Staff Picks
Broader Bookshelf 2026: Read a book that celebrates body positivity
Collection
Fulfill the "read a book that celebrates body positivity" prompt with these titles.
This list is part of the Broader Bookshelf 2026 reading challenge. Find more lists here.
For Keeps
Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance
Published in 2007
"We women often devote boundless effort to beauty and fitness, but usually by fighting our bodies rather than befriending them. So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that when we face injury, illness, or old age, we are often devastated - in truth, we feel betrayed by our own bodies." "For Keeps is more than an acceptance of getting older - it's about accepting who you are, period. By turns hilarious and heartrending, moving and irreverent, this extraordinary collection chronicles the transformative potential of the body's wisdom. From adolescent awkwardness to eating disorders, mental illness to cancer diagnoses, twenty-seven gifted writers share their intimate stories of wrestling with their less-than-perfect bodies, a triumphant testament to the self-acceptance and peace available to us all."--BOOK JACKET.
My Big Bottom Blessing
How Hating My Body Led to Loving My Life
Published in 2012
Describes the author's lifelong struggle with self-esteem, and provides advice for overcoming it in order to reach one's full potential and achieve personal fulfillment.
About Betty's Boob
Published in 2018
"She lost her left breast, her job, and her guy. She does not know it yet, but this is the best day of her life. An inspiring and surprisingly comedic tale of loss and acceptance told largely through silent sequential narrative"--Back cover.
Body Positive Power
Because Life is Already Happening and You Don't Need Flat Abs to Live It
Published in 2018
"For generations, women have been convinced that true happiness only comes when we hit that goal weight, shrink ourselves down, and change ourselves to fit a rigid and unrealistic beauty ideal. We've been taught to see our bodies as collections of problems that need to be fixed. Instagram star Megan Jayne Crabbe is determined to spread the word that loving the body you have is the real path to happiness. An international body positive guru with fans in all corners of the world, Megan spent years battling eating disorders and weight fluctuations before she found her way to body positivity. She quit dieting, discovered a new kind of confidence, and replaced all those old feelings of body shame and self-recrimination with everyday joy. Free of the pressure to fit in a size 2, her life became more satisfying than ever before. In her debut book, Megan shares her own struggles with self-acceptance and her path to body positivity. With whip-smart wit and a bold attitude that lights up her Instagram feed, Megan champions a new worldview for all of us: It's time to stop dieting and get on with your life."--Publisher's website
Spoiler Alert
A Novel
Published in 2020
When her viral fan-fiction leads to a disastrous publicity-stunt date with her celebrity crush, a talented plus-sized writer discovers that the actor secretly writes his own popular fan-fiction against studio rules.
Ink in Water
An Illustrated Memoir
Published in 2017
"Lacy Davis's eating disorders begins with the germ of an idea: a seed of a thought that tells her she just isn't good enough. And like ink in water, the idea spreads. Blending bold humor, a healthy dose of self-deprecation, literary storytelling, and provocative artwork, Ink In Water is an unflinching, brutally honest look into Lacy"s mind as she learns to move past her self-destructive behaviors and toward a life of health, strength, and nourishment."--Back cover.
Cheeky
A Head-to-toe Memoir
Published in 2020
"The funny, exuberant, inspiring antidote to body shame-a full-color graphic memoir celebrating the imperfections of the author's female body in all its glory. Too tall. Too short. Too fat. Too thin. The message is everywhere-we need to pluck, wax, shrink, and hide ourselves, to not take up space, emotionally or literally; women are never "just right." Well, Ariella Elovic, feminist and illustrator extraordinaire, has had enough. In her full-color graphic memoir Cheeky, she takes an inspiring and exuberant head-to-toe look at her own body self-consciousness, and body part by body part, finds her way back to herself. How does Ariella learn not to see herself as a never-finished DIY project, but to accept and even love the physical attributes society taught her to hide? How does a mirror go from a "black hole of critique" to a "who's that girl" moment? Essential to her journey is her posse of girlfriends, her "yentas." Together, they discover that sharing "imperfections" and some of the gross and "unsightly" things our bodies produce can be a source of endless laughs and deep bonding. It helps to have a team with some outside perspectives to keep our inner bullies in check. Charming and hilarious, full of empathy and candor, and gorgeously illustrated, Cheeky aims to inspire women everywhere to embrace their bodies, flaws and all, and also their respective bodies' needs, desires, and inherent power"-- Provided by publisher.
