Product Description

Julie & Julia is the story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalizeher marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, VolumeI, in a period of 365 days.The result is a masterful medley of BridgetJones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate, mixed with a healthy dose oforiginal wit, warmth, and inspiration that sets this memoir apart from mosttales of personal redemption.When we first meet Julie, she's a frustrated temp-to-perm secretary whoslaves away at a thankless job, only to return to an equally demoralizingapartment in the outer boroughs of Manhattan each evening. At the urging ofEric, her devoted and slightly geeky husband, she decides to start a blogthat will chronicle what she dubs the "Julie/Julia Project." What follows isa year of butter-drenched meals that will both necessitate the wearing of anunbearably uncomfortable girdle on the hottest night of the year, as well asthe realization that life is what you make of it and joy is not asimpossible a quest as it may seem, even when it's -10 degrees out and yourpipes are frozen.Powell is a natural when it comes to connecting with her readers, which isprobably why her blog generated so much buzz, both from readers and mediaalike. And while her self-deprecating sense of humor can sometimes dissolveinto whininess, she never really loses her edge, or her sense of purpose.Even on day 365, she's working her way through Mayonnaise Collee and endingthe evening "back exactly where we started--just Eric and me, three cats andBuffy...sitting on a couch in the outer boroughs, eating, with Juliachortling alongside us...."Inspired and encouraging, Julie and Julia is a unique opportunity tojoin one woman's attempt to change her life, and have a laugh, or ten, alongthe way. --Gisele Toueg

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262136 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-28
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From Publishers Weekly
Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming. Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog, but Powell expands on her experience and gives generous background about her personal life: her doting husband, wacky friends, evil co-workers. She also includes some comments from her "bleaders" (blog readers), who formed an enthusiastic support base. Powell never met Julia Child (who died last year), but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s. Her writing is feisty and unrestrained, especially as she details killing lobsters, tackling marrowbones and cooking late into the night. Occasionally the diarist instinct overwhelms the generally tight structure and Powell goes on unrelated tangents, but her voice is endearing enough that readers will quickly forgive such lapses. Both home cooks and devotees of Bridget Jones–style dishing will be caught up in Powell's funny, sharp-tongued but generous writing.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
With the age of 30 looming, Julie Powell feels she hasn't accomplished anything in life except acquiring a dead-end secretarial job and a great husband. She decides to add meaning to her life by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKINGâ over the course of a year. As we and Julie learn in this seamless abridgment, a perfect crêpe makes a bad day better and surviving a pancaked soufflé means one can endure anything. The author, who has a pleasant contralto voice, reads with humor and a rhythmic pacing perfectly suited to the book. Her lively reading (and excellent French) bring drama to the scenes and pleasure to the listener. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
In her adolescence, Powell came across Joy of Sex and Mastering the Art of French Cooking and forever linked the two in her mind, finding something absolutely sensual about cooking. Years later, living in New York with her husband and coming to the awful realization that her temp job as a secretary was about to turn full-time, she devises the ambitious assignment of cooking 524 recipes in one year and chronicling the experience on a blog. As she moves from simple potato soup to more complicated crepes, Powell engages the help of her husband, brother, and friend, as well as the hundreds of fans she attracts to her blog. A recipe calling for bone marrow prompts a long and hilarious search for a local butcher, and a meal that "tasted like really good sex." The tougher the shopping and cooking assignment, the more sensual the experience, as Powell discovers incredible determination and hidden talents in cooking, writing, and living. This is a joyful, humorous account of one woman's efforts to find meaning in her life. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

This is not a screenplay!
For those of you that read Julie Powell's blog, you'll find this a more polished and cohesive telling of her experience cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, warts, obscenities, and all. It fills in some of the details of her personal life, what happened once the project was finished, and recounts the hiccups and breakdowns she experienced honestly, without trying to make herself look better or be more likeable.

Those that saw the movie should note that the movie was based on TWO books, Julie & Julia (by Julie Powell) and Child's autobiography, My Life in France (written with her husband's grandnephew Alex Prud'homme). If you're looking for more information about Julia Child's life beyond some witty qutoes and basic background you should pick up the autobiography, as Julie & Julia is firmly about Julie Powell and the Julie/Julia project.

Disappointing read
I really didn't like this book. It seemed very off-topic, self-involved, and incredibly boring.

I was expecting more of a book about cooking and the recipes and actually about her "cooking dangerously", but instead learned more than I ever cared to know about the personal lives of people she knew, and about how she was amused at people online objecting to her using the f-word often in her blog posts.

I have written a more in-depth review at [...].

Enjoyable "Foodie" read...
I bought this book to take on vacation with me, when normally I'll read 3 or 4 books in a week quite easily. This book took me a while...I even brought it home with me to finish (previously unheard of!) I found it a bit slow going to begin with, and at times wondered if I'd ditch it for a different book, but I persevered, and eventually found in it, a good read with some great lines which made me laugh out loud. I am looking forward to seeing how the film compares when it's released this week. If you're into "food," you'll most likely enjoy this book.
Now I've seen the film...and so should you! I can't remember the last time I watched such a delightfully entertaining movie. Meryl Streep, who I normally don't enjoy particularly, is absolutely captivating as Julia Child, and Amy Adams plays her part as Julie very well. It follows the book pretty well too. My only recommendation would be if you've never watched Julia Child in action, watch a video clip of her on YouTube before seeing this movie, otherwise you'll think Meryl Streep is seriously overacting!!