Bridget Jones Diary (1996 original; edició 2001)

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Well, I think Bridget Jones might win out over Emma Bovary for Most Repulsive Female Lead in this year's reading. I fail to find anything at all charming about her, (though her prodigious alcohol consumption did make me feel smug about my own, so that was one positive feeling). How could Mark Darcy love someone so shallow and grotesque? I was not rooting for their relationship at all.

Two redeeming parts of the book:
- introducing me to the word "autowitter"
- the spot-on rant about the stress of enjoying life, starting on page 128. "The more the sun shines the more obvious it seems that others are making fuller, better use of it elsewhere..." And; "Diners are managing to sit calmly at [tables on pavements], only occasionally remembering the sun and turning their faces to it with closed eyes, breaking into huge excited grins at passersby--'Look, look, we're enjoying a refreshing drink in a pavement cafe, we can do it too'-- their expressions of angst merely brief and fleeting which say, "Ought we to be at an outdoor performace of A Midsummer Night's Dream?'"

TRUE. That is my life, in a page. ( )

I didn't read this, or watch the movies, when it came out. It didn't appeal then and I'm not sure it really appeals now. In 1996, when it came out, I was mid 20s but had a lot more of my life sorted than Bridget does. I've never really obsessed about dieting or weight - I've always been built for comfort, not speed - and it's never really bothered me.
Listening to this now, it has not necessarily aged well. The cultural references and the apparent lack of mobile phones make it seem a period piece. Bridget herself amused me, but she annoyed me a lot more. I'm not going to be going back for more. ( )

I don't remember being this needy and neurotic and pathetic and self-absorbed at 26. But then I didn't have a bat-shit crazy mother, either, so maybe that's why. She is so totally clueless she doesn't even know when Darcy is in love with her and still thinks her cheating boss will leave his wife and go off with her. I grew tired of her really quickly. Unlike Pride and Prejudice which this is a takeoff on, this Darcy could have done a hell of a lot better. ( )