Full of Myself
A Graphic Memoir About Body Image
Published in 2024
"Author and illustrator Siobhán Gallagher's humorous and heartfelt graphic memoir details her journey from being anxious and unhappy to learning to love herself as she is. "I'm proud of the person I've become because I fought to become her." At the age of 30, Siobhán Gallagher looks back on her teenage years struggling with anxiety and diet culture, desperate to become a beautiful, savvy, and slim adult. As an actual adult, she realizes she hasn't turned out the way she'd imagined, but through the hard work of self-reflection--cut with plenty of humor--Gallagher brings readers along on her journey to self-acceptance and self-love. Through witty comics and striking illustrations, Full of Myself is a highly relatable story of the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest teenage best friend readers will wish they had had--and the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest woman she becomes."--Publisher.
Fat Girl Walking
Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin...every Inch of It
Published in 2015
What We Don't Talk About when We Talk About Fat
Published in 2020
"From the creator of Your Fat Friend, an explosive indictment on the systemic and cultural issues facing plus-sized people that will move us toward creating an agenda for fat justice"-- Provided by publisher.
The Wedding Date
Published in 2018
"A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel. Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist. On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend. From the best man's toast to the bouquet toss, Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible. But before they know it, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other. They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want.."-- Provided by publisher.
While We Were Dating
Published in 2021
"Two people realize that it's no longer an act when they veer off-script in this sizzling romantic comedy by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory. Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he's trying to ignore, and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it's hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she's also down-to-earth and considerate, and he can't help flirting a little. . . . Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she's booked her next movie. However, she didn't expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation? But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna with a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they've barely shared with those closest to them. When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna's life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending?"-- Provided by publisher.
Happy Fat
Taking Up Space in a World That Wants to Shrink You
Published in 2019
In Happy Fat, comedian Sofie Hagen shares how she removed fat-phobic influences from her daily life and found self-acceptance in a world where judgment and discrimination are rife. From shame and sex to airplane seats, love and getting stuck in public toilets, Sofie provides practical tips for readers--drawing wisdom from other Fat Liberation champions along the way. Part memoir, part social commentary, Happy Fat is a funny, angry and impassioned look at how taking up space in a culture that is desperate to reduce you can be radical, emboldening and life-changing.
Anti-diet
Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
Published in 2019
"68 percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66% of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective, why are we so obsessed with it? The culprit is diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It's sexist, racist, and classist, yet this way of thinking about food and bodies is so embedded in the fabric of our society that it can be hard to recognize. It masquerades as health, wellness, and fitness, and for some, it is all-consuming. In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health -- no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research, personal experience, and stories from patients and colleagues, Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter."--Amazon.com
The Wellness Trap
Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses, and Find Your True Well-being
Published in 2023
""It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle." You've probably heard this phrase from any number of people in the wellness space. But as Christy Harrison reveals in her latest book, wellness culture promotes a standard of health that is often both unattainable and deeply harmful. Many people with chronic illness understandably feel dismissed or abandoned by the healthcare system and find solace in alternative medicine, as Harrison once did. Yet the wellness industry promotes practices that often cause even more damage than the conventional approaches they're meant to replace. Weaving together history, memoir, reporting, and practical advice, Harrison illuminates the harms of wellness culture while re-imagining our society's relationship with well-being"-- Provided by publisher.
Belly of the Beast
The Politics of Anti-fatness As Anti-blackness
Published in 2021
"An exploration of anti-fatness and anti-Blackness at the intersections of race, police violence, gender identity, fatness, and health"-- Provided by publisher.
