Overweight

A definite must read. In this debut novel by Gabrielle Pina, we are introduced to Francesca Valentine, a very talented, successful and world-renowned violinist. 

Prepare to go on a journey as Bliss takes you through the back roads of Georgia, the Governor's mansion and even the picturesque hills of Tuscany.  Bliss is the struggle, determination and will of the strong black woman that could easily have been your grandmother or your great-grandmother.  Pina has deftly done a wonderful job creating full-bodied, unique characters that will envelop you in a story that will have you anticipating every page!  -TLR

Bliss is a beguiling story of love, protection, hatred, sacrifice and some of the selfish agendas of three generations of women. The story is primarily centered on two of the women but the cycle of pain is explained and understood through the first generation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel because it is so well written and the characters are so well developed. The author craftily keeps you guessing and anxious to know what's going to happen next. I also enjoyed the fact that the author didn't keep you guessing that you lost interest nor leaving loose ends untied too long. The story line is refreshing as a different dynamic in relationships is explored.

My only criticism is that the ending is abrupt and disturbed the wonderful pacing of the story established early on.

If you liked Cane River (Lolita Tademy) and In Search of Satisfaction (J. California Cooper), you'll find that the characters in Bliss might have sprung from the same line in this saga of African-American women doing their best to survive and ensure success for future generations. It's a shorter read, but I appreciate the fact that Gabrielle made every word count - excluding all of the extra plot-dragging stuff that I usually just skim through anyway (excessive description, irrelevant sub-plots, etc). As a writer, I studied this work and was intrigued with how she crafted each chapter to lead into the next almost seamlessly. You won't be disappointed!
Encore, Ms. Pina!

This book was quite a find for me. The author tells it like it is and doesn't hold back. She explains what it's like to be fat and edure the nasty remarks and terrible attitudes toward people who are socially or medically considered overweight. Even though the writing is emotionally charged, the author's research is thorough.

This book was wonderful. I highly recommend it. As for the so called reviewer who titled his review "An Observation", I would like to point out one interesting fact... Every single one of the women he so rudely comments on had the pride to leave their names and information on their reviews and yet you left yours off. Gee I wonder who has more to be ashamed of.

This is one of the best books I've read so far that analyzes weight prejudice. Goodman does an excellent job exposing the myths and discourse about weight in the United States. It is also a good read for anyone wishing to learn more about prejudice in general, as she compares the discourse of Anti-Semitism, and German Anti-Semitism especially, to America's discourse on weight from the past several decades. There are also comparisons to other forms of prejudice as well. Anyone doubting the validity of similarities between weight prejudice and Anti-Semitism will be converted after reading this book, and I believe that is largely because Goodman is herself Jewish, and therefore intimately familiar with both forms of prejudice. She also details the common discourse used as excuses for prejudice by what she terms "weight bigots." You'll see what I mean if you read the Amazon review titled "An Observation," as this person's (undoubtedly a man's) comment is just the kind of language she refers to in her book (and I highly doubt he'd even bothered to read the book). I've read many books on culture, world religions, and prejudice, and I would say that Charisse Goodman's book definitely ranks up there with the best of them.

this is the best weight loss book ever. the editing is great. anyone considering weight loss should read this book. keith is the foremost expert on weith loss. i love him. this book changed my life. i lost 250 pounds thanks to this book. now i'm 150 pounds. thanks keith!!

This book is unbelievable. The vast knowledge that Keith Levick potrays is immaculate. Anyone thinking of purchasing this book should most definetley do so!

Keith Levick is the most well known child psychologist in the world. This book is another example of his intelligence and skill. Anyone who is considering purchasing this book should. Keith Levick's vast knowledge of the subject is unbelievable. Award winning book!

I read Sandra's book when it hit the bookstores and now I am getting ready to read it for a second time for updated inspiration. Being someone myself who was thin at one time, gained weight through pregnancy and life, lost it, then gained it back by revisiting old behavior, I am finding what Sandra wrote is so true: reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is a lifelong journey, not a journey that ends the day you reach goal weight. And, the successful approach is not with fad dieting but instead with slow, sure, steady steps just as the title suggests. Sandra was so honest in exposing details of her life and her thoughts that you feel like you've known her for a long time.

