Book Review: Such a Pretty Fat

This book, written by Jen Lancaster (who writes the often hilarious blog Jennsylvania), tells the story of Jen on a diet. If you are unfamiliar with Jen's blog, you should really check it out. Its funny, she's funny, and this book was funny. There were passages where I literally lol-ed.



In Jen, I found a narrator who I really related to. Losing weight is tough business as I or the first 200 pages of this book can attest to. She makes light of a heavy subject (hehe).

She tries Atkins several times and winds up dreaming of cookies. She is assigned a personal trainer named Barbie. She avoids the scale. She's a real, live dieter (I think the fact that this is a memoir might help that last one). Even though she's not 100% successful or dedicated to a lot of the things she tries, she's always honest with us, her readers.

I think this book is almost a "must read" for anyone who has ever dieted, is currently dieting, has successfully dieted in the past, unsuccessfully dieted in the past, thinks they will diet in the future, avoids the scale, has a love/hate relationship with all things junk food, those who have used their weight as an excuse to do or not do something, those who hate the gym, those that fear the gym, those that used to hate/fear the gym but now love it, and those who need a kick in the hiney to get their rear in gear.

My least favorite thing about the book was her husband Fletch, who comes across (at least in my opinion) as a HUGE jackass. Luckily we don't have to deal with him too much, and when we do, its not for too long. When I did have to deal with him, I usually just called him a jackass and moved on.

You should read this book. Really, you should.

I've been on a huge reading frenzy lately. I've even been foregoing sleep to read (but not TV, that would be crazy). Right now I'm re-reading Pride and Prejudice. I don't think I got it the last time I read it since I was probably 14 or so. I'm already enjoying it a lot more than I did before and I'm only on page 12. Revisiting the classics is nice once in a while. I think I may have a date with my pal Mr. Whitman once Jane and I have finished our visit.