I read Bridget Jones' Diary years ago and laughed hard all the way through it.  I remember one review calling it satire, but the reviewer was obviously male.  We girls knew it wasn't satire; it was the naked truth.  That's what it's like inside our heads, guys.

One of the funniest parts of the book was Bridget's obsessive lust for Colin Firth, based on his performance in the BBC's miniseries of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.

I've never read Pride and Prejudice.  I've read a few of Austin's books and my take was "she's no Georgette Heyer."  I know, I know; she's the author who inspired Georgette, she was the first and she practically invented chick lit.  I don't care.  Georgette does it better.  Carl Perkins was an inspiration to the Beatles but I don't want to listen to him either.

Anyway, Pride and Prejudice is the book that Hollywood is always using to establish the literary chops of female characters.  It was Meg Ryan's character's favorite book in You've Got Mail and Sandra Bullock's character's fave in The Lake House.  And Sandra B played a girl with mint leaves for brains.  It's gotten to the point where saying "Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book!" is tantamount to saying "I've never read anything!!"  You might as well say your favorite book is TV Guide.  Even if it was my favorite, I'd never admit it now.  Besides, there's no way it's better than The Devil's Cub, by Miss Heyer.  No one even gets shot in it!

I have enjoyed every film adaptation of Jane Austin's work that I've seen.  From Emma to Sense and Sensibility to Clueless, to Bridget Jones, good tales all.  So I put the BBC's Pride and Prejudice on my netflix list.  After all, I like Colin Firth...

No.

I do not like Colin Firth.

I just spent the last two nights watching P&P and I am MADLY, DESPERATELY IN LOVE WITH COLIN FIRTH!!

I don't even know why.  I just know that thirty minutes in, I wanted to fast forward through every scene without him in it.  And the swimming in the lake scene that Bridget drooled over? I rewound it four times!  I don't know how he did it, but he quickly convinced me that he was the yummiest thing I'd ever laid eyes on.  He is the absolute best at showing the audience how much he loves the girl just by the look on his face.

I want to own it.  Not the book; the miniseries.

And I want to read Bridget Jones' Diary again.