If you struggle with your weight, you want to feel better, you want your health back, you are interested in a common sense approach without false promises, then I encourage you to buy this book. You will feel inspired. I just wish I lived in Michigan so I could be in Sandra's exercise class!!!

I enjoyed the spirit with which this book was written. By the time I finished I felt as though I knew Sandra and her wonderful supportive family. I was cheering her on throughout the book. Not only did she lose weight for herself but she chose this time to help others and start up aerobic classes for women who feel left out at most health clubs. Her relationship with Richard Simmons made me smile. They had such mutual respect. It is wonderful that she accomplished what she did, helped others and at the same time wrote an enjoyable uplifting book.

In particular I liked the way she did not hold back her feelings or her problems. She tells it "like it is". I recommend this book even if weight loss is not the goal. She puts a positive spin on other things as well.

This is a wonderful book showing some ups and more downs of the scale. This woman shows by example in her experience that if we don't follow a food regiment 100% you can still attain your goal of loosing weight. It is really refreshing to read that you can make a goal even when you slip away from it now and then, but you have to not give up. A good read hard to put down.

Cyril Barthalomew is great cook. He's 16 and has a crush on the girl of his dreams but the problem is that he is over weight. Cyril's old best friend moves back into town and steals Rose's heart (Cyril's crush). He helps his friend Nick win over Rose's heart by cooking her delicious meals and telling her its from Nick. Now Cyril must decide whether he can live with living this lie and not telling his best friend in the world the truth. Read this book and find out. It is an excellent book.
Cyril is a magnificent cook who is hiding himself to the world.
Rose is the girl of Cyril's dreams and has a crush on his best friend.
Nick was and is Cyril's best friend whos trying to get Rose and make her fall head over heels in love with him using Cyril's cooking expertise.
this story was set in about the time of now with every in their last year of highschool in a little town with a big cooking college.
The way the author describes each meal Cyril makes is wonderful, it makes me want to eat all of it and I'm a picky eater.
This book is for teens all across the nation who love to hear stories of food and romance. I know I for sure loved it.

I just finished Flavor of the Week and it's the most unique book I ever read. I read it in two sittings. It's about this guy Cyril who has a crush on this girl Rose, but he's kinda chubby so he doesn't think he has a chance with her. His friend Nick also has a crush on her and Cyril helps Nick out by cooking and letting Nick take the credit for the food. Rose thinks she's falling for Nick, but really she's falling for Cyril's cooking. The book's really funny. The only bad part is that it made me want to everything in sight. It has recipes too, which my friend tried and said were awesome.

WOW! I don't think I have ever read a love story this good by a guy (Tucker Shaw) I think every one should read this book. I'm personally not a big reader (I winse at the thought of reading ANY book) but this book cought my eye.(...)I borrowed it from the library on the first and returned it on the fifth (of the same month) and that's FAST especially for me! AWESOME BOOK!

I first read a similar book by Evelyn Tribole called "Intuitive Eating". Both of these books approach weight loss the same way - figure out why you are eating, and then work at it from a psychological approach, rather than going on a specific diet.

What I like about Evelyn's book is that it is for the individual to do by herself, whereas Susan's book is more for a group therapy approach. She also has some other interesting reasons about why I might be overweight, which made for very interesting reading.

However, between the two books, I preferred Evelyn's because it gave more specific information to work with and let me do it by myself, rather than a full support group (as a stay-at-home mom with a 3-year-old, very important).

I did appreciate both books though, because they emphasized the same thing - the overeating is not because of lack of willpower, but because of psychological reasons - and that makes lots of sense to me.

I first read this book in 1978. And I'm so happy to have read this a few times more.

One of the most valuable questions that Susie Orbach asks is, "How will I be who I wish to be, if I look as I am supposed to look?" I suggest that when you ask this question, do so with the intention of envisioning an answer that works well for you, regardless of what you have seen, "out there." This is a question allows women to take ownership of their mind, body and soul.

Each year, I interview high school students, regarding their eating and body image beliefs. And I have seen a growing problem. By this time in their lives, both women and men now, get so caught up in an imaged protrayed by all forms of the media, that we can lose sight of who we are really meant to be.

