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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously » User review

I Felt Inspired to Cook

  • Jul 22, 2009
  • by
Rating:
+5
Let's say, for example, that you are in your late twenties, living in New York City in a something-is-always-going wrong apartment, and working at a miserable dead-end secretarial job at a government agency. What do you do to stir up your life? Well, cook every recipe - 524 of them - from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I by Julia Child in 365 days of course! And that is precisely what Julie Powell, the author of Julie & Julia, set out to do.

Living in one of the most exciting cities and having a loving and supporting husband aside, Julie Powell was stuck in a rut. On a visit to her parents', Julie rediscovered the cookbook that appealed to her so much when she was a child; at her husband's urging, Julie decided to cook and blog her way through the entire Mastering the Art of French Cooking, dubbing it the "Julie/Julia Project". What followed was a year of entirely too much butter, aspic, things that refused to gel together, extracting bone marrow, the trauma of killing lobsters, and the list goes on. Through her cooking triumphs and disasters, frozen pipes, a freezing apartment and sludge filled sinks, Julie discovers a new meaning to life and comes to the realization that anything is possible.

Julia & Julia is a joy to read; you might find yourself laughing (or at least smiling) at Julie's remarks and her susceptibility to calamities of all kinds. Julie spares no punches when it comes to her beliefs, - her anti-Republican remarks may be offensive to some - but her memoir is straight forward, witty, inspirational and often flat-out hilarious.

Bon Appetit!

I'm giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia on my blog at www.luxuryreading.com

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September 24, 2009
I was really curious about that book and I love cooking so I'm looking forward to the read, thanks.
 
July 28, 2009
I'm going to have to read this, I love cooking memoirs!  Have you read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain?  Amazing book and memoir!  Really nice review, I'm going to go ahead and pick this one up! 
July 28, 2009
Kitchen Confidential was an awesome read...
July 28, 2009
Especially if you are in Culinary School!
 
July 23, 2009
Great review! I'm looking forward to the movie but, your review makes me want to check it out before I catch it on the big screen.
 
July 22, 2009
I didn't hear about this book till I learned about the movie.  The plot sounds cute, plus I love food and cooking, so I'll be checking this out.  Thanks for the review!

By the way, if you haven't already, you should check out @marlenegray's review of Julia Chid.  Marlene actually got a chance to work with her for a bit and wrote about it!
 
July 22, 2009
Glad you liked the review! If you're interested, I'm giving away 5 copies of the book on my blog at www.luxuryreading.com
 
July 22, 2009
I have wanted to read this book for some time and now there is a movie coming out so I guess i'd better hurry. It is a great concept. My wife bought me Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a birthday present and I can sympathize with her difficulties...not easy recipes. Great Review!
 
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More Julie and Julia: My Year of Co... reviews
review by . August 11, 2010
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More
Inspiration Sensation: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Julie and Julia is a true story of a writer named Julie Powell and how she has forever linked her life with that of famous TV Chef and cookbook author Julia Child.  Julie and Julia takes place in New York, in Julie Powell's  small apartment kitchen.  As a writer working in an office job she hates, Julie is longing for more.  In her tiny kitchen, she decides to delve into Julia Child's cookbook The Art of French Cooking.  Her husband talks her into blogging her journey …
review by . September 27, 2010
I had been wanting to read Julie and Julia for a long time. Partly because I saw the movie when it came out last year, partly because I'm a fellow blogger. Last Friday I finally got around to finishing it. There were things about it that I really liked, and things about it that I really didn't. Although the movie was very similar to the book, the book had an undeniable dark streak running through it (as books often do) that was much diluted in the movie.      So, things …
Quick Tip by . June 20, 2010
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More
This is one of the greatest books ever written for foodies. I, myself, being a foodie really enjoyed reading about her struggles and tribulations. Just the concept of this book and her mission was so out of the ordinary.
review by . January 17, 2010
I was surprised by this memoir/homage which I thought would be much more heavily food focused than it was. Obviously food (or its preparation) was the common tie between Julie and Julia, but the book is much more about Julia's quest to find herself through the admittedly odd project to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook. The book is well-written though I often found myself frustrated with the author who seemed very immature in parts.    All in all a decent read for someone …
review by . August 09, 2009
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More
Julia Child was and always will be an icon in the cooking world. I went to the American History Museum at the Smithsonian and saw the display with her kitchen. I just stood in awe to think of everything that had been cooked there. It was the same feeling that Julie Powell had after she had completed her year long project to cook every recipe in Julia Child's French cookbook and blog about it. I enjoyed reading about her decision and the reactions she got when Julie pursued the project. Challenges …
review by . August 05, 2009
Huh? Why not? After reading about the wondrous slimming powers of French eating in Will Clower's "The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss" and "The French Don't Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps to Stay Thin for Life," along with Mireille Guiliano's "French Women Don't Get Fat," Michel Montignac's "The French Diet: Why French Women Don't Get Fat" and multiple cookbook dieting diatribe offerings from mega home shopping diva Suzanne Sommers, unsophisticated Americans from the west …
review by . July 28, 2009
In general, I've become a fan of the memoir -- almost preferring it to fiction if it's well-written enough (I said almost). However, by far my favorite subset of memoir is the "project memoir." The author sets out to do something (think The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World and other books by AJ Jacobs). These books generally give a glimpse into the person's life in the midst of their project, but aren't so entirely self-absorbed.    Julie …
see all Julie and Julia: My Year of Co... reviews (8)
About the reviewer
Vera ()
Ranked #121
Hello! My biggest hobby (or should I say obsession) is reading and reviewing books. I read pretty much everything; my quickly growing collections includes anything from historical biographies to popular … more
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About this book

Wiki

Julie and Julia is a 2005 memoir written by Julie Powell. The conceit for the book was born out of a blog Powell started called The Julie/Julia Project, which chronicles her self-imposed challenge to cook one recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking per day.

As mentioned in the book, the Julie/Julia Project started out of Powell's frustration with her ordinary nine-to-five life in post-9/11 New York. When the blog became popular, Powell was able to sign a book deal with Little, Brown.

The book is now being made into a film written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film is simultaneously also based on Julia Child's memoir My Life in France.


References
Julie Powell's current blog
view wiki

Tags

Books, Cafe Libri, Cooking, Memoirs, Blogging, Bloggers, Julia Child, Julie Julia Project
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Details

ISBN-10: 031604251X
ISBN-13: 978-0316042512
Author: Julie Powell
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

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