What I Just Finished

An inspiring and cautionary tale for women of all ages, Hungry is an uplifting memoir with a universal message about body image, beauty and self-confidence.

Editorial Reviews

"A riveting read."-- Nigella Lawson

"An eye-opening tale for all women, Hungry explores the difference between the fantasy that society projects and the reality of what makes us happy. Crystal Renn's experience debunks the modern-day Cinderella story of the fat girl who loses weight to get happy. This is a new fairy tale, one in which a young woman embraces the size she's supposed to be and the world opens up for her." -- Lori Gottlieb, author of Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self

"Crystal Renn is a high-spirited, convincing spokesperson for broadening our notions of beauty. Hungry adds a unique twist to a growing women's chorus: even if you are young and beautiful, as Renn is, it's best to give up the addiction to slimness for the sake of personal authenticity, social relations, intimacy, and sexual pleasure." -- Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of The Body Project and Fasting Girls

"Hungry offers an intelligent and intimate look inside the modeling industry and into Crystal Renn's heart. Renn's epiphany -- that she didn't have to be a size 0 to find success and happiness -- serves as a more powerful portrait of strength and beauty than anything a camera could capture." -- Wendy Shanker, author of The Fat Girl's Guide to Life

A Must-See

If you haven't seen this film, you should. Several people had recommended it to me, and I just this past weekend made time to watch it. My only regret is that I waited so long to experience this film. It's one of the best films I've ever seen in my life--beautiful, deeply moving, and spiritual. The feast scene brought tears to my eyes.

Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen, this Oscar-winning film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek). On the desolate coast of Denmark live Martina and Philippa, the beautiful daughters of a devout clergyman who preaches salvation through self-denial. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, each turning down a chance to leave their Danish town, instead staying to care for their father and his small church. Even many years after their father's death, they keep his austere teachings alive among the townspeople. But with the arrival of Babette, a mysterious refugee from France's civil war, life for the sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change, and the feast the woman prepares in gratitude is eclipsed only by her secret.

*1987: Foreign Language Film

Booking It--I Wanna Talk About Me

Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or Autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?

Biographies are fine. Autobiographies are better. But I'd really rather read a memoir.

Biographies and autobiographies are usually broad in scope, sometimes even covering the subject's whole life, whereas a memoir often centers on a particular aspect or theme.

Autobiographies and memoirs are fascinating because they reveal so much more than the plot the person chooses to tell. I read and wonder, why this particular focus? How do they select what to include? what to leave out? How are they shading and shaping readers' perceptions? How much is true and how much is wishful thinking? or morphed memories? Are they revealing themselves? or recreating themselves?

See what I mean?

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Lack of Focus

Yesterday, I was watching CNN to catch the latest news about the shooting at Ft. Hood, and I could hardly pay attention to the newscaster because of the 4 (and sometimes 5) flashing, blinking, scrolling, changing, glowing, always distracting things going on at the bottom of the screen. I couldn't figure out where to focus my eyes.

Here's my question: Is that stuff there to entertain people with ADD? Or is CNN trying to cause the disorder? Maybe the pharmaceutical companies sponsor all that busy-ness on the screen to induce adult-onset ADD and sell more drugs. I don't know. But it drove me crazy.

Hefty Justice

It was bound to happen, I guess. In a country whose citizens are growing more and more overweight, fat is now a judicial matter.

A 5'8" 285 pound New Jersey man's defense against a charge of murdering his son-in-law is that he's too fat to be the murderer.

In Texas, authorities are trying to figure out how to take into custody and bring to court a nearly one-thousand-pound woman accused of killing her two-year-old nephew.

A Maryland mother has been arrested and charged with criminal neglect for letting her 14-year-old son's weight balloon up to 555 pounds.

I wonder what's next?

Before P&P&Z

I haven't even read Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters yet, and they've already come out with another one:


In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and katana swords and cry when her first blush with romance goes tragically awry.

Written by acclaimed novelist (and Edgar Award nominee) Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls invites Austen fans to step back into Regency England, Land of the Undead!

JANE AUSTEN is coauthor of the New York Times best seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. She died in1817.

STEVE HOCKENSMITH is an award-winning novelist and reporter. His mystery Holmes on the Range was a finalist for the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony awards. He lives in Alameda, California.

Surely, You Jest

The other night I had the weirdest dream:

Dr. Julie H. from the History Department and I were team teaching a class. It was the first day of class, and the room was full. As we stood up to welcome the group, she made an announcement that was news even to me. "I've decided," she said, " that the male students will stay in here and we'll teach them. The female students will go into the next room and quilt." Yes, you read that right. Quilt.

I tried not to let my mouth fall open as I thought, "How in the world do I handle this? I can't let this happen, but I can't confront her right in front of the students!"

Lucky for me, I woke up. This one's ripe for analysis.

In Between the Lines

Tonight is the second L.C. Sears lecture event, sponsored by the Honors College and organized by Kelsey Sherrod, an English major. I'm part of the panel, and I'm really excited about taking part in a discussion of women's narratives.

Here's the announcement:

SEARCY, Ark.— The Harding University Honors College has announced its next L.C. Sears Seminar Series event to feature a women’s panel of professors to discuss stories of women throughout history who have made an impact upon the world through film, literature and ingenuity despite a resistant society.

The event, “In Between the Lines: The Narrative of the Feminine Voice,” will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6:30 p.m. in Harding’s Cone Chapel.

The panel will include Dr. Clea Bunch, University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor of Middle Eastern studies; Dr. Julie Harris,Harding associate professor of history; Dr. Stephanie Eddleman, Harding assistant professor of English; and Dr. Deveryle James, Harding assistant professor of English.

The L.C. Sears Seminar Series was first organized by students and Honors Council members in 2005 and has covered a wide range of relevant topics since, including the response of churches to the HIV/AIDS outbreak and the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.

For more information, please contact the Harding Honors College at 501-279-4056.

It's open to the public. So, if you're interested, come on out and join us.

Booking It--Magic Words

“What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?

Other than a favorite author's name, I don't know that there are any particular words or phrases that make me buy or not buy a book. If the plot or themes pique my interest, I might buy the book. If they don't, I won't.

I'm much more likely to buy a book because someone I trust recommended it than because of what the blurb says.