The reasons for the problem have a long history with women, and a different reason for women than men. As men are complimented more on how they look, not as a means to flirt with them, but as a measurement of having what it takes, they are being pushed into some of the body image issues that women have a long history with.

This is also an excellent question to ask myself, in times when normally I might doubt my eating choices, my beauty, my being enough, or how my ability to be open to others, and still have boundaries in place.

I am eternally grateful for this book. Three excellent follow up books to this book, are, "My Mother Myself," by Nancy Friday," "Fat and Furious," by Judi Hollis, then "Overcoming Overeating," by Carol Munter and Jane Hirschmann.

Fat is a Feminist Issue is one of the few books on weight that deals in reality, the reality that our bodies vary, rather than encouraging us to conform to cultural values. It's also one of the few that recognizes fat can serve a positive function in one's life (even though this positive may be overbalanced by negatives). An excellent "companion volume" to FIAFI is Jean Antonello's How To Become Naturally Thin by Eating More - Antonello tells us WHY the Fat is a Feminist Issue philosophy works for many women to help them lose weight.

Even better is Antonello's more current volume, Breaking Out of Food Jail: How to Free Yourself from Diets and Problem Eating, Once and For All. Food Jail gets more into the psychological aspects of why it can be difficult to lose weight, and is more balanced that either her first or FIAFI. But either of Antonello's books fill that gap that is FIAFI's one real flaw - FIAFI doesn't deal with improving the diet. Eating normally in terms of eating to appetite works fine for some, but some of us need to eat a better diet in order to make our bodies release fat. Antonello discusses that, FIAFI doesn't.

OTOH, FIAFI deals with the idea that some of us like our fat, that some women feel like they're losing protection in losing weight, a concept Antonello completely misses. FIAFI deals in a broader spectrum of women's experiences.

This is third in the series with Savannah Reid the overweight female ex-cop. I haven't quite figured out the sex angle. She shares a bedroom with a gorgeous young female assistant and has three close male friends, two of whom are gay and one of whom she finds physically unattractive. I came to it after "Cooked Goose" which is more of a thriller. This is more of a classical whodunnit although no real clues to the killer are planted, and after I had finished I decided the murder method made no sense. It has the British cosy set-up of a closed community (a health spa) containing the detective and the likely suspects, but I don't think Miss Marples would have told the frog joke.

This was my favorite book of the three Savannah novels. She is a great character. I can hardly wait for the next one !

G.A.McKevett does it again. Savannah is a delight! This was my favorite book in the series. This series gets better with each book . I can hardly wait for the next one to come out.

McKevett has always produced great characters, especially her overweight detective, Savannah Reid, with her sharply contrasted group of Californian friends and vast Georgian family. But to be honest her writing contained weak spots and cliches and her plots were sometimes threadbare. This one has much better writing and an ingenious plot. I think it's her best. It's set in Georgia instead of her usual California. Savannah has to go home for her sister's third wedding and her good-for-nothing brother is accused of murder. Some of it is gooey and sloppy and sentimental, but to complain of schmaltz in McKevett is like complaining of sweetness in a chocolate eclair. If you want hard-boiled irony and deadpan sophistication don't shop here.
I couldn't give it five stars in a world that contains Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich but it's fun.

Some burdens are unavoidable. Southern California transplant Savannah Reid, the oldest of nine children, knows that she has to go back to her hometown of McGill, Georgia, for her sister Marietta's third wedding, even if it means wearing a fluorescent orange bridesmaid's gown. And she knows she'll have to face deputy sheriff Tommy Stafford, who years ago introduced her to the pleasures of teen lust before unceremoniously dumping her for Lisa Mooney. But what private eye Savannah (Sour Grapes, 2000, etc.) doesn't find out until her arrival is that she'll also have to solve the murder of rich, philandering Judge Patterson-and solve it right quick, or prosecuting attorney Mack Goodwin, who's Patterson's son-in-law, will have her brother Macon strapped to a gurney ready for a lethal injection. Most of her siblings are pretty well useless: Marietta, Vidalia, Jessup, and even straitlaced Cordele can't think of anything better to do than dump their dirty laundry on Granny Reid's porch and pack away pounds of fried chicken. And the judge's estranged wife Bonnie and her flashy boyfriend Alvin Barnes are downright obstructive. Lucky for Savannah that her West Coast buds-first and foremost Detective Sergeant Dick Coulter and Tammy Hart, the assistant at Savannah's Moonlight Magnolias Detective Agency-come through to help Savannah collar the perp. A whodunit as old-fashioned and satisfying as one of Granny Reid's bacon-egg-and-grits breakfasts.

