Top 15 Books About Body Positivity Updated 04 /2024

If you enjoy watching Shrill and are looking for books that will help you celebrate your body or books that will help you as you work through the process, read on! Find celebrity memoirs and real-life novels that talk about body image in different ways and encourage self-love in all forms.

I Do It with the Lights On

by Whitney Way Thore

I Do It with the Lights On is the story of Whitney Way Thore, a woman who finally found her fabulousness when she stepped off the scale and into her own life, embracing herself completely, body, heart, and soul. It's a book that's both exuberant and honest.

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay

by Phoebe Robinson

Robinson's new book is a call to arms. She wrote it in her usual unfiltered and witty way. A woman who thinks about politics and who changes her jeans size has had a hard time. Everything's Trash, But It's Okay is written from the point of view of a new best friend for a generation that's had the rug pulled out from under them too many times to count.

Daring Greatly

by Brené Brown

Vulnerability is both the source of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment as well as the source of love, belonging, joy and empathy. Brené Brown explains this in her new book, Vulnerability. She says that when we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we don't have the experiences that make our lives worth living.

It Was Me All Along

by Andie Mitchell

A heartbreakingly honest, heartwarming memoir by a young food blogger about how she lost a lot of weight and learned to love herself. She battled body image issues and overcame food addiction to accept herself.

Look at Me

by Jennifer Egan

During a car accident, Charlotte Swenson's face is so badly broken that it takes eighty titanium screws to put it back together. It's hard to tell who she is when she comes back to New York. Jennifer Egan connects Charlotte's story with the stories of other people who have been hurt by our love of images. Look at Me turns into a coolly mesmerizing intellectual thriller about who you are and who you aren't.

Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere

by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby

The media and society can help women be their own worst enemies when it comes to their bodies. If you want to learn how to love your body or at least make peace with it, then this book is for you. Harding and Kirby, two of the most popular bloggers in the "fatosphere," the online community of the fat acceptance movement, have written it.

The Corset Diaries

by Katie Macalister

No woman in her right mind would wear a corset for a month. Especially a woman who is "skinny-challenged," like Tessa. But when she gets an offer to be on a reality TV show, she thinks about being debt-free. They talk about how they act like they live on an English estate in the year 1879, but they aren't living there at all. She can't breathe, with or without the corset, because her lead man, a real Duke, is so handsome that she can't even breathe, with or without the corset.

The Self-Love Experiment

by Shannon Kaiser

Too many people think that they can't put themselves first or pursue their own dreams because they don't want to be selfish or give up something for someone else. The Self-Love Experiment solves this issue. Shannon Kaiser learned how to love herself, find a reason to live, and live a passion-filled life after she overcame eating disorders, drug addictions, corporate burnout, and depression.

Fat! So?

by Marilyn Wann

Marilyn Wann, a fat activist and zinester, has written a book that is both hilarious and eye-opening. She takes on the biggest fear in America, which is worse than the fear of public speaking or nuclear weapons: our fear of fat. Using a mix of essays, quizzes, facts, and reporting, FAT!SO? proves that no matter what size you are, you can still look great. FAT!SO?

Why Not Me?

by Mindy Kaling

In her book, Why Not Me?, Kaling talks about how she has been trying to find happiness and excitement in her adult life, whether it's finding love at work, making new friends in lonely places, or trying to be the first person in history to lose weight without any kind of behavior modification. Laugh-out-loud funny: Mindy turns her second coming-of-age into a series of essays that make you laugh.

Body Positive Power: How to stop dieting, make peace with your body and live 

by Megan Jayne Crabbe

Women are taught that they need to be a certain size or have a certain number on the scale to be happy. We live in a world where people think that beauty and bodies aren't real. When you accept and love the body you have, Megan Jayne Crabbe says, you can be happy. It took her years of having an eating disorder and dieting all the time to learn a new kind of confidence and get rid of the body shame. She now lives a happier and better life because of it.

Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out – and Never Say Diet Again 

by Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN

Compassion can help you live a happier and healthier life. In Body Kindness, you'll learn how to do this by loving, connecting, and taking care of your body and your mind. It helps you figure out what you want based on four unique rules about what you do, how you feel, who you are, and where you belong. An anti-diet book that will bring you more happiness and meaning in your life, as well as help you lose weight

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living

 by Jes Baker

She is an author and blogger who wants women to be proud of their bodies and fight those who fat-shame them. She also wants to change how people think about women so that they can have better mental health. This book is made up of personal stories and research. It helps women get rid of the fat prejudice and learn to love their bodies.

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