body image

Good, but not great. Published thirteen years ago, it doesn't quite hold up today. Ginny is unbelievably pathetic throughout most of the story, and only toward the Hollywood-like ending does she-surprise-develop some confidence. Normally I love pathetic people because I can relate to their insecurity, but Ginny's character is a tad too two-dimensional, not a fully fleshed out character worthy of my concern. I also didn’t like how the author handled the date-rape subplot, as if she just needed a “juicy” reason for us to stop liking that character, rather than giving that heavy subject matter

It Was Me All Along is a memoir about a young girl that turned to food for comfort, parenting, homework help, and to fill the empty hole she had deep inside herself. Andie Mitchell's struggle is not just with food, but also with turning her unbalanced childhood world into one she could live in normally.

After Andie's father lost his job, he slept all day and ate and drank all night. Before Andie started school, she stayed up with him participating in the eating--gorging on unhealthy fat- and calorie-laden foods before falling asleep in front of the television. While Andie's father was out of

Full disclosure: I'm a middle-aged, married mom who's a teeny, tiny bit obsessed with teen fiction. Not that I'm a creeper or anything. But my teenage angst phase is more like a personality trait. I relate to people who feel uncomfortable and awkward. People who lack confidence and discipline. People who float through life like they haven't got a clue. More often than not, that's not adults. Something about growing up in our society makes people cocky. It changes people. It makes them think they're some kind of authority figure or expert on life. Not me. That's why I like teen fiction.

 

The

Wow. There is no other word for this book but wow.

This is an incredibly powerful work of art that combines nude photos of women of all ages, ethnicity and body shape with short essays written by the woman posing, describing who they are and how they feel about their body. Each picture is uniquely crafted to be simple yet exquisitely beautiful by merely depicting women in a raw, honest way. 

While the pictures may be what initially attract readers (it’s hard not to be intrigued by a book with a naked woman on the cover), it is the stories that truly make This Is Who I Am so moving. There is

“As the most persuasive and pervasive force of communication in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that a woman's primary value lay in her youth, beauty and sexuality—and not in her capacity as a leader, making it difficult for women to obtain leadership positions and for girls to reach their full potential.” The above quote from the film says in a nutshell what Miss Representation is all about. While women’s rights have advanced since the early days of Gloria Steinem, the fact is that women are more often portrayed as beautiful objects instead of as intelligent, creative