I read it more than 10 tears ago translated to Lithuanian and completely forgot how different it is from the movie.
Way more darker and not that funny. More sarcastic, I would say. More deep, more problematic. It is surprising how after so many years all the problems are so relevant. Always worrying about your weight, obsession with calories (everyone is obsessed with healthy lifestyle now), relationships, career is not good enough, job is not good enough. Feeling outsider when everyone is living they life. Only now we call it FOMO. All problems are exactly the same no matter how many years ago this book is written. Probably nowadays journal writing is equivalent to everyday instagram stories.
I believe we will call it classics after few more years

n  “It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.”n

as the film adaptation is one of my favorite comfort movies, i just had to read the book that started it all... and while i did enjoy it, it's one of the rare cases where i can confidently say the movie is definitely better, both in terms of the story and also the characters. bridget jones (movie version) is just so lovable and i didn't really get to see as much of that in the book.

pretty much on par with how i felt for the movie, really enjoyed it. i enjoy love triangles so much because the drama is good. the angst and jealousy this has!! bridget is also a really entertaining protagonist. daniel is a piece of shit that i love to hate and i kinda need mark… you guys know i love a nerdy man that basically has a stick up his ass. fun read! don’t think i’ll continue though cus im not about to read about a 10 year love triangle like that’s just insane.

Get up and make sensible plan. Will work hard on journal paper during day, then go for well-earned picnic at open-air movie theatre. Tonight's movie Bridget Jones's Diary (v. good). Make salmon florentine for picnic, will eat half there and save rest for tomorrow. Feel v. organized.

Hard to concentrate thoughts on journal paper. After lunch go back to bed, need to recover energy. Wake up again mid-afternoon. Decide to postpone working on paper until tomorrow, have to tidy apartment since guests coming for picnic and place looks like tip. Pack picnic. Guests arrive, walk down to water and find good spot to pitch camp. While waiting for movie to start, eat all salmon florentine followed by large serve of chocolate mousse and most of two bottles of wine. Halfway through movie, stretch out hand to grope girlfriend and spill remaining wine over brand-new picnic rug (v. bad). Girlfriend not happy. Arrive back home pissed at 1 am. Must do better tomorrow.

Funny, light-hearted, and sweet!
Just what I wanted, a nice easy read!
Definitely had some elements that I didn't love. It being in a diary format, it didn't have beautiful and descriptive writing, but it was still very enjoyable!!!
(I weirdly think I like the movie better!!!)

Read this first when I was a teenager. This book has not aged well...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Edit: Changed to 1 star.

Mirror mirror on the wall,
Who's the _______ (insert any derogatory adjective here) of us all?

The answer would be Bridget.

Bridget is the stupidest, most boring, shallowest, most selfish woman I have ever read about. Thank goodness that she is not a real person, otherwise, an encounter with her would have resulted in violence. At first, I wondered if it was me who was unnecessarily angry (the lockdown and all that).
But I don't think so.

She is ALWAYS obsessed with her weight, her attire, the circumference of her thighs, the number of cigarettes she smokes, and the units of alcohol she drinks. But she rarely seems to do anything to change them.

Excuse me, have you heard about exercise? Well, that is what people do when they want to lose weight. Not hog on food and drinks all day and obsess about weight. She weighs herself thrice one night, just because. And 9st is NOT overweight, whatever anyone says. I weigh much more than that and I am not worried and I certainly do not obsess. I can see it can be triggering for someone with medical issues for weight gain.

It is like there is nothing in her life except all of these plus finding a boyfriend. All her friends are the same. There are some feminist lines just for the sake of it and then Bridget acts really bitchy and the subject is done. (She calls the woman with a friend's husband a trollop because she is wearing a coat B couldn't fit in. Said husband could probably be having an affair with the woman, but is our protagonist worried? NO.)

One incident made me see so much red that my husband was worried I'd throw my Kindle across the room. Just after her "best friend" (selfish asshole in his own right, no doubt) inexplicably disappears, and all Bridget is worried about is whether people are paying attention to her and what she will wear to his funeral.

Sheesh.

And what is with her diary entries? Like there is one saying, "Ooof." What, did she write in her diary while she was falling down?

One year through, there is ZERO CHANGE in Bridget. She behaves like a teenager and continues that way throughout. I have absolutely no idea why Mark Darcy or Daniel, for that matter, even notice her or fall for her. And what work does she do, BTW, that allows her to stay independently in a house in London? All she does at the office is to message Daniel and bitch about Perpetua.

And don't even get me started on Bridget's mother.

The author had so much scope to make Bridget grow a backbone. But she didn't and she doesn't.

Bridget remains the same throughout the book (or even worsens, can't say). Everyone steamrolls over her and she does nothing because Bridget does not have an iota of self-respect.

My rant ends here. Bridget is 30. I was 30 not so long ago and I remember how being 30 was like. Hint: Not like this.


