I’ve been trying to type up this review of Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin for some time now. I’ve read the book twice since I first got it and there’s no doubt that I will read it several times more. I just feel like there is so much to learn and absorb from this book. Contrary to popular belief, Skinny Bitch is not a diet book. It’s a lifestyle book. While it can be easy to confuse the two, there is a huge difference between them. A lifestyle book like Skinny Bitch teaches you how to better your health, your body, and yourself for the long run. It’s not about dropping a few pounds, it’s about treating your body with the respect that it deserves. Even the authors admit that the title was created just to grab attention. The book was written to stress the importance of eating healthy and taking care of yourself, not going on a crash starvation diet just to lose a few pounds.

This book is what it says on the cover, “A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!” While some have found their approach offensive and vulgar, I found it to be both honest an amusing. They don’t set out to baby the readers of this book by saying that it’s okay to slowly let go of old habits. Take smoking, for example. They tell the reader, flat out, that smoking is gross, unhealthy, that you need to quit, and don’t try saying you’ll gain weight if you quit because it’s not an equal trade off. They tell it like it is, which is refreshing for a nutrition and lifestyle book.

The book even comes with a month meal plan of great vegan options. Even if you aren’t wanting to go vegan, it’s a great reference point for how to eat in a truly healthy manner. It’s not all salads and not about depriving yourself. Just teaching yourself to make better choices and try some new options. Veggie dogs with vegetarian chili, soy cheese, and vegan potato salad are on the menu. So are nachos made with soy cheese, vegetarian chili, and loads of vegetables. There are lots of meal options, and you can pick and choose what you would like to try in your own diet.

Personally, I think that everyone should read this book. The authors are both vegans and while this does definitely effect the content of the book, I truly think that it’s for the better. The authors of this book, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, are a former model and a former modeling agent. They weren’t always vegan but became so after finding out the truths about the meat and dairy industry, and the health benefits, they decided to give it a try. The book has lots of eye opening, and seriously disturbing, information about the meat and dairy industries that you won’t find many other places. There’s even some shocking information about the USDA, FDA, the meat and dairy industries influence on these two organizations, Organic food laws and regulations, and the creation of the original food pyramid. They did a lot of research before writing this book, and it shows.

No matter what your take on a vegan lifestyle is, I’d recommend reading this book. There’s just so much incredibly helpful information packed in it’s pages. I don’t think a single person could read it and not learn a thing or two about how to change their current lifestyle for the better. Which is the point of the book.

For Valentine’s Day, my mom sent me a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. All of the recipes look so good. I’m forcing myself to start at the front of the book and work my way through the entire thing. Not only because the recipes do get more complex towards the end, but also so that I don’t skip straight to some of the most sinful sounding cupcakes. Such as Chai Latte Cupcakes, Dulce Sin Leche Cupcakes, or Cappuccino Cupcakes filled with Espresso Creme.

I had been planning on buying this book and some baking supplies with my tax return money. Talking to my mom the other day I told her all about my plans to buy this book because I’m really wanting to get more into baking. I plan on using my future education in Fashion Marketing and tying it in with the love I’ve always had for baking. Something I’m not going to explain here but a future plan that I am really excited about. Once I have some extra cash, I plan on picking up a few things to help me with this :

+ a cooling rack, possibly with 2 or 3 levels
+ cupcake carrying case to store them in
+ a cake decorating kit with frosting bags and tips
+ sprinkles, especially pink ones
+ a heart shaped cupcake pan
+ possibly a Hello Kitty apron

Then I am going to bake my way through this book. Documenting the entire thing with photos and my reviews of the recipes here, of course. I can’t wait!

A book that I recently read for the first time is The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. Hornby just happens to be my favorite author, so a book full of essays with his opinions on other books just sounded too good to pass up. And, it was. The essays in this book originally appeared in Hornby’s column in The Believer titled “Stuff I’ve Been Reading”. Every month Hornby wrote a list of books that he bought and a list of books that he read. Then wrote his thoughts on the books that he had read that month. Snippets of his columns can be read online. The book was a quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Hornby’s picks ranged from poetry, classics, biographies, and fiction.

My favorite piece was the column from December 2003 and January 2004, in which he discussed the book George and Sam : Autism in the Family by Charlotte Moore (published as George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism in the United States). Hornby has a child with autism and wrote the introduction for the book. What he shares of his life with his son, and his comments on relating to Charlotte Moore give a real glimpse of who Hornby really is as a person. A snippet of that piece :

“I read Charlotte Moore’s book because I agreed to write an introduction for it, and I agreed to write an introduction because, in a series of brilliant columns in the Guardian, she has managed not only to tell it like it is, but to do so with enormous good humor and wit - George and Sam (Moore has three sons, two of whom are autistic) is, believe it or not, the funniest book I’ve read this year. I’m not sure I would have found it as funny six or seven years ago, when Danny was first diagnosed and autism wasn’t a topic that made me laugh much; but now that I’m used to glancing out of the window on cold wet November nights and suddenly seeing a ten year-old boy bouncing naked and gleeful on a trampoline, I have come to relish the stories all parents of autistic kids have.”

In fact, many of you are probably more familiar with Hornby’s work than you realize, just with the movie versions of his books. So far, the majority of Hornby’s novels have been made into movies (High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch) or are being made into movies (How To Be Good). High Fidelity is as true to the book as any movie can get, and closer than any of the others. Even a large majority of the dialogue is taken, word for word, from the novel. Of course, all columns in The Polysyllabic Spree contains plenty of Hornby’s signature dry humor that makes his writing so unique and wonderful. I’m very much looking forward to reading the follow up book, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt.