Bridget Jones Diary *********SPOILER ALERT************
Today marks the release of the third installment of Bridget Jones' Diary entitled Mad About The Boy. As I told you months ago, Bridget is a single mom to two children. What I didn't tell you then but will tell you now is that Mark Darcy is dead and Bridget Jones is a 51 year old widow raising their two kids on her own while juggling a boy toy and obsessing over her Twitter followers.
I was kind of shocked she killed Darcy off and thought maybe one of them would have an affair or something like that. I guess it would have been kind of boring just to follow them as a happily ever after couple for 300 pages. It wouldn't be Bridget if she didn't have some guy drama but I thought just maybe she would obsess over everything she is right now but would still be with Darcy.
Oh no not Colin...
ReplyDeleteWell apparently this "spoiler" is on the back cover of the book, so everyone is gonna know anyway.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's a cougar now.
ReplyDeleteIs Renee going to play a fifty-one year old? I think not.
ReplyDeleteWhat?!?!?! Wish it was left alone. I want to believe that Bridge had her happily ever after. Twitter and Cougarville. Jump the shark, much?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the book and movie will bomb--I know that I have ZERO interest in either without Colin Firth...er...Mark Darcy.
ReplyDeleteOh man! That's sad. I will have to pick this up or download it though. Love those books.
ReplyDeleteEnty, thanks for saving me hours of reading.
ReplyDeleteHi, All. Any other suggestions? (I have several long flights this month.)
Happy October CDaN!
Didn't the original third part, via the newspaper's column, have Bridget break up with Mark, have a fling with Daniel then up pregnant by him? So with that alternative, I'm not too concerned but yes, shark definitely jumped.
ReplyDelete@TinselSass: have you read the Diana Gabaldan (sp) OUTLANDER series? They will keep you busy and Colin was my visual for the leading man. There are plans to make a series on an "off network" tv station now, too. Sorry for lazy writing. Only 2nd cup of coffee.
ReplyDelete@Jenny Ferrall... No, I haven't. Will check it out. THANK YOU!!!
ReplyDeleteSo it's a story about a single mom with kids who dates? That's been told, don't see any movie happening there.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Karen...no Mark Darcy...me no interested.
Tinselsass - Looking for Alaska, by John Greene. Read it for banned books week. Really good.
ReplyDeleteAre the Bridget books worth reading? I've never picked them up.
Is it banned book week already? *pulling out list* What haven't I read yet?
DeleteThe movies didn't follow the exact path of the books though so if they want to make a movie, they'll just change that & make it a separation or something. Or they'll make sure to have Colin in flashbacks to get people to see it.
ReplyDeleteOh man I just ordered this book! Killing off Darcy is like killing the goose that lays the golden egg why would you do that?
ReplyDeleteStephen King's "Dr. Sleep" is supposed to be very read worthy, being the sequel to The Shining. I am still on A Clash of Kings, which I recommend George R.R. Martin anytime.
ReplyDeleteI second your recommendation of GRR Martin books.
DeleteAmen about Martin.
DeleteThanks for all the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteoh nooooooooo not Mark D........
ReplyDeleteOther than the Game of Thrones Books, the best books I've read in the past couple years are "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern and "Room" by Emma Donoghue. Both are very different stories. Both are excellent.
ReplyDeleteMamabot - night circus was excellent! I'll check out Room.
DeleteThe spoiler was the front page story of the Sunday Times, so, it's not like it was easy to avoid if you're looking for info about the book. After this news, the book shot to the top of the sales list on Amazon. Sigh. I'm emotionally devastated, TBH.
ReplyDeleteBook isn't released until 10/10 in the UK, the 15th in the US.
As for the new Jones book, I am not sure I will read it. I concur with the shark jumping nature of the story lines.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the original third part, via the newspaper's column, have Bridget break up with Mark, have a fling with Daniel then up pregnant by him?
ReplyDeleteActually, she shagged the both of them within a very short period of time and there was uncertainty to who the father was. Turned out to be Daniel's kid, which was... not popular with fans. Series ended with the birth of the baby boy. I'm not sure the book lives in the same universe as the columns, which were slightly different. After all, the two kids in the book are Mark's.
@Snapdragon, that was it, thank you!
DeleteIt's been awhile since I'd read it and yes, I can believe most fans weren't happy with that twist. After all, given it's heavily based on Pride and Prejudice, I doubt many would've been happy if Lizzie got impregnated by Wickham either.
I feel I need to really try and separate the book from the movie. When I think about Mark Darcy, all I see is Colin Firth which to me makes the killing off of the character rather unreasonable.
ReplyDeleteVera L - The first Bridget Jones' Diary is perfection. Great chick lit.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a huge fan of the first Shopaholic book. That was hysterical.
I have Water for Elephants in my possession. Completely intended to read it this summer. Completely did not. I need to get on that. I read one book this summer: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I am 50 years behind the reading trends. It was good, but very dark.