Please don't read.

Bridget Jones's Diary (Bridget Jones, #1), Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary is a 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. Written in the form of a personal diary, the novel chronicles a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single working woman living in London. She writes about her career, self-image, vices, family, friends, and romantic relationships.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «یادداشتهای روزانه یک زن»؛ «یادداشت های روزانه یک زن برژیت جونز»؛ نویسنده: هلن فیلدینگ؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: هفتم سپتامبر سال2005میلادی

عنوان: یادداشتهای روزانه یک زن؛ نویسنده: هلن فیلدینگ؛ مترجم: ویدا قانون؛ تهران، چشمه، سال1384، در280ص؛ شابک9643622932؛ عنوان دیگر یادداشتهای روزانه یک زن برژیت (بریجت) جونز؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م

نام فیلم: خاطرات بریجت جونز؛ کارگردان: شارون مگوایر؛ نویسندگان: «ریچارد کرتیس؛ اندرو دیویس، هلن فیلدینگ»؛ بازیگران: «رنی زلوگر؛ هیو گرانت؛ کالین فرث؛ جیم برودبنت؛ امبت دیویتس؛ جما جونز؛ پل بروک»؛ فیلم‌ برداری: «استوارت درایبرگ»؛ تدوین: «مارتین والش»؛ توزیع‌ کننده: «میرامکس (آمریکا)؛ یونیورسال استودیوز (جهان)»؛ تاریخ‌های انتشار: «روز دوم ماه آوریل سال2001میلادی (نمایش نخست بریتانیا)؛ روز سیزدهم ماه آوریل سال2001میلادی (بریتانیا ایالات متحده)؛ روز دهم ماه اکتبر سال2001میلادی (فرانسه)»؛ مدت زمان: در97دقیقه؛ کشور: «بریتانیا»؛ زبان: «انگلیسی»؛ هزینهٔ فیلم: مبلغ26میلیون دلار؛ فروش گیشه: مبلغ218,929,795دلار؛ دنباله این فیلم در سال2004میلادی با عنوان: بریجت جونز: نکته باریک؛ و در سال2016میلادی با عنوان: «بچه بریجت جونز» ساخته شده است

تلاش‌های زنی سی و پنج ساله، برای ترسیم یک زندگی بهتر است، او می‌کوشد در جامعه جا بیفتد، و گلیم خویش را از آب بیرون بکشد، و در این راه از یاری گروهی از دوستان اندک خویش، و یکی دو خانواده ی سنتی، در شهر محل زندگی‌ اش، بهره می‌گیرد؛ زمان وقوع رخدادها دهه ی1990میلادی است؛ پیروزی این داستانها، و دید و نگاه تیزبین «هلن فیلدینگ» بر مسایل ظریف، و حس جامعه شناسی قوی او، سبب شد، زنان بسیاری به دنبال کردن داستانهای «جونز»، علاقه نشان بدهند، و با ایشان همذات پنداری کنند، و بویژه وابستگی زنان، به نشریات زنانه، و خط و ایده‌ هایی که نشریات به زندگی زنان در غرب می‌دهند، در این داستانها مورد تاکید و انتقاد قرار می‌گرفت، و نگاه نقادانه ی: «فیلدینگ»، به مسایلی از آن دست؛ نوشته ی «جونز» را، به چیزی بیش از یک اثر هنری، و حتی فراتر از یک رُمان پرفروش، بدل کرد، و از آن، یک پدیده ی ماندگار اجتماعی ساخت؛ «فیلدینگ» کتاب نخست «بریجیت(بریژیت) جونز» را، که همان جمع آوری پاورقی‌های چاپ شده، در روزنامه «ایندپندنت» بود، در سال1996میلادی منتشر کرد، و یک پاره ی دوم را نیز، با عنوان جنبی، و کامل کننده «لبه منطق، یا همان (نکته باریک)» در سال1999میلادی، روانه بازار ساخت�� و در ادامه کتاب «بچه ی بریجت جونز» را نگاشت

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 23/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

The movie was better. In the book Bridget is annoying idiot, who has serious problems with alcohol and zero self-control.

Of course the book is all about Bridget's feelings and emotions..............it's a diary!! I think anyone, man or woman, would quietly admit to themselves the selfish thoughts they have when something terrible happens to someone they know, Bridget is just doing that in her diary. The book provides an excellent outlet for anyone woman who feels the pressures of impending singledom, rubbish careers and crazy parents and it makes the reader see that IT'S OK NOT TO BE PERFECT! We love Bridget 'cos she is fun, honest and finds true love even though she is (shock! horror!) average and has arse the size of Brazil. Obviously not for everyone but one of the best reads I have come across and a must for any single girl.

n  n
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So I'm doing this thing where I'm rereading the books I read as a teen and trying to figure out whether they hold up to an adult's perspective or if they were just zeitgeist-appropriate crap. BRIDGET JONES is definitely not a teen book, but that didn't stop me from reading it anyway! Actually, the first time I read it, I was ten. My mom wouldn't let me have it because she was like, "She'll be a bad influence on you!" which meant me pulling up a chair to the bookshelf to get it from where she'd hidden it and staying up three nights straight to read it. Did ten-year-old me understand WTF Ms. Jones was on about? No. Did I suddenly start weighing myself and listing my meals in my journals just like she did because I thought it was cool and the Grown-Up Thing to Do? Yes. Did it mess me up for life? Well, no, but it did seem to turn me into a thirty-something Singleton so maybe that's The Curse of the Book.



