I love Twitter. I love it for information, not being a particularly prolific tweeter myself.
But I love it. I check up on what’s happening on Twitter several times a day and I pretty much always get something of value out of it, even if that something of value is a picture of Ricky Gervais in the tub with a beer.
Those of us that use Twitter know to stay off it on the nights of big show finales because it will be riddled with spoilers. Even the morning after, if you’re still not caught up, you need to be careful. For example, I have not watched all of Breaking Bad. Two weeks ago, that was something I needed to be mindful of; there’s no filter on Twitter.
But I never thought that this would be an issue when it came to books.
Fair warning: If you haven’t heard about the massive spoiler in the new Bridget Jones book you should stop reading now.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was published back in 2001 and I’m not sure that any of us had any hope of a third book ever making an appearance. But when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. Helen Fielding did indeed have plans for a third book and it arrived last week.
By the time Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy hit the shelves, I already knew what happened and I was devastated and now will probably not read the damn thing.
Mark Darcy dies. Fielding killed off Mark Darcy! MARK DARCY!
Why? Why would she do that? Why would they tell us?! But mostly, why would she do that? Delicious, handsome, good, decent, sexy Mark Darcy! Dead!
I was very distraught. And I wasn’t alone.
I have no idea if the news that Mark Darcy had been killed off helped or hindered sales. All I know is that I don’t want to read it. Partly because there is already so much sadness in the world already, that I don’t go searching it out for my reading material. But also because Bridget Jones deserved a happy ending! And she had it before this third book. And I know, I know, women shouldn’t define their happiness by a relationship with a man. I get it. But come on. A dead Mark Darcy? That’s just cruel.
Even though I was completely gutted by the news and really shocked that this would be something that I’d find out on Twitter, I guess I should thank Twitter. Because now that I know what happens, I don’t have to read the book.
The Paperback Princess 