SOURCE: “‘Singleton’ Adds New Entries to Her Diary,” in Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2000, p. E3.

In the following review of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Rubin commends Fielding's sharp sense of humor, but later refers to Fielding's books as collections of “stand-up comedy routines” rather than novels.

Bridget Jones's Diary, a comic fictional account of days in the life of a young single woman in London, got its start as a newspaper column. It went on to become a novel, which, in turn, became an international bestseller. Not one to quarrel with success, Bridget's creator, British journalist and novelist Helen Fielding (now living in Los Angeles), has written a sequel [Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason]. It, too, takes the form of a diary written in Bridget's by-now-familiar voice.

For those unfamiliar with that voice, herewith a sample:

129 lbs. (total fat groove), boyfriends 1 (hurrah!), shags 3 (hurrah!), calories...