I'm not sure there's a book out there that captures the life of the thirty-something single woman quite like this one. Bridget is so relatable and so funny. She's like the perfect blend of good girl/bad girl, and her dynamics with her friends and family were such a delight to read and made her feel like such a well-rounded character. I did think the movie was better since so much of the focus is on Daniel that Darcy almost feels like an afterthought and when his feelings do crop up, they seem to come out of nowhere. It's funny that Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were chosen for the roles because both of the actors are actually mentioned in this book (which I thought was super hilarious).



The sexual harassment and outmoded dating advice don't age quite as well, and part of my love for this book is definitely nostalgic, but I still really enjoyed being in Bridget's head. Her anxiety/neuroticism really mirrored my own in my teens/early 20s. I honestly feel a little embarrassed thinking about how much I obsessed over boys sometimes when I was younger. I still have my journals from my early teens and oh my god, I forgot how I could spent hours parsing through every single interaction for secret clues. I'm not sure this book will be quite as appealing to teens and young women now but if you're interested in some fun 90s references and a pretty well-rounded heroine (that also serves as a pretty decent homage to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE), you should definitely check out this book.



3.5 stars

Okay - I learned a few things from this book and I didn't think I would. For me, Ive been doing some pretty heavy reading over the past few weeks -- SWIMMING by Hershon, THE AMBER SPYGLASS bu Pullman. I wanted a break from all that was hard. I wanted to simply read and laugh a little and enjoy a lot. I picked BRIDGET JONES' DIARY because I hoped to read and not engage my intellect too much. Durr...

I really, really liked this book, for a number of reasons. Characters that I could relate to -- weighing oneself every single day. Mooning over a guy and obsessing to the point where you get no work done at work, friends who protect and love you and sometimes lie to you.

I thought it probably was a pretty honest assessment of single people in the 1990's. I can't be sure since I haven't been single in over 22 years.

This book made me laugh, kept me turning the pages (on my beautiful new SONY E BOOK and kept me interested in Bridget and her group of friends. So, I'm taking anther step and reading the sequel. Very telling because this is not necessarily my favorite genre.

Oh yes, it also made me interested in reading other books by English authors. None of the above are bad things.


And no - 120-130 pounds is NOT FAT!

'I got in the lift to go out for a sandwich and found Daniel in there with Simon from Marketing, talking about footballers being arrested for throwing matches. 'Have you heard about this, Bridget?' said Daniel.
'Oh yes,' I lied, groping for an opinion. 'Actually, I think it's all rather petty. I know it's a thuggish way to behave, but as long as they didn't actually set light to anyone I don't see what all the fuss is about.'
Simon looked at me as if I was mad and Daniel stared for a moment and then burst out laughing.'

One of my favourite quotes and, I think, fairly representative.

I am surprised I never left a review of this book!
I must have been less than 20 when I first read it, and my emotion was roaring love. I saw myself on every page and recognized the difficulty of losing weight while consuming hefty amounts of alcohol, as well as all the disappointments of the dating world.

Then I read it when I was somewhere around 30 and I was shocked: what? She's thirty-s0mething? I was by then a mother and probably a boss and Bridget seemed too infantile and irresponsible for her age to even be funny. Yeah, I guess I was a bit stuck-ap at that age (also, thin, and didn't consume hefty amounts of alcohol).

I am turning 40 this year, - gleefully, though prematurely, transitioning from Mother into Crone, - and I was looking for a funny book my husband and I could read aloud to each other in turns, and this seemed a natural choice because of the diary format.
What can I say now, then?
Firstly, it goes wonderfully well with cava and takuan.
Secondly, it's funny.
It gets a little bit too predictable by the middle of the book. Everybody is less loveable than they are in the film (and Salman Rushdie and Lord Archer aren't even there). It's also full of dated pop-culture references. But it's light and breezy and warm, and it's an excellent choice for reading aloud: this book is about the value of community, so it makes total sense to enjoy it with others.

(It has just occurred to me that I can see something in common between my daughter and Bridget now, in that they both perform actions that seem reasonable to themselves, but are often unpleasantly surprised by the consequences).

I hate to admit that I like the film better, but it does have a lovely soundtrack; but I'm grateful to the book for the pleasant evenings.
I wonder what I'll make of it in the next decade, if I get the chance to read it.