks until her birthday. Then 6 days later on March 21, it is her birthday. Is she so stupid she does not even know when her birthday is? It would not surprise me.
Just avoid this book and don’t waste your time.
I love the
All in all, a decent beach or travel read but I wouldn't spend my time reading it again.
It is the classic choice of the bad boy who is available when you need a man, Daniel and the good man where the timing never seems to work out, Darcy. Daniel cheats and lies, but while Darcy is far from perfect he does get engaged to a complete bore for about 30 pages he is honest.
It's a quick read. I wonder back to it about once a year because nothing can cure a book funk like a quirky romance.
Bridget Jones is a single thirty-something who can’t find a meaningful relationship, works in a dead-end job and must cope with her mother’s mid-life crisis. She writes about her life in her diary, including a faithful documentation of her daily alcohol, tobacco and caloric consumption. In effect, she gains 74 pounds but loses 72, binges on alcohol (especially when times get tough) and never strikes it rich. Her affair with her boss, Daniel, leaves her feeling miserable and lonely, and by the end of the book, she finally gets her act together to end the year on a positive note.
Thanks to Raidergirl3 (Elizabeth) for recommending that I read Bridget Jones’s Diary around the holidays. It was perfect for this time of year – a light read with short chapters (great for bookmarking in between baking batches of cookies) and some good laughs. It was a fun book. Interestingly, it was awarded the British Book Award (Book of the Year) in 1998. You go girl!
Weight 101
Ate 2 Brownies
Thought @ Tom 3 Hrs
A Joke!
Meet Bridget Jones—a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:
a. lose 7 pounds
b. stop smoking
c. develop Inner Poise
Bridget Jones' Diary is the devastatingly self-aware,
Bridget Jones's Diary is just that - her diary entries which span a year in time. Every entry not only has what's going on in her life but also counts her calories, cigarette intake, and how much booze she drinks. Now let me tell you that just those little numbers were a crack-up. You could definitely tell what kind of a day she was having by how many cigarettes or how many drinks she had.
There were so many things that I truly enjoyed about this book:
Characters that I could relate to; weighing oneself every single day, being infatuated with a guy who's no good for you, knowing it, and still obsessing over him to the point where you get no work done; good friends who love and protect you and will do anything for you (including lie to you) if the need arises; parents who try to hook you up with anyone of the opposite sex because they are terrified that you are spiraling headfirst into spinsterhood.
Bridget Jones's Diary is all that it was said to be and more. It is funny and original with a likable, funny, yet slightly neurotic heroine... just the way I like them.
I'll end it at this, it was V. good. :)
I grudgingly admit I rather enjoyed this :( worth the 20p charity shop purchase
She worries about what people think so much that she can’t form her own opinions. She constantly puts herself in the 3rd person and thinks from the outside viewpoint. It’s women like this with no self-esteem that can’t go out without makeup on because they are convinced they are not good enough as they are. I’m so glad this isn’t me.
It was funny to read though.