Landwhale

Landwhale: one turning insults into nicknames, why body image is hard, and how diets can kiss my ass / Jes Baker, 255 pgs.

A bit of a memoir, a bit of a manifesto, Jes Baker tells us what she thinks about a lot of different things. A "body positive" activist, she doesn't really give a shit what you think of her body and how you are going to tell her you are worried "for her health."  She points out it is "my body, my rules" which she had tattooed rather predominately on her body.  Seems fair.  I mean, just like we are having a resurgence of hate and loathing in this country, Jes is here to tell you that she is a person who makes her own choices.  So suck it up.  I like that attitude.  The memoir part about her relationship with her dad is a little frightening.  She, however, sees what it has given her and how she is stronger after some adversity.  Good for Jes!  She seems quite beautiful inside and out despite her struggles.

Hunger

Hunger: a Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay  306 pp.

This book was a hard one for me because so much of it hit home and not in a good way. The author tells the brutally honest story of being gang raped as a child and then eating herself into obesity in hopes of making herself into someone no one would hurt like that again. Instead she faces other hurts and insults because of her size. There is much about her relationship with food. She also details all the ways in which society and even her own family does not know how to deal with large/obese people whether it's in the attitude that fat people are lazy (At age 43, Gay has multiple degrees, teaches at colleges, and has written several books among other things -- hardly a lazy woman.), chairs that don't fit, airplane travel, or the medical profession that looks at people's weight before their symptoms of illness/injury. I found myself saying "OMG, yes" to so much of what she said. This book was blogged earlier by Patrick and Christa.

Hunger

Hunger: a memoir of (my) body / Roxane Gay, 307 pgs. read by Roxane Gay

Gay has written a painful memoir of being morbidly obese that details what it is like to live in a world where fat people are shamed every day.  She tells of the traumatic event that damaged her and made her want to be large to protect herself from similar attacks.  She tells of the emotional damage and the desire to disappear that has lasted 30 years.  This is a painful book to read/listen to. There are many parts that you can relate with and some you hope you will never be able to relate to.  Gay is still amazing and I can't imagine how difficult it was to write this book.

The hungry brain

The hungry brain: outsmarting the instincts that make us overeat / Stephan J. Guyenet, 291 pgs.

Why are so many of us eating too much?  What is the reason behind our seeming inability to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle?  There actually ARE reasons and science behind them.  This book delves into the many factors working against us.  It is interesting how many things there are to factor into this equation.  The world is a different place, food is different and for many, change is difficult because our brains are working against us.  This book gives a summary of lots of these factors and also a plan to help make changes.  Interesting reading.

The Middlesteins / Jami Attenberg 273 p.

The family's name may be a pun - they're middle class, middle aged, and from the midwest, get it? - but nothing else about this novel is formulaic.  This is the story of Edie and Richard, whose marriage has fallen apart a few months before the novel's beginning.  Their children Robin, Benny, and Benny's wife Rachelle struggle to save Edie, from her overeating, her loneliness, and her general lack of will to help herself. (Yes, anyone who has ever lived in a family knows their quest is futile, but that doesn't take away from the pleasure of reading about it.) 

While Edie is dying one bag of chips at a time, Richard is grabbing life by the you-know-whats and meeting a second-chance woman.   His family is angry with him, of course, but it's interesting to see how angry they are with Edie as well.  Written in a light, comedic style that doesn't blunt the emotional resonance at all, this is a worthwhile read.  I found parallels to the Alice McDermott novels I blogged about awhile back.  The Middlesteins are observant but not zealous Jews, much like the Catholic families in McDermott's novels.  In each case, a moderate piety suffuses the daily lives of the characters and provides an intriguing backdrop to their stories.