need fictional weightloss novels
 

Can anyone recommend a fictional book about weightloss? I am loosing weight and an avid reader. I have come across some really funny books as well as touching ones. Someone on one of these threads said something about a book called diary of a fat housewife and I'm going to pick that up now but I was wondering if anyone else knew of any good reads that were more than just a self help book. Reading and inspiration for entertainment if you get my drift? Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Hi MrsDawsondn! I'm an avid reader too, so can't wait to hear what everyone recommends. Diary of a Fat Housewife is non-fiction and you said you're looking for ficton, but it's well worth the read. The only novels coming to my mind right now are Jemima J by Jane Green and Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner.

Do you have any recommendations for us? :)

Oh yes ofcourse I read a wonderfully humorous book called somethings wrong with your scale, I can't remember the author. It was the funniest book I'd read yet, I just got back from the library with a book by Helen Fielding call Bridget jones Diary that I'm anxious to read. There was a book entitled fruit by I think his name was Peter cailman I can't remember because I put it back Sorry. I found diary of a fat housewife so I'll be picking that up later today. Oh and the book called The me I knew that I Could be by Krystal Phillips is a good read. If I come up with more I'll be sure to update you guys on this.

I give thumbs up to Meg's suggestion Jemima J ; that was a fun read.

Mrs. D, is the book you're referring to Tales from the Scale ? The author is Erin J. Shea and she has an entertaining weight-loss blog called "Lose the Buddha". http://www.ejshea.com/buddha/index.html
(I haven't read the book yet.)

This is a fun thread; I hope we hear lots of good suggestions! If I think of any, I will post them.

Jennifer Weiner "In her shoes". Interesting and fun to read for both young and old, slim and not slim...

Jemima J is great. I've read Good in Bed it was good but a bit depressing for my tastes.


Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood is good!

No one else read Blubber by Judy Blume? Another book I read when I was a teen was One Fat Summer - it was about a fat boy who spends summer at a lake.

Gotta run but I'm sure I'll think of more :)

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, and Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz both deal with weight loss issues, and are good reads.

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. It's about anorexia but it's bitingly funny.

It's called somethings wrong with your scale by van whitfield and it was by far the funniest book I've read on weightloss yet. Oh and just an update for all the bridget jones diary is a pretty good book. The author and narrative character is european so sometimes I am struggling with understanding the lingo but all in all it's pretty funny and I'm sure everyone that has ever struggled with juggling weight and life can relate. You'll get a chuckle here and there from it.

Totally OT, but I had to share the title of a newly-published book:

"Be Honest--You're Not That Into Him Either..."
by Ian Kerner

:lol: :cool:

Some books that deal with weight loss issues are:

Fat Chance, by Deborah Blumenthal
Slim Chance, by Jackie Rose
In Her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner (also deals with weight loss issue of one of the sisters)
Life in the fat lane, by Cherie Bennett (Young Adult fiction)

I can only recommend "In Her Shoes" though I will be reading "Slim Chance" any day now.

Happy Reading,
Sophie2B

I read Something is Wrong with Your Scale, and I have to say that I did not like it.

Here are some books I have read:
I'm Not the New Me by Wendy McClure
The Weight Loss Diaries by Courtney Rubin

I'll Second She Comes Undone, what an AWESOME read that was!! I loved that book, I have read a few others called 'Fat Chance' by Leslea Newman, 'Insatiable' by Eve Eliot, 'Life in the Fat lane' by Cherie Bennett and some others I can't think of, try going to Chapters.ca and searching for 'weight fiction' or 'weight loss fiction' that is what I do...

I'll "third" She's Come Undone and second The Edible Woman. Both fantastic books!

Mel

I enjoyed Night Swimming, although she must be doing hours if she can lose that much weight. I do hydrofit water aerobics four times a week and two full-body workouts a week and haven't lost nearly that much. I know. . .it's fiction!

Mrs. Jim,

I didn't really think Blubber was as much about weight loss as it was about how cruel kids/teens can be (there was no such thing as a "tween" back then).

Other teen books, though:
Me and Fat Glenda
Hey, Remember Fat Glenda? (best)
Fat Glenda's Summer Romance

When Mirrors Lie (about EDs)

Usless in remembering authors from that long ago! Sorry.

I'm going to 4th She's come Undone by Wally Lamb. Its one of my favorite books.

~Liz

5th right here. I LOVED that book.

I also loved Blubber, by Judy Blume. My daughter just finished reading it and she loved it also.

Tiki.

Just Desserts...by Patti Masserman (sp) is a good fiction read.

Now this is a totally awesome topic! Thanks for starting it!! I love to read... and yes for some reason I like to things that pertain (sp?) to life's issues.