Body Image
Because All Bodies Are Great Bodies
Published in 2021
"Too fat, too thin. Muffin top, flat bum, thunder thighs, spaghetti arms. From an early age, kids learn they are judged for how they look. Both boys and girls are bombarded with messages of what they should look like and are shamed for not measuring up. When kids encounter conflict based on stereotypes of body image, they need the understanding and the tools to deal with the situation and not let it damage their self-esteem. This book provides information, relatable situations and opportunities for kids to explore cultural standards, their own assumptions and those of others. This accessible illustrated book offers information, quizzes, comics and real-life situations to help kids think critically about body image, how it influences how others see them and how they see themselves. Considered from the viewpoints of the Internalizer, who suffers from body-image issues, the Influencer, who perpetuates negative stereotypes and standards of body image and the Witness, with conflicts around body image, this issue is identified, examined and put into a context kids can use to navigate issues of shaming and self-esteem."-- Provided by publisher
Pretty Happy
Healthy Ways to Love Your Body
Published in 2016
"Actress and fitness icon Kate Hudson shares her insights to help every woman become healthy, strong, and beautiful from the inside out in this stunning, full color illustrated lifestyle guide.Kate Hudson is an award-winning actress and founder of the popular active wear line, Fabletics. Long admired for her natural beauty and dedication to wellness and living well, Kate offers readers inspiration for setting attainable goals to create balance in their lives. Her philosophy is straightforward: living healthfully is about simplicity, accessibility, positivity and throwing the idea of "perfection" out the window"-- Provided by publisher.
Women, Food, and Desire
Embrace Your Cravings, Make Peace with Food, Reclaim Your Body
Published in 2015
"A holistic health counselor and co-star of award-winning documentary Super Size Me explores women's cravings--for food, sleep, sex, movement, companionship, inspiration--and teaches them to listen to their bodies for a healthier, fuller life. Transformational health expert Alexandra Jamieson is a woman on a mission. Having overcome her own food addictions and the weight and health problems these habits caused, she learned something life-altering: when we listen to our cravings, they will lead us onto the path of deep healing. Since her own personal breakthrough more than a decade ago, Alexandra has dedicated her life to helping other women learn to listen to the wisdom of their cravings and make food their greatest ally as they step into their lives with authentic passion. In this powerfully feminine manifesto, Alexandra dares us to face our cravings head-on, to make the self-commitment to no longer hide out behind food, self-loathing, or the limiting expectations of others. With love, deep compassion, and fearless honesty, she calls upon all of us to boldly use food as a tool to cleanse ourselves of the nutritional, emotional, physical, and mental blocks that limit our ability to live full, meaningful, and joyful lives.
A Physical Education
How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting
Published in 2025
"A Physical Education traces Casey Johnston's journey of calorie restriction and obsessive cardio--making herself small in almost every way--to finding healing through the (unexpected) practice of lifting weights. As she progresses, carrying groceries and closing heavy doors become easier. As she diligently practices checking in with how she feels, she begins to question not only how she has treated her body, but how she sees herself and the world. This growth also fuels a deeper understanding: how the mainstream messaging she received about women's bodies has seeped into almost every other area of her life. Combining wit, rage, and a reporter's eye for detail, Johnston recounts how she learned the process of rupture, rest, and repair-not just within her cells and muscles, but within her spirit. A love letter to the science of female strength, this is a book for anyone who's ever longed to return home to their own body"-- Provided by publisher.
What's Eating Us
Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety
Published in 2023
"Blending personal narrative and investigative reporting, Emmy Award-winning journalist Cole Kazdin reveals that disordered eating is an epidemic crisis killing millions of women. Women of all ages struggle with disordered eating, preoccupation with food, and body anxiety. Journalist Cole Kazdin was one such woman, and she set out to see if the impossibility of her own full recovery from an eating disorder was all in her head. Interviewing women across the country as well as the world's most renowned researchers, she discovered that most people with eating disorders never receive treatment--the fact that she did made her one of the lucky ones. Kazdin takes us to the doorstep of the diet industry and research community, exposing the flawed systems that claim to be helping us, and revealing disordered eating for the crisis that it is: a mental illness with the second highest mortality rate (after opioid-related deaths) that no one wants to talk about. Along the way, she identifies new treatments not yet available to the general public, grass roots movements to correct racial disparities in care, and strategies for navigating true health while still living in a dysfunctional world. What would it feel like to be free? To feel gorgeous in your body, not ruminate about food, feel ease at meals, exercise with no regard for calories-burned? To never making a disparaging comment about your body again, even silently to yourself. Who can help us with this? We can. What's Eating Us is an urgent battle cry coupled with stories and strategies about what works and how to finally heal-for real"-- Provided by publisher.
