Book Spotlight: Fat is the New 30: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life by Jill Conner Browne

I am spotlighting what I imagine is going to be one fantastic book for you today – Fat is the New 30:  The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life by Jill Conner Browne.  I read The Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel:  The Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, And May Yet a few years back before my blogging days and I absolutely loved it!  I can’t wait to delve into this one and soon!  I’m going to share with you what the book is about, a bit about the author, and don’t forget to stop by and enter the giveaway at the end of the post for a chance to win your own copy.

About Fat is the New 30:  The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life by Jill Conner Browne

Trust THE Sweet Potato Queen™, Jill Conner Browne, to come up with the solution to most of life’s problems. A #1 New York Times bestselling author and leader of the Sweet Potato Queens® movement that has more than 6,200 chapters in 37 countries around the world, Jill Conner Browne is known for her bawdy, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, and for spreading what she fondly refers to as “sparkle.”

But in FAT IS THE NEW 30: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life, she brings more than just sparkle. Jam-packed with twenty individual essays on everything from getting older to raising kids to what happens when your body starts to fall apart, the book is filled with uproariously funny (and totally sound) advice like, “Nobody can argue with nonsense” and “Good grief, go put on some lipstick.” Whose life wouldn’t be better with a little nonsense and a tube of lipstick?

Jill expounds on the (non-existent) perfect mother, also known as the Mom I’d Love to Meet (M.I.L.M), those poor PPJTSTTs (Pitiful People Just Trying to Survive Their Teenager), and why spa time should be considered a life necessity with legislation introduced to provide it. In the chapter, “All We Need is Love and Maybe a Dyson” Jill reminds readers why four-legged friends are the answer for most problems. “Life is hard on a good day. It‘s just not safe to be dog-free.” And the section “Etiquette for Recessions / Depressions / Inflations,” is a must-read for all of us who feel like we “got next-to-no money, no prospects for gettin‘ any and what little we do have won‘t buy much any more.” Jill’s most poignant piece, the essay on caring for her dying mother with grace and humor, might just be the crown jewel of the collection.

Like the bestselling books that have come before it, FAT IS THE NEW 30 doesn’t skimp on the importance of eating. In the chapter “God Wants Us to Eat Up,” she includes recipes for every possible down-and-out moment that will have you drooling (or perhaps, rolling out of the kitchen after you try one). Best of all, after eating something like the “I-Can‘t-See-My-Feet-But-Who-Cares Krispy Kreme® Bread Puddin’,” you’ll hardly remember the crappy moment that inspired you to step foot in the kitchen in the first place. Call it therapy through food or call it your Sweet Potato Queen remedy. Either way, Jill Conner Browne has the medicinal humor you need.

FAT IS THE NEW 30 is chock-full of advice on living—even when life is kind of crappy—from a woman who her own self, really does. Bless her sparkly little heart.

Buy at Amazon US or Amazon Canada

About Jill Conner Browne

“Boss Queen” Jill Conner Browne conceived of and founded the Sweet Potato Queens® in the early 1980s. After passing through a patch of the doldrums, she found herself in need of some excitement, and a new direction. Jill discovered that she lived near Vardaman, Mississippi, self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World, and inspiration struck—she volunteered to be the queen for the farmers’ annual festival. Although the crowning never materialized, the prospect of being the queen of anything was too good to pass up; so, in 1982 Jill entered herself and a few similarly inspired friends in Jackson, Mississippi’s, St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The four original Queens all wore green, hand-me-down ball gowns and tiaras, and waved to the crowd from the bed of an old pickup truck. It was modest, but it was a start. The Queenly costume has undergone several upgrades since then, and now consists of a green- sequined dress (stuffed to its voluptuous forty-pound carrying weight), flowing red wigs, Revlon’s® “Love That Pink” lipstick, and real-live majorette boots. In 2011, Jill founded the Zippity Doo Dah® Parade and Festival Weekend in Fondren, benefiting Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children. The inaugural event raised over $65,000 for the children.

Today there are more than 6,200 registered Sweet Potato Queen Wannabe™ Chapter Groups in 37 countries around the world. A Broadway musical based on the Sweet Potato Queens® is being developed in partnership with a Grammy® and Tony® award-winning team.

Jill has penned eight bestselling books—Fat is the New 30, published by Amazon Publishing in March 2012, is her ninth and newest title. Jill’s eighth book is American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queen’s Guide to Preserving your Assets (Simon & Schuster, 2009); her seventh book is The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit (Simon & Schuster, 2008); her sixth book was her first work of fiction: The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel: Stuff we didn’t actually do, but could have and may yet (Simon & Schuster, 2007); her fifth book, a New York Times® Bestseller, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner and Divorce Guide, (Crown Publishers, 2005) is an ingenious hardcover flip-book; the #1 New York Times® Bestseller, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay, or Dead (Three Rivers Press, 2004); the #1 New York Times® Bestseller, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner) (Three Rivers Press, 2003); and, the national bestsellers: God Save the Sweet Potato Queens (Three Rivers Press, 2001), and The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love (Three Rivers Press, 1999), the book that started it all, which has been translated into German and Japanese.

Jill is a founding member of the Women’s Fund of The Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, Mississippi. She actively assists Hurricane Katrina on-going relief efforts, raising over $100,000 in cash through her website; she cooked with Chefs for Humanity™ for law enforcement and victims on the Gulf Coast; she does clean-up detail with Camp Coast Care; and she participated in the nationally televised Mississippi Rising Gala Concert, raising in excess of $15 Million. Jill also serves on the Volunteer USA Foundation Trustee Board and recently received the Mississippi National Guard Patriot Award for her support of our military. The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society recently registered the cultivar: Nymphaea “Queen Jill,” a waterlily specifically created to honor Jill’s charitable works around the United States.

When Jill is not writing, working for relief efforts, or speaking at fundraising events around the country, she lives and reigns in Jackson, Mississippi, with her three cats, a 3-legged girl dog, a big boy dog, her daughter’s rescued mutt, and her husband. And no, he’s not the Sweet Potato King.

Jill’s Website
Find Jill on Facebook
Follow Jill on Twitter

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 3 copies of Fat is the New 30:  The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life by Jill Conner Browne.   To enter…

• For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
• For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
• For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.
• For 4 entries, follow me on Networked Blogs.  Click here to be taken directly there.  Log in to your Facebook account and click follow.  Thanks!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winners on Saturday, April 21/12.  Good luck everyone!

Share this post!