Emma by Jane Austen

The trouble with Emma was that I've seen "Clueless" far too many times. (Some might argue that once is too many times, but I love the movie myself.) This created two difficulties. First, the majority of the plot twists were unsurprising as they'd been revealed in the movie. Second, I could not stop myself from comparing and contrasting Clueless--the movie and Emma--the book which almost certainly detracted from any real connection or absorption that would have normally been possible while reading Emma.

In case you live under a rock and have never seen Clueless or even the movie adaptation of Emma (curiously I don't remember nearly as much about the latter), Emma is a young single girl in mid 19th century England who has passions for a) caring for her father b) remaining single and c) matchmaking.

I felt that this book was filled with horribly mundane details, cliches (although some of these cliches may originate here), and typical love stories. Please feel free to comment on what you believe to be the merits of this story which I have so clearly missed.

Favorite Quote: "How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"

If this book were a movie, I’d rate it: PG for adult themes.

Overall Grade: D

Would I recommend this book to my friends? Nope, not so much.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

I walked into my favorite local bookstore and said to my favorite clerk, something to the effect of—I’m really embarrassed to be asking this, but do you have Bridget Jones’s Diary. To which he replied—“I’ve never taken anyone’s diary”. See, when you buy books at Rediscovered, you even get a joke to go with it. Just one more reason to justify buying books when I have no money to buy anything.


I had just finished War and Peace and chose Bridget Jones’s Diary because it seemed like the easiest, fluffiest book on my list. It was.

This is one of those rare books where if you’ve seen the movie, you don’t really need to read the book (I almost never say this.) The book is a diary of a single British woman who is on a quest for self assurance, men, weight loss and sobriety. Very funny. Very British. Very much like real life.

Favorite Quote: “I’m not going all the way to Huntingdon to celebrate the ruby wedding of two people I have spoken to once for eight seconds since I was three, just to throw myself in the path of a rich divorce who describes me as bizarre.” (p.182) Also: “It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It’s like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting ‘Cathy’ and banging your head against a tree.” (p.12)

If this book were a movie (and it is), I’d rate it: R (which it is) for sex and language.

Overall Grade: Really tough to grade. The book lover in me can’t bear to rate it high because it can’t even loosely be defined as literature, but it was quite amusing, so what the hell—B

Would I recommend this book to my friends? Yes.