Fat Off, Fat on
A Big Bitch Manifesto
Published in 2023
"Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto is cultural critic Clarkisha Kent's memoir of navigating the world as a fat, Black, queer woman"-- Provided by publisher.
The Body Liberation Project
How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom
Published in 2023
"An exciting, genre-redefining narrative mix of memoir, inspiration, and specific exercises and prompts, with timely messages about social and racial justice and how the world needs to move beyond body positivity to something even more exciting and revolutionary-body liberation"-- Provided by publisher.
Body Neutral
A Revolutionary Guide to Overcoming Body Image Issues
Published in 2023
"Longtime body image coach Jessi Kneeland has worked with hundreds of clients struggling with body obsession, anxiety, and hatred. Determined to ease their pain, Kneeland created a revolutionary method to neutralize body image distress by illuminating and addressing the underlying, hidden causes of suffering. Now, in their groundbreaking Body Neutral, Kneeland shares this radical system, inviting readers to identify themselves among four body image "avatars," or types, each one representing a different underlying cause: the self-objectifier, the high achiever, the outsider, and the runner. Kneeland then uses the avatars to guide readers through a step-by-step process for accepting their bodies and their innate worthiness as people."--Page 4 of cover.
How to Be Well
Navigating Our Self-care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time
Published in 2025
"A groundbreaking cultural, political, and personal exploration of the multi-billion dollar wellness industry and the ways it's shaping our thinking about health and self-care. Peleton. Pilates. Biohacking. Colonics. Ashweganda. Today, the wellness industry is a $3.7 trillion dollar behemoth that touches us all. In this urgently needed book, journalist Amy Larocca peels back the layers behind the movement and reckons with its promises and profits. How did we get here and how did the idea of wellness become integrated with women's lives? How to Be Well takes readers into the communities that swear by their activated charcoal toothpaste and green juice enemas, explaining what each of these practices really are--and what the science says. Larocca holds a magnifying glass to alternative medicine and nouveau lifestyle prescriptions, delivering an incisive assessment of how the wellness industry embodies our (gendered, class-based, racialized) perceptions of care and self-improvement, and how it preys upon our unshakeable fear of the unknown. She traces the history of how the beauty and fashion industries has peddled snake oil to women for decades--and why we keep coming back for more. A nuanced portrait of the weird world of wellness, How to Be Well lays bare the ways in which the simple notion of caring for oneself has become a seriously big business"-- Provided by publisher.
Set on You
Published in 2022
"A gym nemesis pushes a fitness influencer to the max in Amy Lea's steamy debut romantic comedy. Curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and mostly ignoring the trolls. After her recent breakup, she has little stamina left for men, instead finding solace in the gym - her place of power and positivity. Enter firefighter Scott Ritchie, the smug new gym patron who routinely steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as these ultra-competitive foes battle for gym domination. But after a series of escalating jabs, the last thing they expect is to run into each other at their grandparents' engagement party. In the lead up to their grandparents' wedding, Crystal discovers there's a soft heart under Scott's muscled exterior. Bonding over family, fitness, and cheesy pick-up lines, she just might have found her swolemate. But when a photo of them goes viral, savage internet trolls put their budding relationship to the ultimate test of strength"-- Provided by publisher.
I'll Be the One
Published in 2020
Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls can't dance. Shouldn't wear bright colors. Shouldn't call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering, intense world of K-pop, and to do that, she's about to break all the rules that society, the media, and ever her own mother have set for girls like her. When Skye nails her audition in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, she's immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn't count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean entertainment industry or her sudden media fame and scrutiny. Luckily, she doesn't have to go it alone. In the competition, Skye meets new friends and finds herself partnered with fellow competitor Henry Cho, an unfairly cute celebrity model. Sparks soon fly, and with the support of her friends and Henry, Skye sets her sights on becoming the world's first plus-size K-pop star--by winning the competition without losing herself. Lyla Lee's effervescent debut is a celebration of body positivity, first love, and a talented young woman claiming her space. -- From dust jacket.
