ok i am rubbish at reading but i love Bridget Jones (a bit too much) - what else will i like to read?

[stillenacht]

Please help - have always been rubbish at reading - nothing really ever inspired or motivated me to read until i read Bridget. I try to get my DS1 to read (he hates it too) and my DH never ever reads bar the paper.

What other books/authors will i like - i am too scared to go into Waterstones and get something i will put down after 2 pages.

Thanks

Does my bum look big in this by Arabella Weir
My Life on a Plate by India Knight

anything by Marian Keyes

Agree with Marion Keyes - try Rachel's Holiday to start.
Also, Cecilia Aherne.

Are you a library member? If you get something from there it doesn't matter if you get it home and don't like it. Your DS may even like going with you.

thanks guys

Yes i am a member of a library - abit difficult to go there because of DS2 but will def try and get the books. i have actually read Arabella Weirs book as it came free with a mag.

thanks again.

emily barr's books are great fun, imo. definitely readable, but a good bit more clever than yer average chick lit.

and don't be embarrassed to like Bridget Jones, millions of people can't be wrong. (plus, can i remind you that it was originally a column in the independent, so it has credentials. )

Marion Keyes
Lisa Jewel

What did you like most about Bridget?

I love Louise Bagshaw and Penny Vincenzi for epic, rich, gratuatous chick lit, easy fun reads. Recommend Career Girls by LB and No Angels by PV. Will try and think of some more. BTW, did you know Bridget is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice, one of my favourite books!

Honestly if you like Bridget you have to sit down with Jane Austen - try Pride and Prejudice or Emma.

Otherwise - the shopoholic series by Sophie Kinsella - herbietea has already mentioned her - are fantstaic fun and very easy to read.

You'll like Cathy Kelly.

I read this over christmas and really quite enjoyed it

I like the way it hits the nail on the head about living as a singleton (ime). I love the pace of it and its piss take element of surburbia.

If you like Briget I reckon you will love Slummy Mummy also starte as a column in a magazine, sort of an evolution of Bridget.

Helen Fielding must be bring out a new Bridget though surely? There was all those columns where she had a baby and I missed most of them!

Oh and there were load of that Slummy mummy book for a penny on amazon! You have to get it!

yes i had heard she was writing a more updated version- where is it?????

dittany - yes have read and re read the edge of reason too

Adrian Mole - i think i read that as a teenager.

Pride and Prejudice - love it love it (and also Loved Lost in Austen on ITV1 earlier this year too)

I second the Sophie Kinsella "Shopaholic" series - Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Abroad, Shopaholic Ties the Knot etc. I am a bit fed up of "Chicklit" - I've read some really rubbish books - but these are genuinely charming like Bridget. Clever and funny, but easy to read. Also second Adrian Mole - very very very funny.

How old's your son? There are some great kids books around. I really think we're living in a golden age of childrens literature.

Jane Austen is like the original Helen Fielding, a total piss take of her time. Persuasion is great and also pretty short so less daunting. G'wan give her a go, you won't regret it. How old is DS2, most libraries have a children's section and even ones that don't are much more relaxed than they used to be and don't mind children making a noise

You'd probably enjoy the Sophie Kinsella shopaholic books

He is 9 and getting him to read a page of the Alex Rider books takes over half and hour of tantrums every 4 words or so that "Its borrrrring!" (we have tried Roald Dahl - he didn't mind it) but he is still at the stage where he is reading the words and not taking in the story

The Adrian Mole books have moved on - he's grown up and becomes a young chef in celeb London (Cappucino years) and a single Dad on a council estate in Leicester (Weapons of Mass Destruction). Try it again!

I was thinking of story CDs for your son. would he listen in bed at night? Easier to get into the story quickly and might make him want to read more. Alex Ryder, young James Bond - for later, Artemis Fowl by Eaoin (?) Colfer (described by author as Die Hard with fairies), Philip Pulman, Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket all good.

If you like Bridget I'd second Slummy Mummy.

I'd recommend renting a "Pride And Prejudice" DVD (I like the Kiera Knightley one, although lots of people on here don't) and watching that before trying to read it, if you're not that big a reader. It will help to know the characters and the story beforehand and of course you'll see the links with B Jones.

I also think you'd like the Shopaholic books.

I have watched the BBC version ad nauseam (except i am not nauseous at all!) I love it!

Am yet to watch the Keira version (I don't like her that much tho).