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As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been a pretty avid reader. As I’ve gotten more into body positivity and self-love over the past few years, I’ve found some really great books.
Recently a friend asked me for some book recommendations, and once I shared some with her, she suggested that it’d be a great idea for a blog post, so here we are (thanks, Chelsea!).
While not all of these books are specifically about self-love or body positivity, they’ve all been very helpful on my journey. I hope they can help you as well, so here we go:
“The Body Is Not An Apology” by Sonya Renee Taylor
Gah, this book. I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of this for review, and I was so thankful for that. This book was so eye-opening, and it’s one of many in this list that’s short but also very powerful. This was probably one of the most educational books I’ve ever read about body positivity and acceptance, and I definitely want to re-read it to make sure I soak up all the information possible.
“I Thought It Was Just Me” by Brene Brown
I read this book several years ago, and I’ve been meaning to re-read it now to see how I feel about it at this point in my journey. I’ll say it a lot in this post, but this book did change my life. It centers around the concept of shame (and shame versus guilt, specifically). I didn’t realize how central of a theme shame was in my life until I read this book, and shame really goes hand-in-hand with self-care and self-love. I honestly can’t recommend this book highly enough.
“Fat Girl Walking” by Brittany Gibbons
This is the first body positive book I ever remember reading, and it was transformative. It still is, really. Brittany Gibbons is a wonderful, vulnerable, relateable and really remarkable human being. This book honestly changed my life when I first read it a few years ago. I re-read it a few months ago, and I learned (and re-learned) even more than the first time.
“Landwhale” by Jes Baker
This book legitimately made me feel so seen and heard that I cried several times while reading it. I first read it as a digital ARC before it came out, and then I immediately bought a paperback once it was available on Amazon. “Landwhale” is often a term used for fat or larger people, and here, Jes Baker reclaims it and other terms she’s encountered on her journey. She is so badass and relateable, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about body positivity or body acceptance or anything in those realms.
“Real Love” by Sharon Salzberg
One of my friends bought this as a wedding gift, and I can’t thank her enough for doing that. This book is all about communication, compassion and forgiveness for yourself and others, and it’s just…*sigh.* It’s everything I never knew I needed in a book. It’s great if you want to improve communication with yourself, your friends, your significant other, basically anyone.
“You Are A Badass” by Jen Sincero
The one main takeaway I have from reading this book was the importance Jen Sincero put on loving yourself. I remember that no matter what the chapter was about, it pretty much always ended with her stressing that importance. I read this a few years ago when I was still pretty new to the world of self-love, and this was very inspirational to me for a variety of reasons. The prompts throughout the book were helpful without being preachy, and it was easy to follow while still challenging yourself.
“You Do You” by Sarah Knight
I wrote about this before, so I’ll keep it brief. It’s short, sweet and inspirational, and I loved it.
“You Have The Right To Remain Fat” by Virgie Tovar
This book is also short but not entirely sweet. Virgie Tovar includes a lot of research and supplemental information all about diets, body positivity, self-love, self-care, etc. She packs a punch on delivering a lot of information without being too clinical or heady while still being relateable. I don’t know how she does it, but she does it. So, so well.