Brave Love
Making Space for You to Be You
Published in 2018
Explains how the author found truth and wholeness after spending years pushing herself to be the perfect wife and perfect mother.
Believe It
How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable
Published in 2021
"Shares the wild but true story of how a once struggling waitress turned her against-the-grain idea into an international bestselling sensation, eventually selling the company for over a billion dollars and becoming the first female CEO of a brand in L'Ore?al's 100+ year history. Faced with self-doubt, body-doubt, God-doubt, Jamie reveals how she almost didn't make it, how she learned to trust herself, and the powerful lessons you, too, can use to go from underestimated to unstoppable"-- Provided by publisher.
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Published in 2021
Overweight sixteen-year-old Charlie yearned for her first kiss while her perfect best friend, Amelia, fell in love, so when she finally starts dating and learns the boy asked Amelia out first, she is devastated.
Wake Up, I'm Fat!
Published in 1999
My Grandmother's Hands
Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Published in 2017
"The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans -- our police. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide."--Amazon.com.
Fat Girls Hiking
An Inclusive Guide to Getting Outdoors at Any Size or Ability
Published in 2022
"In the tradition of Workman's Every Body Yoga, we're bringing a proud, plus-sized, body-positive attitude to the world of hiking and outdoor recreation. Summer Michaud-Skog, founder of the Fat Girls Hiking community, offers a book brimming with heartfelt stories, practical advice, personal profiles of FGH community members, and trail reviews. It all serves to spread the Fat Girls Hiking message of inclusivity in the outdoors. Equal parts empowering and impassioned, personal and practical, this book adds an important voice to the conversation about diversity in the outdoors, raising visibility of hikers who have too long been marginalized. As the Fat Girls Hiking motto goes, "Trails Not Scales!""-- Provided by publisher.
It Was Me All Along
A Memoir
Published in 2015
All her life, Mitchell had eaten lustily and mindlessly. Food was her babysitter, her best friend, her confidant, and it provided a refuge from her fractured family. But when she stepped on the scale on her twentieth birthday and it registered a shocking 268 pounds, she knew she had to change the way she thought about food and herself: her life was at stake. She tells us how she discovered balance in an off-kilter world, finding beauty in acceptance and learning to love all parts of herself.
Brace for Impact
A Memoir
Published in 2022
"Gabe Montesanti grew up queer in a working-class, conservative Catholic family in the Midwest, where she was taught to prioritize strength and impenetrability over vulnerability and honesty. In this emotionally, physically, and spiritually abusive environment, she developed a severe eating disorder, never learned to trust herself, and lived in constant fear. As she enters graduate school, she vows to put the trauma of her past behind her and to learn to fully inhabit her body. She joins Arch Rival Roller Derby in St. Louis, one of the top-rated teams in the country, and instantly falls in love with the roughness, intensity, and roller derby's open embrace of people who are literally and figuratively scarred. Gabe soon finds community, safety, and a sense of belonging, reveling in the queer-friendly environment, the tattoos, glitter, and campiness. She chooses the derby name Joan of Spark, modeling herself after the fierce and independent Joan of Arc, to signify all the ways she's left behind the baggage of her childhood. But when Gabe suffers a catastrophic injury, her unresolved trauma catches up to her. In the aftermath of her accident, it becomes impossible to ignore how the physicality of roller derby mirrors the emotional violence of her upbringing. Gabe's arduous physical recovery is matched only by the painful process of beginning to heal her emotional wounds. Forced to reckon with her past, she must decide if she can be Joan of Spark off the track, too--skating into a bolder, truer future"-- Provided by publisher.
Dumplin'
Published in 2015
Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed "Dumplin'" by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked... until Will takes a job at Harpy's, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn't surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant -- along with several other unlikely candidates -- to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she'll shock the hell out of Clover City -- and maybe herself most of all.
