2. To Die For

By Carol Lee

Told in alternating chapters; half in the past when Carol meets Emma as a child, and half during the hell of Emma's eating disorders. I found the chapters detailing Emma's illness the most interesting, as she went through extremely severe cycles of both Anorexia and Bulimia plus compulsive overeating. It is the only book I have read so far which deals with all three disorders in such honest detail. Ideally, I would quote most of Emma's diary extracts, but to summarise I will leave you with two that I can particularly relate to:

‘i want this act of self-destruction to be recorded, documented, so that i never forget I did it. Anorexia is a fog in my memory, my decent into madness... Life has so much more to offer than this non-life... But first i want to get worse... i want to experience it as i now am – with me at the controls, hurtling this body into oblivion...’

‘...Our lovely surroundings have had a deeply unsettling effect on her. Startlingly beautiful as they are, they strip her of something. They do not provide her with a reason to be angry and they unlock a dread in her that it is only she, Emma, who is bad and wrong.’

1. Diary of an Excercise Addict

By Peach Friedman

I liked this book not because I could relate, (for many parts I couldn't as I have never purged through excerise) but because her personality came through the pages. It was an entertaining read despite the suffering she went through to defeat her excercise bulimia/anorexia.

One of my favourite quotes was:

'...This is the key to being an anorexic: You cannot eat! Once you do, it’s impossible to stop, the body responds so quickly, demanding more... Fighting my hunger, the strangeness of feeling so tempted, so out of control...’