Why Pie Is Not The Answer

My best measure of a book's greatness is how long it takes me to read it. Such a Pretty Fat took me exactly 5 days to read. Another measure is what I give up or skip in order to read said book. I chose to read Such a Pretty Fat rather than watch the Office this week. That's pretty much blasphemy in Jamie World. That's how good the book is!

Jen is a plus size gal with confidence I'd kill for. This is the story of her weight-loss journey. And of course its funny to hear her recount the visits to Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers meetings. But my absolute favorite part of the whole book is her dialogue with her husband, Fletch. It makes me want to contact her to let her know that it is my greatest desire to be her new BFF. I made Drew listen while I read aloud parts of the book that I thought related so well to us. Example:

""I'm sure the dogs will sleep easier tonight knowing you won't be chasing them around with a giant metal bird," he replies. Right, like I'm the one who found his father's old bear rug in a box in the basement and put it on his head to "see how the dogs will react." It took me a week to scrub off the putrescent fluid that shot out of Loki's bunghole onto the cabinet when he caught site of a bear in his kitchen. To this day I can't go to the basement to wash a load of socks without Loki barking his face off to let me know there might be bears downstairs. Again, this is why we aren't having children."

If you only knew how much this mirrors my life. I truly enjoy Jen's ability to find humor in her struggle. She sees past all the pre-packaged diet mumbo-jumbo out there and seeks a balance of losing weight and living a life that includes birthday cake. Another sentiment we have in common: a life without birthday cake is not a life I want to live. There's deep stuff in this book. Deep stuff that makes me laugh out loud.

On the Jamie Book Review Scale of 1 - 5, Such a Pretty Fat receives 5 stars... even though I'm pretty sure it inspired me to eat my weight in Halloween candy.

I'm super thrilled to know that Jen has two previously written books: Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights Big Ass. AND she released another book: Pretty in Plaid this past spring. But the absolute most exciting part is that she has a blog. Jennsylvania has been added to my blog roll and it looks like she updates quite frequently!! I can get my Jen fix anytime I want. Woo Hoo!

So to recap, here's what it takes to get a great book review by me: Lots of obscenities, hilarious booze-driven stories, birthday cake, and heavy sarcasm.