If the Shoe Fits
Published in 2021
"In this modern-retelling of Cinderella, plus-size Cindy dreams of becoming a shoe designer. But when a spot opens up on her stepmother's famous reality dating TV competition, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight in ways she never thought possible"-- Provided by publisher.
Beyond Beautiful
A Practical Guide to Being Happy, Confident, and You in a Looks-obsessed World
Published in 2019
"A prescriptive, empowering, and psychology-driven guide to building confidence in your body, clothes, beauty, and life in the era of toxic social media-driven beauty standards. Between picture-perfect Instagram celebrities, ultra-lean fitness gurus, and effortlessly chic fashion influencers, it's getting harder and harder to feel good about the way we look. Despite the growing movement toward female empowerment and body positivity, the pressure for women to conform to beauty standards is higher than ever, and the culture of social media has raised the bar. But it's not too late to break the looks-obsessed cycle and live a happy, confident, authentic life. Beyond Beautiful is a no-fuss, psychology-backed guide to help women develop a healthy attitude toward their bodies, looks, clothing, health, and aging. Filled with proven strategies for proactive self-care, this stylish and essential guide provides sage answers to tricky questions like: * Why do I hate the way I look in pictures? * How can I stop comparing myself to all those beautiful people on social media? * Would I be happier if I lost weight? * Why is everyone else so stylish? Illustrated with full-color spot art, Beyond Beautiful is a much-needed breath of fresh air that will enhance your confidence and joy, and help you live your best life"-- Provided by publisher.
Everything's Trash, but It's Okay
Published in 2018
"From New York Times bestselling author and star of 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson, comes a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and a world that seems to always be a self-starting Dumpster fire. Wouldn't it be great if life came with an instruction manual? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan's house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she's experienced in hopes that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own. Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson's latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks; and demanding that toxic masculinity close its mouth and legs (enough with the manspreading already!), and get out of the way so true progress can happen"-- Provided by publisher.
Hairlooms
The Untangled Truth About Loving Your Natural Hair and Beauty
Published in 2017
"Words have power, and those that Black women often use to describe their hair are derogatory: nappy, steel wool, out of control. They often personally inherit these terms and pass them along without even realizing the crushing effects these words have on their feelings about the person they see in the mirror. While many books on the market address the practical ways of styling Afro-textured hair naturally, Hairlooms asks: Why is it so difficult for Black women to embrace their hair? and How can Black women overcome the multi-layered challenge of embracing their natural hair and beauty? Author Michele Tapp Roseman helps readers answer these questions for themselves, to write a new story that they can pass along, "--Amazon.com.
Living with Your Body & Other Things You Hate
How to Let Go of Your Struggle with Body Image Using Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Published in 2013
"Let's be honest: most people are unhappy with at least some aspect of their physical appearance. Just think of all the money we spend each year trying to improve our looks! But if worrying about your appearance is getting in the way of living, maybe it's time to start thinking about body image in a completely new way. Based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Living with Your Body and Other Things You Hate offers a unique approach to addressing your struggle with body image. In this book, you will not be told that your self-perceptions are wrong, that your thoughts are irrational, or that your feelings are misguided. Instead, you will learn to live with the reality that these often painful thoughts and beliefs about yourself will arise from time to time, and that what is really important is accepting these distressing thoughts without allowing them to dominate your life. You know what it's like to constantly be checking the mirror, to avoid certain social situations where your body may be exposed, or to gaze longingly at a fashion model in a magazine and think, "Why can't I be her?" But what you may not know is that people who struggle with negative body image are at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and low self-esteem. Body image problems can even lead to major financial issues. By focusing on your appearance and little else, you are hurting yourself in more ways than one. If you are ready to find a purpose in life that is more important than the pain you feel about your appearance, this book provides a truthful, powerful resource"-- Provided by publisher.
Body Kindness
Transform Your Health from the Inside Out, and Never Say Diet Again
Published in 2016
"Imagine a graph with two lines. One indicates happiness, the other tracks how you feel about your body. If you're like millions of people, the lines do not intersect. But what if they did? This practical, inspirational, and visually lively book shows you how to create a healthier and happier life by treating yourself with compassion rather than shame. It shows the way to a sense of well-being attained by understanding how to love, connect, and care for yourself--and that includes your mind as well as your body"-- Provided by publisher.
