Rating: 
Summary: Great book!!
Review: i read this book in 2-3 days and it never takes me that short of a time. i don't normally like short stories either, but this one was different. it was short stories, but with the same heroine all the way through at different points of her life. it was a quick and really interesting read!
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Summary: Jane and Bridget go out for drinks
Review: If Jane Rosenal and Bridget Jones did meet for drinks as one reviewer suggested, here's what would happen: Jane would be bored by Bridget, and Bridget would be mystified by Jane. "Don't you ever _think_ about anything?" Jane would sigh exasperatedly. "I don't know how you do it--you're a size ten and you still meet reasonably nice boyfriends," Bridget would lament. Then Bridget would tell Jane what styles would flatter her most, and they'd go shopping. Jane would spend the whole time trying to figure out what Bridget was all about.Bridget was funny, fun, beach-reading, literary candy. The Girls' Guide is more of a real book. I don't know why everyone is saying they identify with Bridget. I didn't, and I didn't feel like I was supposed to. I felt like I was supposed to laugh at her. I identified with Jane and her multilevel characterization of her relationships, not just having a boyfriend=good, not=bad. Particularly the way she was made to feel like a teenager yet simultaneously sophisticated by her much-older man. I have been through that and found her story "My Old Man" to be so on point I almost cried. But then, I like depth. Not everyone does.
Rating: 
Summary: Is Bridget Jones the right comparison?
Review: I'm glad that at least a few reviewers have protested against quick comparisons of this book and Bridget Jones' Diary. If anything, Bank's stories remind me of Pam Houston's--the second-person "You Could Be Anyone" seems to echo "How to Talk to a Hunter," the opening story from *Cowboys Are My Weakness*; while the book's general progression resembles Houston's second collection, *Waltzing the Cat.* (In other words, if you like Bank, you might enjoy Houston.) This book isn't the weightiest take on contemporary love and relationships, but it's certainly not devoid of value, literary and otherwise. And I was *gratified* by the fact that Jane doesn't come from a dysfunctional family, that she has a solid, mutually respectful relationship with her father, and that the problems she encounters in relationships don't have to be life-threatening before she and her author take them seriously. This book suggests (wisely) that relationships are often riddled with ambiguity, with flashes of pleasure that make one doubt or try to disregard more extensive periods of dissatisfaction--and vice versa. In all, a worthy read (especially for the summer).
Rating: 
Summary: Not Another Book on Dating in the 90s!!!
Review: I wanted to like this book. However, I found it disappointing. There were no fresh ideas. The story jumped around and therefore, was hard to follow. Furthermore, the characters were like cardboard. Want a better book on dating? Try "Come Together" by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees.
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Summary: Great book about single-girl angst...
Review: I loved this book! I wish I had waited to read it when I go on vacation next week, but I started reading and couldn't put it down. I totally identified with Jane in the last chapter... trying to follow "the rules" and not screw things up with a guy she really liked. Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider follow me around all the time and give me unsolicited advice. But I've developed a theory about "The Rules", which this book supports: if you are lucky enough to run into Mr. Right, you can be yourself and there's not much you can do to screw it up. I hope I get to test this theory one day!
Rating: 
Summary: Hook, line, and a stinker
Review: I'm a guy who thought Bridget Jones was cute but this book is this year's piece of fluff. Aren't there better writers out there who deserved to be published?? This book is tiny to begin with and has more than a few blank pages and what's in between is weak and unispiring. Poor little rich girls are boring to read. 130lbs. and counting, no cigs, five cookies, read another over hyped book!
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Summary: the best best friend book of all time
Review: From the moment I picked up this book, I knew I loved it. Jane became my best friend and mentor through love. This book is perfect for the beach or a rainy day...anything. Melissa Bank is a promising new author and I can't wait for her next book.
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Summary: huh?!
Review: I wanted to like this book. i really really did. But I was so confused by the switching around of the narrator's life (one minute she's 14, the next she's a grandmother, the next she's in her 30s...) that I simply couldn't erase the confused "but...wait..." from my mind as I read it, which is a rather distracting way to read a book.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, real and inspiring; sheer entertainment
Review: Last summer, I laughed at and raved about Bridget Jone's Diary; this year it's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Though both are novels of the smart and witty urban everywoman, I don't see Jane as a rip-off of Bridget as other readers have. The Guide has a contemplative tone, dry, American humor and a protagonist you'll love.
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Summary: This is Not Bridget Jones' Diary--Part 2
Review: First, let me say that the wildly divergent opinions on this book are fascinating. Rarely does one see so many 1-star and 5-star reviews for the same book. I myself thought it was great, although I probably would give it 4.5 stars, only because I thought that some of the endings were a bit loose. What puzzled me however is how many reviewers compared this book to Bridget Jones' Diary, some (but not many) considering it better, and others (the vast majority of those comparing) considering it not nearly as good. To me, other than the very last (title) story, which was admittedly quite reminiscent of Bridget Jones, the rest of these stories bore almost no comparison whatsoever. Whereas Helen Fielding's book (which I liked) was more of a farcical, slapstick, riotous, go-for-the-laugh-every-second type of book, I felt that the humor in this book, while certainly abundant, was more wry and not (unlike BJD) its raison-d'etre. I thought this book was deeper, broader, more instrospective and thought-provoking. In any event, I would recommend it highly.
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