Unfortionately I cannot recommend anything. All I have read are cookbook, diet books and stuff like that. OH... I was told about a book called Losing It awhile ago. I have it... but I have yet to be able to read it. :(

I made a list of the books you all mentioned. I am going to check them out. Thanks.... and if I can find any good books I will let you know. :)

By the way... Blubber was AWESOME!! :)

I'm all for Jemima J. I loved it!!

LOVED Jemima J. Also just finished Life in the Fat Lane and Diary of a Fat Housewife. Both were good but I was disappointed in the abrupt ending of the latter. I found a great website to swap old books (www.paperbackswap.com) and I just searched for these ones people recommended here and got to check them out. If anyone is interested it is a free service where you earn credits by swapping your own books out. Feel free to use me as a referral name (regan_liz @ yahoo). I got a couple good cookbooks and exercise books so far too.

I just finished she's come undone, wow that was a very good book! Thanks for the recommendation guys. For some reason I just couldn't get through diary of a fat housewife, It was too depressing or something I dunno I'll maybe have to try something else. Thanks for the great reads guys I'll check out blubber too.

I can't remember who wrote this but "Just desserts".

Weight-Loss Fiction
 

I really enjoyed this book, although I think it's based on a true story: Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self by Frances Kuffel.

Yep, Passing For Thin is an autobiography - Frances Kuffel is a real person who really lost all that weight. :)

I can't BELIEVE I forgot to mention this one - which is one of my favorite trashy novels :)

The only catch is you MUST read the first of the two books...both written by Kathryn Harvey.

The one having to do with weightloss is titled Stars which is the sequel to Butterfly.

Both delightfully trashy, engrossing, and fun to read with absolutely no socially redeeming value ;) and a weightloss theme to boot (at least in Stars.

Good in bed was depressing!
There was a Paula Danziger book I can't remember the title But the girl was fat and she wrote Ofcourse in the sequel she was thin
that paperbackswap sounds good!

The Danzinger book was "The Cat Ate My Gymsuit" and the sequel (where the main character was thin) was "There's a Bat in Bunk Five."

Ok. I am seriously not liking Jemima J. At 204 # she says that she is a "lump" with several chins and can hardly move. Also, the calories that the character is consuming in a day at her highest 217 sounds to be about 4,000 which is impossible and then at 210 she loses 10# in 2 weeks.
That is all impossible and unrealistic. And I am seriously insulted that the author describes a 204# woman as a gross lump who people can hardly look at.

"The Next Big Thing" was good. Sorry I can't remember the author.

Elisabeth

I flipping hating Jemima J. Hated. HATED! :)

But I loved Good In Bed.

Jill-- It is not just how the character feels about herself, it is also how the narrator describes her. I found it to be extremely insensitive. Also, the problem I had with the calorie intake and weight loss was with her weight. At 204, if one were to eat 4,000 cal. a day you would gain like mad! Also, at 204 she loses waaaayyyy to much weight for it to seem feasible. I calculated it and she would definately have to be eating under 1,000 cal. a day and that doesn't seem to be what the narrator describes as her daily food intake. I mean, the character Jemima loses 100# in 6 mos. (from 217-117). Maybe 100# in 6 mos (from 317-217) might be a reasonable plot line, but I am not buying this whole story.
If anyone who is/was much over 217# wants to feel badly about themselves, I would recommend this book.
I just really found the book to be personally insulting. But, then again, that is just me. Plenty of people seem to have enjoyed it.

I adore paranormal romances and one of my favorite authors has a book where the heroine is overweight and the guy she hooks up with this muscle bound hunk! Lovely romp! He thinks shes hot and loves her no matter her weight *awwww* (reminds me of my hubby in that aspect!) *grins*

Sherrilyn Kenyon http://www.kinleymacgregor.com/were/niplay.htm to read an excerpt, if you are into a thrilling H-O-T read... then check this book out that features a real woman.

shrinkingchica, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. For pure entertainment, I enjoy Weiner's books. BUT...as a Big Woman, I think that a LOT of what she says in all her books reinforces many societal images of overweight/fat women as being undesirable and that you must lose weight in order to be accepted/loved/liked/successful, whatever.

NOT about weight loss, but featuring a hysterical Big Woman who doesn't lack for confidence are the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. Lula plays a secondary--but not to be forgotten--role in bounty hunter Stephanie's escapades. For pure fun, this series is hard to beat (and hey, evey my MOTHER cracks up just talking about the books). I think Lula first appears in the 2nd book, but treat yourself at a used bookstore to the series--in order-and have a good laugh.

2 books (I haven't yet read either) are The Afterlife Diet by Daniel Pinkwater and Thinner Than Thou by Kit Reed.

Lynn