150 POUNDS: A NOVEL OF WAISTS AND MEASURES (Kate Rockland)

Shoshana Weiner and Alexis Allbright are successful 20-something bloggers focused on that eternal female obsession, weight.  Shoshana, at 215 pounds, writes Fat & Fabulous, a blog for overweight women that focuses on self acceptance.  Alexis, on the other hand, weighs 100 pounds writes a blog called Skinny Chick, which extolls diet, extreme exercise, and weight control for good health. 

If the truth were to be told (and it is), chubby Shoshana actually leads a healthier lifestyle than Alexis.  She enjoys a reasonably healthy, balanced diet (albeit too much food), gets some regular exercise, and accepts herself.  She even enjoys finding wardrobe pieces that flatter her zaftig body.  As part of an overweight family she grew up in Hoboken surrounded by love and acceptance, but her father's early death from a heart attack a few years before has left her with a nagging sense of worry about the future.  Alexis, on the other hand, became estranged from her perfectionist parents after the tragic death of her teenage brother.  A disappointment to her lawyer father (Alexis is a law school drop-out) and alcoholic mother, Alexis lives in New York City with her gay best friend Billy, barely making ends meet.  She is meticulous about recording every morsel of food she eats, works out religiously, and tries to control every aspect of her life.

Shoshanna and Alexis meet (and do NOT bond) as guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show, invited to talk with Oprah about weight and body image.  As fate would have it, circumstances beyond their control eventually conspire to change their thinking, their lifestyles, and their priorities, and a year later they end up together on Oprah's show again, this time each weighing 150 pounds.  I'm not going to give you any more details about how this happens, but I will tell you that 150 Pounds is much more than your average chick lit.  It's a novel about 2 women who, in the process of advising others about how to live, find their true selves and their own happiness.  I enjoyed being invited along for their year of discovery!