An informal but helpful weight-loss guide.
In this manual, a mother of three gives diet advice and tells how she shed 70 pounds in about five months.
Kimani had always been slim until she gave birth to a daughter in 2005 and twin sons in 2008. Determined to lose weight (she was 210 pounds), she began exercising and eating less. In just months, she went from a size 18 to a size 10. Here, in this fast-paced, concise guide—which does not offer professional medical advice—she shares how she did it. The author’s story is chock-full of mind-over-matter tips for struggling dieters. For example, she kept the unassembled ingredients for her favorite banana bread in her cabinets. Knowing she could make the sweet treat if she really wanted it lent comfort, but it was not easily available to eat. Sounding like a spirited friend giving advice over coffee, Kimani displays a can-do attitude that is inspiring. For example, she made herself walk every day—even if it was raining. Though she doesn’t offer regimented meal plans or in-depth health information, her key points—like “I could do other fun things instead of snacking”—are highlighted in easy-to-read boldface print. Some of the tips—for example, when grocery shopping, choose brown food instead of white—are familiar. While readers should consult their physicians before beginning any weight-loss program, many of the author’s psychological tricks for controlling overeating seem practical and realistic. To help avoid temptation, she advises readers to hang out with friends who don’t eat too much. For some readers, Kimani’s pre-diet lack of self-esteem may be startling (her “before” photographs are as gorgeous as her “after” ones). At the book’s conclusion, she acknowledges her beauty but asserts that she feels “a lot healthier” now.
An informal but helpful weight-loss guide.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4797-2698-1
Page Count: 110
Publisher: PageTurner Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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