Sometimes you need to read something a little light, a little fluffy, a little fun.  Having come off a run of pretty serious books (I mean, even the “funny” ones like Super Sad True Love Story were actually still pretty serious), I wanted to get into something that I could just hands-free enjoy.  So I figured what the hell, why not pick up the cool Penguin Inks copy of a book that’s always been on my mind mainly because I was curious about why people loved it so much – and I do want to see the movie someday.

Happy to report that Jones’ diary was exactly what I needed.  It was definitely funny, definitely light, and definitely fluffy.  Sure, it says a lot about the way that “we” date and societal roles and oh, yes, its a riff on Pride and Prejudice but really… none of that matters.  That’s not why you read this book.  You read it to have a laugh (and maybe, if you’re emotional, a cry) and give a commiserate “ohhhh, yep…” and when it has ended, you happily smile and move on, palate cleansed and ready to start a new round of other things.

Also, I totally pictured four of the characters as their movie selves. Jones was Renée Zellweger, Mark Darcy was sooo Colin Firth (helps that they reference that BBC P&P film), Hugh Grant was absolutely the boss, and Tom (the gay best friend) was James Callis (of BSG fame, yes).  So now I need to watch the film and really just connect things even further.

I don’t have much of a critique of this book in any way – it did its job, it did it well, and I would happily read another Helen Fielding book someday when I need to have a bit of a literary get-away.  Don’t think this means I like chick-lit, though – I think that a) this book is the exception that proves my rule on chick-lit and b) Salman Rushdie’s quote about “even guys will like it” is enough to get me to read anything and I don’t see that on any other chick lit….

Rating: 4 out of 5.  Good clean fun (well, maybe not good or clean…) that’s easy to read and serves as a great palate cleanser.  And that’s that.