DVD. This film has gentle humor and lots of charm. But beneath the whimsy, it's serious about empowerment. It's so serious that I'm pleasantly surprised that they were allowed to make it. This is a marvelous marvelous movie.

Fiction. This first book in the series is magnificently good. I'm not so sure about a couple of the sequels, though, so if you're going to read just one of these books, this is the one to choose.

Mystery novel.

DVD. Here's the new version of the above story, all peroxided and back-combed up. This movie is, I think, like 'Grease' but better in several ways. It's magnificent.

Fiction. A fun thriller-romance. The heroine is invited to a rich man's ranch in the Arizona desert, but villainy intrudes. I love the witty narration.

Teen fiction.

Fiction. Detective Savannah Reid goes undercover, into the world of plus-size fashion modeling. This is an excellent book in an engaging mystery series. (By the way, I spotted a reference to the next item.)

Yes, there are plus-sized women who work as fashion models. Here's one of them. (By the way, in case you're interested, there are a couple of how-to-plus-model books, by Amie J Greer, and Catherine Schuller.)

This then 280-pound singer won the UK 'Idol' contest. This is her diary. She tells what it's really like to be an Idol, how she lost a lot of weight, and how she dumped Simon Cowell. I'm sure the book is her own work--when I read it I can hear her voice. She has a gorgeous wit. This book is Bridget Jones meets Hairspray--and it's all true. It's a good read. Fun and touching.

DVD. Speaking of big gals in pop music, the Mama of them all was Cass Elliot. This sensitively-made excellent program shows her journey from initial un-confidence to flamboyant show-off star.

... and they have a new album out (with the drummer on the cover). It's an album with a mood or spirit of caffeinated alienation. (And why not.) But I think the above DVD is a better introduction to Gossip.

Fiction. Student Andrea time-travels to the 16th-century Scottish borders, a land of lawless warlords, where her fat body is thought the most beautiful thing in several counties. What's great is that this book is marvelously historically real--the era must have been just like this.

Visual art. This is a coffee-table book, with 140 pics of larger women by renaissance masters, impressionists, orientalists and more. It's apparent that the larger female body is adored by great artists throughout history (and by St. Paige).

Fiction. Anthology of short stories in the fantasy genre. Each tale has a plus-sized heroine or hero, ranging from a mermaid to a fairy-tale princess. The stories are more thought-provoking than exciting, but even so it's excellent fantasy.

Fiction. An excellent novel in the fantasy genre--and a proper novel. A middle-aged woman out jogging comes across a talking frog. Soon her daughter is in deep danger. There's not much specifically about weight--the heroine is simply described at the start, then gets into the action of the story. Which is perhaps how things should be.

Fiction. What I can tell you is that Hollis Seamon's title story in the above anthology is excellent.

Out of print, but this is a glorious vividly-written true biography of a gilded-age society circle in which wealth and fatness were good things. Lillian Russell and Diamond Jim Brady are a lesson in elegance and style.

Related reading. Non-fiction. Readable. Excellent. Gaesser has the mind of a true scientist: questioning, alert... and he checks up on references. (If you want further reading, try these: Kratina, Paul Ernsberger, Charles Roy Schroeder.)

DVD. A TV drama series from the UK, following the lives and loves of a bunch of mostly female friends. It's got quality writing and quality acting.

Plus-size knitting patterns. The best thing about amazon, I think, is that you can come across books on subjects that you hadn't realized there'd be books about. Such as this one, perhaps.