This series continues to grow and get better. I loved Savannah's grandmother, and especially the pooch Beauregard. I will be looking forward to the next one in the series. I wish I could figure out who G.A. McKevett really is (supposedly a pseudonym for a famous writer).

Bonnie Bernell uses her own experiences as well as those of other "bountiful" women to provide readers with the ammunition to live their lives to the fullest. Her manner is gentle and caring as she addresses issues that we as women of size face on a daily basis from the "meaningful" parents who berate us for our size to the airplane seat that is too narrow to finding Mr. Right. Ms. Bernell's advice is reasonable as well as doable. After reading Bountiful Women, I felt as though I had undergone a much needed but extremely inexpensive therapy session! I recommend that all large women and the people who love them treat themselves to Ms. Bernell's "secrets." It is a book that you will pick up again and again for inspiration and encouragement.

Bountiful Women is an uplifing, delightful book to read. Each page is full of practical as well as spiritual advice about how to live life to its fullest today. I recommend it for all women who are sick and tired of waiting for a thinner tomorrow in order for their lives to begin. Today is the day!

Compared to most self help authors who push a "lose weight now, ask me how" approach, Dr. Bernell is as refreshing as a cool glass of sparkling water on a hot desert day. She makes size acceptance not only understandable, but doable, too. Every plus-size woman should own this book.

This an upbeat, inspiring, practical, spiritual, warm and supportive book. Reading it felt like sitting around a table with a bunch of my closest friends, talking about life. This book is full of short pieces on how large women successfully cope -- and thrive -- in a world made for medium-sized people. It is about how to reclaim your power if you are a women in one of the few remaining okay-to-discriminate-against groups -- fat people. Happily, Ms. Bernell is not a complainer nor is she stridently waving a flag. She is encouraging women to be aware of who they are and to live their lives in a free, bountiful way starting right this minute! It is an easy, fast read with pleasant whimsical sketches and framing on some of the pages. Let's face it -- this book is a whole experience!!! I recommend it highly!

Barbara Deckert makes sewing for larger sized people a lot easier with this sensitive and informative book.

As well as dealing with the usual problems of sewing your own clothes, she include sections on adapting patterns to the various 'body shapes', that people have. Very few people have the standard shape that fashion so often assumes.

The most useful points of the book for me were the 'make your personalized mannequin' in just two hours with no specialist skills required, and the clearly given advice on fitting and shaping the garment.

Also for the more commercial seamstress/er the section on selling and sewing to order provides useful guidelines. Advice in this area ranges from describing the most accurate process in clothes production (what stages to hold fittings etc), to the process of making a sales quote and what the quote should provide (and the possible catches involved).

Sewing for Plus Sizes remains very useful for me as many of my family and friends find it hard to obtain the diversity in clothes they'd like to see in their size in the shops.

Thank you Barbara

I read this book from start to finish, almost without stopping. Ms. Deckert tells us how to make designs more flattering by adding simple trim, moving or enlarging a pocket, or even modifying the lines of the pattern. She tells us how to choose the fabric and patterns that are comfortable and fashionable and explains how to keep these from being mutually exclusive. She then tells us how to measure ourselves and fit the pattern to our bodies (not some size 4 model), and how to fit the basted garment, thus correcting even more problems. It's worth the price of the book for her detailed description, with pictures, of how to correct many specific fitting problems. I am now confident that I can fix the sleeve on the last dress I made, which pulls in front. After reading her chapter on design elements, I think I'll add some trim to the neckline as well. We all know many of her design suggestions and fitting solutions, but she pulls it all together in one book and shows us how to look fabulous.

As a sewer for many years, one of my bigges frustrations was that the pattern companies seemed to think that all large and super-sized women are the same shape and have huge bustlines. This book really helped me understand how to alter patterns to fit ME and MY shape. I also like that the author explains how to take just about any size pattern and alter it using your specific measurements. Great for those times that you find a pattern you love, but not in your size!