Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

I didn't feel like reading my current novel, so when I saw this on the shelf in my mum's house I decided it was time for a re-read.

It's wonderful to find a book that can make you really laugh, and even greater (though much more rare) to find that the book can still make you laugh even though you've read it half a dozen times. Bridget Jones's Diary is one such book, and it arguably started the whole chick-lit genre which seems to be about the level of reading that I'm capable of at the moment. The protagonist, in the best chick-lit spirit, is a delightfully ditzy person that you can't help liking even while you laugh your head off at her. Everything about Bridget, from her obsession with her weight, her quest for true love, to her concern over her mother's increasingly bizarre behaviour, are here for us to laugh at and relate to, all chronicled in Bridget's unique, personal pronoun-free writing style. Even though I've never been a thirtysomething single woman living in London, this book is so cleverly written that I feel like I'm right there.

The sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is even more hilarious, and it's on the shelf here too, so I think there may be a re-read in my future...