I bought this book when I was attending Civil Engineering in Lisbon Portugal everything was so serious and borrowing in my life, and my taste for reading wasn’t nothing like this book which I loved it. Made me laugh a couple times while I was in the train or in the metro forgetting all the people around me looking at their watch or reading Paulo Coelho….that was me before met Helen Fielding books. This book isn’t for to take it seriously, it’s for you relax and laugh about yourself in it, because in any of her characters there’s a well succeed women with all her strength and all her fragility that women is you! Just go with it and have fun while reading that mess of hilarious imagination that takes to meet beautiful people and amazing places!

What can one say of a book when you live in a county where finding anything to read in english is a challenge. Well one can say that it was mostly an easy read and as far as entertainment it's passable although often laughable. As far as any complaints the largest would have to be wanting to slam an editor against a wall for letting Fielding get away with random over use of page breaks many times without any change in location, time, or even voice for that matter. Arggg! If I could I would give it 2 1/2 because it's not my cup of tea, but its not terrible so I'll let it fall on three.

Read several years ago. Author tried something that didn't work.

Try very hard not to compare to Bridget Jones because that one was just in a world by itself (I love laughing until I cry and it's one of VERY FEW that were successfully told on screen - Renee Zellwegger is perfect for that part!).

Okay, back to OJATOA (that title's too long to write!).
* Title: Too long but it's sort of part of the humor
* Hilariously NOT NOT NOT believable at all
* The main character stereotypes people in the most ridiculous ways - you want to just slap her on the head - I suspec this was the author's intention so when you keep that in mind, it's pretty funny to see how stupid our main character can be and how her stupidity gets her into the most interesting situations. Okay, perhaps stupid is harsh - she most certainly does have an overactive imagination though.

Overall, it's funny and cliche and goofy - a very very very easy read.

Character Olivia Joules is an aspiring features journalist who finds herself caught up in a Al-Queda style terrorist plot including the blowing up of a liner, a (foiled) plot to attack world bridges and (at the end) the booby trapping of the Oscars. Initially she seems to be imagining things – she is convinced that one of the characters is Osama Bin Laden – but in fact he does turn out to be a notorious terrorist.

Harmless fun but very lightweight and clearly written to be filmed – and (despite what author) thinks the character is effectively Bridget Jones – her thinness and glamorous lifestyle notwithstanding – author seems to think that simply changing name/appearance/circumstances of a character but then using exactly the same writing style and characterisations distinguishes Olivia from Bridget.

A fun and entertaining beach read about a British freelance writer who stumbles upon a Hollywood producer in Miami who looks a lot like...Osama Bin Laden. Things start to happen (such as an explosion on a massive ship) and Olivia Joules is torn between thinking Feramo is a terrorist or just some French playboy trying to woo her. The novel follows Olivia as she goes from England to Miami to Los Angeles to Popayan to...well, just everywhere. I also love Olivia's Rule for Living (#1: "Don't panic." #2: "No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.") The only thing I didn't like about the book was the very ignorant nature used in describing Muslims and the people of the Middle East. I don't know whether this is suppose to be Olivia's ignorance or if it's the unfortunate ignorance of the author. Plus, there are spelling and punctuation mistakes throughout my copy. I wonder where the editor was on this one?

It was entertaining; could've done without the crazy racism and prejudice though.

I read this awhile ago, but did not find it very memorable. Her other books are definitely better than this one.

Last week I was having real reading trouble. Nothing on my TBR pile (either in paper books or e-books) inspired me, I was tired and run-down with a cold, I had next to no concentration, and what energy and concentration I did have I was using for work. I tried to read my current paperback, I tried a few things on my kindle, nothing was working. I needed something light and easy, and, well, I don’t usually go for light and easy, so there wasn’t anything of that type around.

However on Wednesday I went to a coffee shop which just so happened to have a bookcrossing shelf. I thought why not have a look? I might find something to fix my slump. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination is what I came back with.

I read Bridget Jones’ Diary when I was about 17 (I think) when it was at the height of it’s popularity (wow that’s like 8 years ago…I’m still 21 dammit!), and at the time I didn’t really get the hype around it. It was ok but nothing special when it came to chick-lit (and I read a fair bit of it at the time). I didn’t really like Bridget, I found her to be a bit of an idiot to be honest. Maybe I would have got it more if I was a 30-something singleton…maybe not…I don’t know.

Anyway I expected Olivia Joules to be a similar fit. Easy to read but a bit of fluff. I had never looked into reading it because I didn’t like Bridget Jones, so why read something I thought would be similar? I was wrong though. Well maybe sometimes Olivia is an idiot, she jumps to conclusions, but when she is it tends to be funny rather than annoying. There was a little bit of love fluff but mainly it was a bit of a mystery/crime/action story, and that made it much more enjoyable. The funny made it not like other action type books, and because of Olivia’s overactive imagination I was always second guessing myself, not sure what was going to be true and what would be imaginary. It was a little far-fetched but I think that worked well with her having an overactive imagination.

It still had the readability of Bridget Jones but plot wise I much preferred it. It was the perfect thing to get me out of my reading slump.

Exciting and hilarious! Recommended!

Not as funny as b jones- how many normal people can relate to a slim glamorous journalist orphan who has reinvented herself made money in her parents life insurance and gets to travel the world? I did not laugh out loud!

Ho letto assurdità che non stanno né in cielo né in terra. Chissà cosa si era fatta la Fielding prima di scrivere questo libro...