Rating: 
Summary: Bridget Makes a Splash
Review: I read this book last summer and found it completely engrossing. For the most part, I felt that this book would appeal more to girls, seeing as it relates a lot of its stories to dieting and relationships. I enjoyed Fielding's writing style tremendously. She used a lot of shorthand (in a diary format), which was different for a change and made it easier for the reader to breeze through. However, the only parts I found distracting were the parts with British slang. For example, the term "fag" refers to a cigarette. Ha, that took me a while to figure out...
Overall, I thought this book was a great summer read. I'd recommend it, along with Youth in Revolt by CD Payne.
Rating: 
Summary: I want to shake her silly.
Review: I want to grab her, and shake her. Oh, AND her idiot mother. Never in my life have I encountered such a shallow character.
I don't understand the appeal of this book - the movie was cute, Hugh Grant does smarmy so well... the book, although very readable and the diary-format is fun - is a complete waste of time and money.
Bridget shows you the classic teenaged way of dealing with your problems - drink and obsess. She thinks only with her hormones, whines, and has a collection of equally shallow friends.
Seriously, I enjoyed Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries a thousand times more... also written in diary-form, Meg's character, Mia, is at least someone who learns from her mistakes.
Rating: 
Summary: Light, but clever....
Review: I was slightly apprehensive about reading Bridget Jones's Diary at first. I'd heard numerous good things about it, but feared that Bridget's man, weight, and self-esteem problems would make her a terminal whiner. To my surprise and delight, I found this book laugh-out-loud funny and much more clever than anticipated. Bridget is a 30-something, single career-woman, dealing with the ups and downs of dating, a career, and life in general. She's constantly nagged about her relationship status by her eccentric mother and numerous family friends. You can imagine that she's tickled pink to finally be woo'ed by her boss, the charming and rascally, Daniel. Well, needless to say, nothing goes completely smooth with Daniel...if it did, this book would be much shorter. The antics that Bridget finds herself in, along and with an entertaining group of friends, are nothing short of hilarious. I was also surpised and impressed by several blatant references to Pride and Prejudice (there's a Mr. Darcy in this book). I was even more surprised to see many parallels between the two stories as I read along, so keep your eyes peeled for these amusing similarities. This is a wonderful book that I will keep close at hand when I need a laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Fun
Review: I've read "Bridget Jones's Diary" three times now, and it seems to get better each time. Why? Helen Fielding has crafted a funny, light-hearted comedy. Bridget Jones is a young thirty-something "singleton" living in London. On January 1, she makes a list of resolutions to stick to throughout the year. Each diary entry begins with her weight, calories consumed, and other funny tidbits, like number of 1471 calls (the British equivalent of *69), Valentines received, etc. She often includes comments alongside these running totals to help the reader understand how she feels about each. Throughout the novel, readers will share Bridget's pain as she struggles through a relationship with her boss, the breakup of her parents' marriage, a job change, and other less-serious events. Helen Fielding's descriptions of Bridget's psyche are hilarious, and many passages will have you laughing out loud. Is this a classic on par with works by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte? Of course not. However, this book provides a pleasant read, a way to escape your troubles by delving into Bridget's. After all, compared with her life, mine doesn't seem too bad.
Rating: 
Summary: The single most annoying female I've read about. Ever.
Review: The initial review of the novel that I had written was very, very scathing. After a bit of thought, I decided to edit it.
No, I did not finish reading the novel. In fact, I was so repulsed by it that I threw it down and refused to read further. But after a while, I realized that the reason why I am repulsed of it is not because of the fault of the storytelling itself - it's pretty well-written - but because I could not relate to the main character.
Bridget is a self-pitying thirty-something woman caught up in various woes because she cannot be satisfied in being single at her age (among other things). For some who relate to Bridget, this novel is hilarious and relevant. For others, Bridget just irritates them because they see her as weak - possibly, I believe, for being a representation of the things that they had set out against at a certain point of their life.
Age may be a factor in determining whether you will like the book or not, and I would dare to say that the level you find Bridget appealing is almost directly related to how much importance you put on sexual and romantic relationships, which of course, would be something on your mind for quite a bit if you're single and thirty.
Conclusion: you'll either love it or hate it. Don't jump to buying it anytime soon, you'd probably end up very, very irritated.
Rating:
Summary: That's So Me!
Review: Who can't in their late 20's early 30's relate to Bridget? I loved her....I am her...she's me...it's so now! Looking for light and laughable...don't pass this up!!
Rating:
Summary: many books in one review
Review: Wow. I'll admit I'm not a voracious chick-lit reader and I may be biased that way. I pick up a chick-lit only every now and then after I tire of reading thought-provoking books. The first chick-lit I read was by Meg Cabot and I enjoyed it because it is funny, the character is only semi-shallow, and she at least KNOWS she is semi-shallow. I also enjoyed The Nanny Diaries.
Bridget Jones's Diary, however, has convinced me never to touch a chick-lit again in my life. Bridget has a lot in common with the character from the Shopaholic Trilogy: 1) She is shallow, 2) She is oblivious/stupid 3) Her obsession in her life is very useless and... shallow.
Bridget says in the beginning (I think), that a career woman doesn't need a husband. Yet she contradicts herself by constantly wishing to have sex with her co-worker. It's especially sickening that she doesn't respect herself and lets him sleep with her after only, uh, one date? It's even worse because earlier she refuses to do something just "for fun." It only shows that she's becoming that desperate.
Her mother is no better. I find it annoying that all of a sudden she tells her husband that she's tired of being his slave and that she wants to do something better with her life, and that something turns out to be sleeping with other men. Ugh.
To sum up, this book just annoys the hell out of me.
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