The Eating Instinct
Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America
Published in 2018
Visiting kitchen tables around America, this timely volume explores today's toxic food culture, telling the stories of those who are struggling with food issues and providing insight into how to feel good about food.
Fat Talk
Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture
Published in 2023
"By the time they reach kindergarten, most kids have learned that "fat" is bad. As they get older, kids learn to pursue thinness in order to survive in a world that ties our body size to our value. Multibillion-dollar industries thrive on consumers believing that we don't want to be fat. Our weight-centric medical system pushes "weight loss" as a prescription, while ignoring social determinants of health and reinforcing negative stereotypes about the motives and morals of people in larger bodies. And parents today, having themselves grown up in the confusion of modern diet culture, worry equally about the risks of our kids caring too much about being "thin" and about what happens if our kids are fat. Sole-Smith shows how the reverberations of this messaging and social pressures on young bodies continue well into adulthood--and what we can do to fight them. Fat Talk argues for a reclaiming of "fat," which is not synonymous with "unhealthy," "inactive," or "lazy." Talking to researchers and activists, as well as parents and kids across a broad swath of the country, Sole-Smith lays bare how America's focus on solving the "childhood obesity epidemic" has perpetuated a second crisis of disordered eating and body hatred for kids of all sizes. She exposes our society's internalized fatphobia and elucidates how and why we need to stop "preventing obesity" and start supporting kids in the bodies they have. Continuing conversations started by works like Girls & Sex, Under Pressure, and Essential Labor, Fat Talk is a stirring, deeply researched, and groundbreaking book that will help parents learn to reckon with their own body biases, identify diet culture messaging, and ultimately empower their kids to navigate this challenging landscape. Sole-Smith offers an alternative framework for parenting around food and bodies, and a way for us all to work toward a more weight-inclusive world--because it's not our kids, or their bodies, who need fixing"-- Provided by publisher.
Yoke
My Yoga of Self-acceptance
Published in 2021
"Remember Jessamyn Stanley? How could you not? She's the proudly fat, Black, queer yoga teacher and charismatic author of Every Body Yoga, who drops a lot more f-bombs than namastes and refuses to pray at the church of Lululemon. Now she's back, here to take us even further on a personal and provocative journey into what it means to "practice yoga." Where Every Body Yoga, with 59,000 copies in print, taught us how to do yoga, Yoke tells us why. In Yoke, which draws its name from a literal translation of the Sanskrit root "yuj," from which the word "yoga" derives, Jessamyn writes about what she calls the yoga of the everyday-a yoga that is not just about poses but about applying the hard lessons we learn on the mat to the even harder daily project of living. This yoga of the everyday is about finding within life's toughest moments the same flexibility, strength, grounding energy, and core awareness found in a headstand or Tadasana or cobra pose. In a series of deeply honest, funny, gritty, thoughtful, and largely autobiographical essays, Yoke explores issues of self-love, body-positivity, race, sex and sexuality, cannabis, and more, all through the lens of an authentic yoga practice. Every reader is invited to find this authentic spirit of yoga in their own lives and practice. To yoke"-- Provided by publisher.
One to Watch
A Novel
Published in 2020
"Bea Schumacher is a leading fashion blogger, known for her warm, honest body-positive message. But after an unexpected heartbreak, Bea's confidence is shaken and she feels hopelessly alone. In the midst of her sadness (and some drunken internet rantings), she receives a surprising proposition: Would Bea like to be the first plus-size woman to star in the next season of reality dating competition sensation Main Squeeze? Against her better judgment, she accepts. The producers promise it will be the most diverse cast yet and a great opportunity to expand her brand. And while she knows she'll never find love, she might find distraction from her broken heart and inspire other plus-sized women to believe that they have a right to the spotlight too. But as the cameras roll, she is forced to face down judgment, ridicule, and expectations amidst over-the-top dates and international travel with a line-up of men who feel like fantasies (a sexy French chef, a sardonic professor, a playful younger man) as she ultimately discovers the truth behind the fairytale, and the reality of falling in love."--Provided by publisher.
The Body is Not an Apology
The Power of Radical Self-love
Published in 2018
"Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies. The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world--for us all"--Amazon.com.
Your Body is a Revolution
Healing Our Relationships with Our Bodies, Each Other, and the Earth
Published in 2023
"Embodiment coach Tara Teng helps us untangle ourselves from centuries of body-based oppression built into our societal systems or masquerading as religion. When we embrace our relationship with our bodies, we come into alignment with all things: ourselves, each other, the earth, and our spirituality. When we embrace ourselves, we can take back what society says is too much--too loud, too feminine, too masculine, too gay, too worldly, too unique. Now is the time to journey back to our bodies and to celebrate our whole selves"-- Provided by publisher.
I Do It with the Lights on
And 10 More Discoveries on the Road to a Blissfully Shame-free Life
Published in 2016
Unashamed
Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim
Published in 2019
"Ever since she was little, Leah Vernon was told what to believe and how to act. There wasn't any room for imperfection. Good Muslim girls listened more than they spoke. They didn't have a missing father or a mother with mental illness. They didn't have fat bodies or grow up wishing they could be like the white characters they saw on TV. They didn't have husbands who abused and cheated on them. They certainly didn't have secret abortions. In Unashamed, Vernon takes to task the myth of the perfect Muslim woman with frank dispatches on her love-hate relationship with her hijab and her faith, race, weight, mental illness, domestic violence, sexuality, the millennial world of dating, and the process of finding her voice. She opens up about her tumultuous adolescence living at the poverty line with her fiercely loving but troubled mother, her deadbeat dad, and her siblings, and the violent dissolution of her 10-year marriage. Tired of the constant policing of her clothing in the name of Islam and Western beauty standards, Vernon reflects on her experiences with hustling paycheck to paycheck, body-shaming, and redefining what it means to be a "good" Muslim"-- Provided by publisher.
Dietland
Published in 2015
"A fresh and provocative debut novel about a reclusive young woman saving up for weight loss surgery when she gets drawn into a shadowy feminist guerilla group called "Jennifer"--equal parts Bridget Jones's Diary and Fight Club"-- Provided by publisher.
The Summer Place
A Novel
Published in 2022
At her stepdaughter's wedding day to her pandemic boyfriend--the last gathering at the family's beach house in Cape Cod--Sarah is faced with lovers being revealed as their true selves, misunderstandings, and secrets, ensuring that nothing will ever be the same.
Shrill
Notes from a Loud Woman
Published in 2016
"Presents a series of essays by the American writer and comedian, dealing with issues of body image, popular culture, feminism, and social justice,"--NoveList.
Feeling Good About the Way You Look
A Program for Overcoming Body Image Problems
Published in 2006
"In a society where a blemish or "bad hair" can ruin an otherwise perfect day, and airbrushed abs dominate the magazine rack, many of us feel ashamed of our bodies.
The Fastest Way to Fall
Published in 2021
"Britta didn't plan on falling for her personal trainer, and Wes didn't plan on Britta. Plans change and it's unclear if love, career, or both will meet them at the finish line. Britta Colby works for a lifestyle website, and when tasked to write about her experience with a hot new body-positive fitness app that includes personal coaching, she knows it's a major opportunity to prove she should write for the site full-time. As CEO of the FitMe app, Wes Lawson finally has the financial security he grew up without, but despite his success, his floundering love life and complicated family situation leaves him feeling isolated and unfulfilled. He decides to get back to what he loves-coaching. Britta's his first new client and they click immediately. As weeks pass, she's surprised at how much she enjoys experimenting with her exercise routine. He's surprised at how much he looks forward to talking to her every day. They convince themselves their attraction is harmless, but when they start working out in person,Wes and Britta find it increasingly challenging to deny their chemistry and maintain a professional distance. Wes isn't supposed to be training clients, much less meeting with them, and Britta's credibility will be sunk if the lifestyle site finds out she's practically dating the fitness coach she's reviewing. Walking away from each other is the smartest thing to do, but running side by side feels like the start of something big"-- Provided by publisher.