Valerie Frankel (1) (1965–)

I needed a pep talk. I was feeling down about my stomach. Depending on the chair, my belly would touch my thighs when I sat down. I had gained some weight over my vacation. I need to go up a size in pants. I was talking a good game about loving my body as is and getting off the diet merry-go-round, but on the inside I was a hypocrit and self-hating. So, I returned to this memoir "Thin Is the New Happy" to see if it would give a swift kick in my well-padded rear.

It did, sort of.

Val got lessons in yo-yo dieting and self-hatred very early on in her life, and it took her nearly 40 years to get over it. She received from her mother, her classmates, her co-workers, and mainly herself (she internalized the criticisms and insults hurled at her). Val confronts her demons and then exorcizes them, and her exorcism is just more than a nice makeover. Eventually does pull herself together, and that it is motivating as hell.

Near the end of the book, she talks about healthy eating and not dieting, and how no-diet causes her to lose a dress size. I found this is a little difficult to swallow, because I want Val to not focus on losing dress sizes but focusing on how diets really don't work. It's almost like she is saying "I found another way to get slimmer."

It's a quick, funny and sometimes painful read but I recommend it highly even if your issue isn't dieting or body image.… (more)

I won this in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway as an Advance Reader Copy.

I really enjoyed the author's sense of humor and writing style. This is not the type of book that I normally read so it was a nice departure for me. However, I was turned off about 3/4 of the way through the book by the constant snarking at other people. Granted, this book IS called It's Hard Not to Hate You so I suppose snarking is a given but I simply got tired of it, especially the chapter about kids and parenting. It is a pet peeve of mine, as a parent of children with special needs, when women are compelled to judge children and other mothers. The feminist and disability advocate in me cries out in revolt, "NO! Let's band together! Not beat each other up!" So there was that. I would have probably given this book a higher rating had that chapter not existed.… (more)

Sassy and funny combo of chick-lit, fish-out-of-water tale, and a sendup of touchy-feely "retreat" experiences.

When a dyed-in-the-wool Manhattanite decides to change her dating field by pulling up stakes and buying an old Vermont farmhouse, her plans get derailed by an invasion of mice. Then, with perfect logic, she follows the fellow she met on the train to a New Age retreat where he hoped to turn his lousy romantic track record around. Things develop from there.

There's a fair amount of sex talk but little action, which is a nice twist on the genre's formulaic hot-monkey-love episodes.… (more)