Publication Date:May 24, 1999 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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ISBN13: 9780140280098
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Condition: New
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Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Product Description 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, the diary has touched a raw nerve with millions of readers the world round. Read it, laugh and crash your head onto the table before you cry, "Bridget Jones is me!"
"Screamingly funny." --USA Today
"Bridget Jones is channeling something so universal and (horrifyingly) familiar that readers will giggle and sigh with collective delight." --Elle
"Hilarious but poignant." --The Washington Post
"This juicy diary tells the truth with a verve as appealing to men on Mars as it is to Venusian women. A." --Entertainment Weekly
"An unforgettably droll character." --Newsweek
"Bridget's voice is dead-on . . . will cause readers to drop the book, grope frantically for the phone and read it out loud to their best girlfriends." --The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Fielding. . .has rummaged all too knowingly through the bedrooms, closets, hearts and minds of women everywhere." --Glamour
"Good-bye Rules Girls, hello Singletons...Endearingly engaging." --The New York Times Book Review
Amazon.com Review In the course of the year recorded in Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget confides her hopes, her dreams, and her monstrously fluctuating poundage, not to mention her consumption of 5277 cigarettes and "Fat units 3457 (approx.) (hideous in every way)." In 365 days, she gains 74 pounds. On the other hand, she loses 72! There is also the unspoken New Year's resolution--the quest for the right man. Alas, here Bridget goes severely off course when she has an affair with her charming cad of a boss. But who would be without their e-mail flirtation focused on a short black skirt? The boss even contends that it is so short as to be nonexistent.
At the beginning of Helen Fielding's exceptionally funny second novel, the thirtyish publishing puffette is suffering from postholiday stress syndrome but determined to find Inner Peace and poise. Bridget will, for instance, "get up straight away when wake up in mornings." Now if only she can survive the party her mother has tricked her into--a suburban fest full of "Smug Marrieds" professing concern for her and her fellow "Singletons"--she'll have made a good start. As far as she's concerned, "We wouldn't rush up to them and roar, 'How's your marriage going? Still having sex?'"
This is only the first of many disgraces Bridget will suffer in her year of performance anxiety (at work and at play, though less often in bed) and living through other people's "emotional fuckwittage." Her twin-set-wearing suburban mother, for instance, suddenly becomes a chat-show hostess and unrepentant adulteress, while our heroine herself spends half the time overdosing on Chardonnay and feeling like "a tragic freak." Bridget Jones's Diary began as a column in the London Independent and struck a chord with readers of all sexes and sizes. In strokes simultaneously broad and subtle, Helen Fielding reveals the lighter side of despair, self-doubt, and obsession, and also satirizes everything from self-help books (they don't sound half as sensible to Bridget when she's sober) to feng shui, Cosmopolitan-style. She is the Nancy Mitford of the 1990s, and it's impossible not to root for her endearing heroine. On the other hand, one can only hope that Bridget will continue to screw up and tell us all about it for years and books to come. --Kerry Fried
Hope for all singletonsJuly 12, 2010 Amber Finch(Missouri) Bridget Jones's Diary is a quirky and fun read. It seems to be based a little more than loosely on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice...even naming the leading man after his parallel, Austen's Mr. Darcy. However, this version is completely updated to reflect the emotions and insecurities of the modern woman. Bridget is a socially awkward woman who feels stuck in an unsatisfying job. She is a single thirty-something woman who constantly feels judged by friends and family because she is not yet married...which obviously means there's SOMETHING wrong with her, right? In an effort to improve her lot in life, Bridget starts a diary in which she plans to record everything she does to lose weight, quit smoking/drinking, and form a relationship with a man who is not a complete jerk. Although her plan doesn't exactly go how she wanted it to, she learns a lot about her self that she didn't know....and it all works out in the end.
Bridget Jones's DiaryMarch 30, 2010 N. Milenkovic(usa) Written in the form of her diary, Bridget takes the reader into a year in her life as a 30 something singleton living in England who works at a publishing company. Bridget's family and certain friends keep asking her when she's finally going to settle down and marry. Bridget meets Mark Darcy, a successful, rich lawyer at a party and her mother tries to get the two together. Darcy however is a bit of a snob and dislikes Bridget right away. Meanwhile, her playboy boss Daniel Cleaver, begins to send her flirty emails and the two end up having an affair. Bridget is hoping Daniel will take thier relationship seriously, but she has the distinct feeling he is cheating on her.
I like that this book is inspired by Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and enjoy the references throughout the book: "It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your head against a tree."
This book had me laughing out loud and I could totally relate to some of the things Bridget was talking about. She's one of those heroines I think most women can relate to. The film version of Bridget Jones's Diary is one of my favorites and I recommend the book for a good dose of light and fun chick lit. In this case, I do prefer the film to the book. Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are not in the book, like the famous fight scene between Darcy and Daniel.
Not quite what i'd hopedFebruary 20, 2010 Justin M. Klinger(Elizabethtown, PA USA) I'm a HUGE fan of Bridget Jone's Diary, and have been since I first came in contact with the book. When I saw the movie, I was delighted by Ren e Zellweger as Bridget. She came off very "Bridget-y"
I lived with a girl with a very British accent, and she read me the book over the course of several days, much to my eternal delight.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to find an unabridged version of the book on DVD or as mp3s, but to no avail. When I finally saw it on cassette, I decided I would acquiesce and buy the outdated media, and I could at least enjoy Bridget in my old walkman.
Unfortunately, the woman reading the book, though very British, is probably 30 or 40 years too old to be a convincing Bridget. I just can't get into the idea that someone who sounds so matronly could be writing the journal entries that our Bridget pens.
I don't know if that sounds ridiculous to the normal person, but it's my two cents. Take it for what it's worth. If you want a decent Bridget Jones audio, find a nice British girl (or someone who fakes British well) in her mid 20s to early 30s, and get her to read the thing to you.
At least until I win the lottery and have enough money to get Helen Fielding to sell me the rights so I can pay Miss Zellweger to release her own version of it...
Bridget Jones's DiaryJanuary 29, 2010 Nelaine Sanchez(Miami, FL USA) So I picked up Bridget Jones's Diary because I just simply wanted to read and laugh a little and enjoy a lot and I was not disappointed. I have seen the movies and I definitely enjoyed them - but I've always wanted to get a deeper feeling for Bridget and thus the book has been one that I've wanted to read for quite some time now.
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. :)
CleverJanuary 24, 2010 PricelessReads Bridget Jones's Diary turned out to be a clever book. I really liked the unique diary-esque entries. I particularly enjoyed the daily weight, calorie, alcohol, cigarette, lotto ticket totals, because it is something neurotically real. Especially because I had seen both movies before reading the book, I couldn't help but use Renee's voice as the narrator in my head. Written with British humor, with a very British style, I really enjoyed the language of the story as something different than my usual.
