Thin is the New Happy

Thin is the New Happy: A Memoir by Valerie Frankel is a thought provoking book. Frankel who is a prolific writer of magazine articles, Chick Lit fiction, Young Adult fiction and a few non-fiction titles, has her work cut out for her when she decides to explore her obsession with body image. She is brought to this self discovery when she realizes that her daughter is the age she was when she started dieting. At 11, Frankel started down the road of weight loss and lack of self esteem about her body weight. Having a mother who focused on it, didn't help either. Frankel takes the brave step of exploring her past and changing her future.

Frankel is a funny quirky writer on her best days, and she brings those skills to play here as well. Certain passages of the book will hit too close to home for many women, and others will bring you tears with her self effacing humor. She compares her story to other women, and finds that she is not alone in the body image struggle. But she is determined to conquer her demons and not pass them down to her daughters.

Part of this book is memoir, part of it is self help too. She reveals her past bluntly and with humor. (Sometimes however, with contemporary memoirs, I find myself saying "Too Much Information!" here.) But she does triumph. No, it is not instantaneous. It is a struggle; within her family, her professional life, and with herself. A good and inspirational read.

One Bad Apple

One Bad Apple by Shelia Connolly is a great first mystery. Our heroine Meg is new to town and is trying to rehab a old family property that has an orchard on it's grounds. She is learning more about apples and 17th century homes than she ever wanted to know. Everything in this place needs to be fixed, but first thing to go and need fixing is the septic system. Thank goodness she seems to have a competent (and nice looking) plumber in Seth! Her joy is short lived when there are more plumbing issues in the morning. Seth comes out - takes a look in the septic system and finds a dead body. Not just any dead body. It turns out to be an ex-boyfriend of Meg's.

There is a lot more going on here than meets the eye, Meg discovers. Her ex was involved in bringing in a development project that would change the town. Everyone in town she meets, seems to be on one side of the project or the other. Who would kill for this development? What part does her property play in all of this? Will she stay to take a side?

Connolly has a group of nice small town characters in this book. It will be interesting to see how they interact throughout the planned series. I think she has a great first start with this book and I want to see how Meg and her house develop. A fun read.