TinselSass - I'm a big fan of the classics. So, I recommend Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
@West End Girl--yes, the first book is P&P, and the second book (which I also loved--FAR superior to the second movie) is Persuasion. Dealing with aging and other items post-marriage is obviously territory that Jane Austen never covered, so there's a break here--there has to be--from her framework. I have to wonder if this turn of events isn't to try to distance the series from Austen. What better way than to knock off the obviously-Austen-inspired character?
ReplyDeleteWhat's really oddest to me is that this is the darkest, most serious turn of events these books (or even columns) has ever addressed (and yes, I know death is a part of life, but it's escapist fiction FFS). There's a tiny part of me that hopes/believes that Mark's only missing and presumed dead (working for human rights in a war-torn country, or similar--mere speculation!), and he returns at the end (after all, they are being VERY careful to not reveal HOW he dies). I know, it's optimism gone wild, but this news isn't exactly a sneaky leak she didn't want to get out. I am only left to wonder why not hide it until everyone gets a chance to read it...
Susan - Tender is the Night is one of my favorite books, I read it as a teen and then again a few years ago - I've only reread about 10 books. I was completely effected the 2nd time around, maybe even more.
ReplyDeleteThe other books I've reread are War and Peace (Trust me it's an easy read, just skip Tolstoy's ramblings about history if you desire), Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, and the epic fantasy Malazan Book of the Fallen.
@Vera I like the first bridget book. The second was just okay.
ReplyDeleteI will not be reading this new book no Mark Darcy no ME!
"'Didn't the original third part, via the newspaper's column, have Bridget break up with Mark, have a fling with Daniel then up pregnant by him?'
ReplyDelete"Actually, she shagged the both of them within a very short period of time and there was uncertainty to who the father was. Turned out to be Daniel's kid, which was... not popular with fans. Series ended with the birth of the baby boy. I'm not sure the book lives in the same universe as the columns, which were slightly different. After all, the two kids in the book are Mark's."
Yup. I was done with all of it after that weird column. Daniel's kid, indeed! *rolls eyes*
I don't think I'll be reading this new book, either, whether it follows the column's universe or not. A dead Mark Darcy?! Seriously?! BJD is supposed to be comedic, yes? That ain't funny.
Snapdragon - OMG. Your plot theory is probably right on!! Why would Darcy's death be revealed on the back cover?! It's preposterous!
ReplyDeleteI love all the Austen books. I watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice series around Easter this year and it totally made me want to re-read Bridget Jones. So much fun watching Colin Firth at that age.
It was totally brilliant how Bridget Jones was obsessed with Mark Darcy and then Colin Firth played him in the movie. I loved that!
I have Revolutionary Road to read as well. Note to self: Must read more books and post more blog posts and stop wasting time on CDAN and watching trash TV on Bravo. I suck. Ha.
Colin Firth will surely still be in the movie, even with this plot twist.
ReplyDeleteThink heartwarming flashbacks, a la P.S. I Love You. *sob*
@Susan, ha, thanks--like I said, it'll probably turn out to be totally wrong and my dreams will be crushed... but a girl can hope. (It's called denial in some places.)
ReplyDelete(I always did wonder if Fielding called him "Mark" because it sounds so much like "mock" when spoken in a British* accent (a "mock Darcy"), a la "Shawn the Sheep" (shorn) from Wallace & Gromit. Maybe I'll ask this on the book tour.)
(* Yes I know there are a myriad of accents. I am not enlightened enough to tell them apart.)
Just got "The Husband's Secret", by Liane Moriarty. It's awesome!
ReplyDelete@Susan I loved, loved, loved Water For Elephants! Read it!
ReplyDeleteRoom is pretty good-odd story
ReplyDeleteYour Voice In My Head is an excellent read
The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, I have to read all the books in one go, it's that intense.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing book I read recently was 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'. Iranian life under the Ayatollah through literature.
Game of Thrones is spectacular too.
I love when our posts morph into book club topics.
ReplyDeleteI vow to start reading Water for Elephants tonight. I will at least get 10 pages in.
She killed off Darcy? Hell No. Now I don't care about this movie. That's horrible.
ReplyDelete"The Bone Season" and "Daughter of Smoke and Bone". SO. GOOD. The ol' ball and chain is reading "Lexicon" and says it is awesome sauce.
ReplyDeleteLois McMaster Bujold (author) A Civil Campaign ( title) A Georgette Heyer type of romance . (fantasy) with one of the best characters ever, Miles VorKosigan. Read one and you'll be hooked.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a day of interesting recommendations... and for helping me compile my Autumn reading list!
ReplyDeleteOne recommendation from my Summer: FEVER by Mary Beth Keane.
Look up Kate Atkinson for well written crime books.
ReplyDeleteWolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, both by Hilary Mantel (and both winners of the Booker Prize) are absolutely fantastic AND fascinating!
ReplyDeleteLois McMaster Bujold (author) A Civil Campaign ( title) A Georgette Heyer type of romance . (fantasy) with one of the best characters ever, Miles VorKosigan. Read one and you'll be hooked.
ReplyDeleteI hope they buried Mark Darcy in one of his Christmas jumpers.
ReplyDelete